K-SCORE: 17
Writer/Director: James DeMonaco
Starring: Ethan Hawke
Spoiler Level: Very Minor
“If you’re a notary, are you allowed to falsify documents for twelve hours because that would make becoming a notary a lot more lucrative.”
At the heart of any story is its premise, and The Purge had one of the dumbest, least plausible, most difficult to actually pursue premises I’ve ever seen which led to the creation of a truly terrible film. For twelve hours one night a year, the US government allows all crime. Even accepting that absurdity, nothing any of the characters do makes sense.
The actual film is awful to the point of not being worth watching. Security system expert Ethan Hawke is cursed (as so many characters in film are) by an altruistic and annoying son, and consequently a group of psychopaths come and kill - well mostly each other - but also others. It’s really focused on murder (there’s no racketeering, rape, vandalism, arson, embezzlement, prison escapes, public indecency, or treason, for example) and it makes the assumption that about half of society just lives with the desire to kill strangers, the only thing keeping them back being our laws. Some of the characters lock their doors and try to wait out the Purge without incident, but beyond locking their doors they take no reasonable means to defend themselves.
Now, if the Purge was happening in my life, I’d behave a little differently. For one, I’d have landmines on my property, and a sign out front that says, “live landmines all over the property.” Maybe I’d have a different sign farther up that says, “In the unlikely event that you’ve survived far enough to read this sign, know that soon you will be indiscriminately shot in the head with a sniper rifle.” The family in the film trying to survive goes with the different tactic of slowly walking the halls of their own house with flashlights, looking around like it’s the first time they’ve ever laid eyes on the place. But even if my mines and sniper rifle didn’t deter people, it’s not too hard to find a corner of the world where no one will set foot for twelve hours, so they could have just left.
I really thought it was a bold choice to set this film in the year 2022 with characters that had been purging for a number of years now, so I guess the director supposes that we’re going to get to this purgation pretty soon. We’re going to collectively realize that we’ve got to purge, otherwise the murder is going to boil over like an unattended pot of spaghetti.
Talking about the annual Purge is really enjoyable, however. It’s kind of a make-your-own fun film and you need some brothers or friends nearby to participate. As I discovered with Scott and Graham, trying to figure out the legality of these “allowed” crimes will really hurt your brain. Can you put a time-stamp on all crimes such that they fit into a twelve hour window? When does a kidnapping take place? Do you have to release them after the night is over? If you’re a notary, are you allowed to falsify documents for twelve hours because that would make becoming a notary a lot more lucrative. I could go on forever. Come up with some of your own. Have fun. Don’t watch The Purge.