Movie Review: The Purge

The Purge
Thriller [NC16]
Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Rhys Wakefield
85 min

3 out of 5 stars

By Yvette Kan

Crime at all time low, unemployment at nearly one percent, a flourishing economy — these come at the cost of rampant crime one day of the year. In The Purge, American citizens are willing to trade a day of crime for wealth and success.

Set in 2022, the Purge is a 12-hour period where all crime – including murder – is legalised.

During the Purge, the Sandin family is safely ensconced in their armoured house, protected from the murderous mobs trawling the streets. But when their young son Charlie (Max Burkholder) gives a man (Edwin Hodge), who is targeted by a gang of killers, refuge in their house, the thugs turn on the family instead.

While the rest of the cast delivers solid performances as terrified victims convincingly, Rhys Wakefield’s performance as the psychopathic gang leader stands out the most.

Wakefield plays a polite college kid who urges the father James (Ethan Hawke) to hand over the target to be killed. His villainous character is loathsome and chilling, with an utter disregard for human life, while constantly referring to the target as an animal to be slaughtered.

As a thriller, The Purge has plenty of tense scenes as the characters play cat-and-mouse in a darkhouse, keeping the audience is constantly on the edge of their seats as the Sandin family creep around their own house, unaware of the killers who are right behind them.

But the film overreaches itself by including too many themes into the narrative.

It initially appears to be a cautionary tale of the exclusion of the poor in a capitalistic world as the film starts off with news reporters discussing the economic benefits of the Purge. However, with the hunted man being black and his killers being a group of rich white kids, the film also attempts to touch on the racism in present-day society.

At the same time, the film also attempts to touch on the troubles youths face by characterising Zoey as a pouty teenager, and Charlie as an intelligent, idealistic boy struggling to reconcile his ideals with the Purge.

By attempting to address too many social issues, The Purge — which is a successful thriller — is reduced to an overly moralistic film.

Audiences can expect to be sufficiently entertained by the film’s suspenseful action and interesting premise of the legality of murder for 12 hours. However, with so many social commentaries underlying the movie, some viewers might leave the cinema confused.