This movie will make you purge. By purge, I meant more like hurl vomit.

Rating: 5/10 (22 June 2013)

Don't get me wrong, it's not a boring film or not that bad of a film. It was pretty entertaining, but it's nothing new. It was a disappointment. It had an awesome interesting plot that could have been more awesome if they were to take it to a better story than this dumb 'home invasion' movie. A cool concept was really wasted, and became a typical home invasion flick. I just wish they had a back story to the film. The film did little to no explaining how this world became this way. Honestly how does crime and unemployment rates hit an all-time low when the government instituted an annual 12-hour time period called "The Purge", during which people can vent their negative emotions because all crime is legal and emergency services are suspended. How does killing people stop poverty? Cause they kill homeless people. If unemployment is 1%. How can there be homeless people? Why spend hours trying to kill some homeless people, when you can rob a bank? How do people get envy of the other people wealth, if unemployment is 1 %.? The movie would make more sense if they explain it more like saying it was more population controls reasons. The movie doesn't explain how the country went from bankruptcy to prosperity through violence through Social Darwinism. Even if the Purge did exist, are we to believe that nobody would commit a crime after it. Most people that commit crime, does it because it's not legal. If it was legal, than it's not a crime. In no way, is crime going to stop, because one day out of the year, it's legal. There always going to be rule-breakers. It's like saying, people can only smoke marijuana on April 20. Is that really going to stop people from smoking any other day? No. When most people kill another person, most of the time is on it because it's a crime of passion, where the person can't control sudden strong impulse such as rage, and attack people. In no way, can these people just wait and wait for one day just to arrive to get rid of somebody. Society would cave in plus vendettas would carry over, if someone killed someone you loved or tried to kill you of course you would want revenge and might not be willing to wait a year for it. Most people that commit crime, are not thinking of the consequences of it. Anyways, Directed by James DeMoncano, the movie starts in the year 2022, where the Sandlin family held hostage for harboring the target of a murderous group during the Purge. While the acting is alright. I have say Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey are great in their parent roles. The children are some of the most annoying, and unbelievable characters ever. The movie is full of stupidity people trying to hide in the dark with a flashlight on. In one scene, the daughter is held at gunpoint, thrown against a wall and knocked out, wakes up and is mad at her dad for tying up the dude that did that to her. Plus, the son is still sticking up for the guy after he does that. While the characters do make pretty stupid decisions, I always make the argument that in a moment of terror anyone is prone to not making the correct decision, but this was just pure stupidity. The people that want to murder them, are not scary, but more comedian type. Let's us purge guy was just hilarious to watch. I think it would have much better ending involving the Sandin boy. Too bad the government is exempt during it. If the left-wing and right-wing extremists all stabbed each other to death with machetes once a year, maybe we'd get less scumbag politicians on both sides. At less, they explain that plothole. In my opinion, the story isn't that original. There was a 1967 episode of Star Trek call 'Return of the Archons' with a similar plot, in which an otherwise placid society is allowed pre-scheduled 12-hour periods of lawlessness and violence. Rather than a normal home invasion, this movie could have been pretty good like 2000's Battle Royale. A "state of life" film instead of a thriller. Instead of making it about 1 Purge, it should be like a film that takes place over a long period of time. It starts with the pre-conditions that lead to it, and then the purge comes out and we see how life gradually improves except for that 1 day a year. Instead of treating the purge as something disturbing, treat it as something normal. That way, the viewer is more disturbed by it, just as 1971's A Clockwork Orange shows violence in a very nonchalant light. We see how successful the purges initially are, and then learn the moral of the story by the end when the purge isn't working anymore when society bring down to years of years of violence abuse. That would have work, but this movie didn't. Some critics think the movie plot is, an attack on the Republicans and Tea Party ideas. Leave the poor on their own and eventually enough of them will die off, thus eliminating most of the country's troubles? Republicans tend to be tougher on crime than liberals, so I doubt the majority of Republicans would support purge. After all most Republicans support things like the death penalty and tougher laws on child molesters. So no, I don't think so. I think it's just a dystopia idea. The plot/concept is absolutely brilliant, they should have more with it. This is another movie that did not reach its full potential. It's worth a look, but probably not in the theater. Just rent it on video or something. That being said, overall it is good idea, poor execution