Movie Review: The Purge

Imagine if all crime was legal for 12 hours a year. The chaos that would occur is almost unfathomable and that's what new film The Purge tries to showcase with mixed results.

 The Purge has a brilliant setup with the concept of all crime being legal for a short period of time to keep the crime and unemployment rates low. The rich sit back and either lay low at home or gang up on defenseless people with less money and kill them. It's essentially an annual extermination of the poor and unemployed. The film definitely has some interesting (albeit not fully developed) social commentary pieces about the current economy and gun control laws, it's just a shame that they could've been used in a better film. Once you get past the great setup and few interesting ideas writer/director James DeMonaco brings to the table, it turns into a half-decent but pretty generic home-invasion thriller. Even when the film simply turns into the Sandin family (the always great Ethan Hawke, Lena Hadey, Max Burkholder and Adelaide Kane) defending themselves against a group of masked angry purgers (led by Rhys Wakefield, who's performance as the villain is Razzie-worthy) once the Sandin's let a homeless man the group has targeted (Edwin Hodge) into their home, the film gets over its flaws with the intensity of the scenes. DeMonaco's script is full of holes, but at least he knows to create real tension which is needed to make any home-invasion film work on any sort of level. What prevents the film from hitting the next level is completely on the script and the performance of Wakefield. DeMonaco forces the characters to make some completely idiotic choices (I mean honestly what parent would send their 12-year old into the basement by himself when a group of heavily armed strangers enter your home trying to kill your entire family?) that no human being would ever make. He also creates a pretty unsatisfying ending to the story that will leave most viewers saying "that's it?" when the credits roll. That being said, the worst thing about this film is easily the performance of Wakefield. This has to be one of the weaker villains to hit the screen in a while. His character is just so over-the-top and Wakefield's preppy, yuppie charisma makes the character about as menacing as Spongebob Squarepants. Between this and his similarly terrible performance in 2011's Sanctum, I'd be surprised if this guy found work in Hollywood again. The Purge could've been so much better with a stronger script and more biting social commentary, but the concept and suspense is strong enough for the film to barely get by.

3/5 Stars