Yet another elimination derby, this time among the wealthy.

Rating: 2/10 (7 September 2016)

Father James Sandin, mother Mary, daughter Zoey, and son Charlie are a nuclear family who are quite well-to-do. They live in year is 2022, after the actions of the 'New Founding Fathers,' who revamped the failed United States. One of their innovations is the 12 hour periods, once a year, when nothing is illegal. These periods are The Purge, when pent up anger results in massive loss of life, especially among the poor or the disconnected.
James sells security systems that work 99% of the time. Great. The biggest threats to the family's safety are (1) Charlie, who lets in a wounded victim and (2) Zoey, whose boyfriend stows away in the home/fortress just before the Purge starts. Giving sanctuary to the victim results in the organised attack on the household by well-to-do marauders who want the victim so they can finish killing him.
The film is about the outside attackers assailing the household, and the family's decisions on how to deal with it. Their target is not the family, but the family's stupidity turns the family into an additional target. Will the attackers break in? That's easy to guess. Will they leave anyone alive? Are they the only threat?
There are some interesting ideas here, but the execution just sucked. The only bright spot for me (the reason I gave it a 1/5 instead of 0/5) was watching Ethan Hawke defend his home vigorously against home invaders. That gave a few moments of feeling of righteous revenge, which was rather fleeting.