The Purge

pffffff the trend of smuggling sociological dilemmas and allegories into exploitation has definitively found its limit. The most idiotic concept to be seen this millennium, depicting the situation of DeMonaco's homegrown theory that vomiting out everything negative in 12 hours will keep the light in the survivors' souls for the length of the year doesn't work. Bravo. The incessant criticism of the American mentality doesn't much appetize either, given that it relies on a non-existent phenomenon, and the infinite inanity afflicting even the characters, where you don't know if you should feel sorry for half of Ylvis, Ethan Hawke, or Lena Headey for what they're putting their talents to under to this rockin’ good idea. It's good enough for three stars because of the disruption of the murder formula in the last third and the sense that you don't get this kind of obscurity in your living room all that often, but the imbecility is painful. (11/19/2013)

The premise is as amazing as a beer oasis in the Sahara (yeah, that's how miserable horror movies are today) and the filmmakers manage to create a believable atmosphere of fear and moral dilemmas a couple of times, but why is it such a B-movie in the end? A generic home invasion template is the last thing I would want to see when imagining a disjointed killing spree in the lawless streets of a big city, especially with such a good cast and potential for craftsmanship. The following episodes are even more stupid, but the third one at least is satisfyingly funny and properly morbid, this one is just a hopeful and big-headed failure. (10/28/2013)

Thematically, it’s very interesting and original, but there are a lot of unfinished things. Firstly, it is terribly predictable, you already know in advance how it will all end, because from the very beginning you have absolutely clear and obvious hints. You can predict who will kill whom and how, and of course there is a range of scenes where everything is almost decided, only the final blow is missing, and of course a savior appears somewhere around the corner and foils all the villains' plans. These clumsy tricks bothered me the most. Technically, it's relatively okay, and the acting is mostly fine. The characters sometimes behave illogically, though – a script error. The theme of purification is quite interestingly handled, with the right "political-social" undertones and a reference to social segregation (rich vs poor/good vs bad people) also well done. Surprisingly, I expected it to be more like a technically and dramaturgically shallow thriller without a twist or ideas. It turned out like this, and it's not completely terrible, just once is probably enough. One of many additions to the genre. (08/25/2013)

The more original the premise, the more stupid is the film's execution thereof. The whole second half is one big mess, with clichés piled on top of clichés. If you still enjoy watching the classic, old situation we’ve seen a thousand times – the final villain's final blow is about to come, and lo and behold, the last-minute rescue is here – help yourself here, you'll see it in about five cases, with slight variations depending on what weapon they happen to be holding. Not to mention that the main characters act like blithering idiots. And if you think about it a bit and take it to its conclusion, the premise is actually nonsense. I’m surprised someone as smart as Ethan Hawke went for it. (08/11/2013)

A colossal waste of time and of an interesting idea. This smurf mainly needs to be purged, and maybe he would then manage to stuff at least one twist into the film that I wouldn't guess even with an ax parked on a footpath. The acting death match between Hawk and Wakefield ended in a beautiful draw, and I wanted to shove a billiard ball in both of their noses. Fifteen minutes at the beginning plus the final captions are pretty good. The rest sucks. (08/13/2013)