Not Quite Original and Makes for a Very Weak Argument

Rating: 6/10 (12 February 2016)

When I watched this movie, it is obvious that most of the technical aspects and the performances by the actors were more than competent. However, I realized that I had actually seen a story similar to this. The episode "Return of the Archons" from the original Star Trek series. A whole planet's community is controlled by a computerized personality called Landru, kept in a state of blank tranquility. Once annually, the community participates in what is called "the Festival" that begins during the Red Hour at which point, Landru will turn off and the people will be free. During the Festival, all of the people engage in sexual aggression, violence, and destruction, but they go back to being tranquil after twelve hours when the Festival ends. Indeed, the story is almost the same. The main difference is that The Purge is set on Earth and pushes much harder to evoke commentary on the human condition and society. Unfortunately, the argument it makes falls apart all too quickly and is self-defeating. For example, the Sandins warn their children that the Purge is a helpful catharsis to cleanse people of their inner rage. Even scientists on the TV make the same argument. The son asks why his parents do not participate. The parents simply say they do not feel a need to. This alone states that the Purge does not serve everyone, but a select group of people, mainly those who were never good people to begin with. The movie argues that crime is down because of the Purge and catharsis is the key. In the real world, there are people out there whom the Purge would not affect - organized crime/career criminals, terrorists, and most serial killers for starters. These people commit crimes not out of sealed up rage but out of profit, political reasons, and to fulfill desires that are irrepressible. Because of this, they would continue their activities outside of the Annual Purge. The movie does not go into enough detail as to how the New Founding Fathers seized power, solved these particular problems, and made the Purge the primary cause for America's new golden age. It becomes too obvious that the Purge's true purpose is to eliminate the impoverished in order to unburden the economy. On the other hand, it is an interesting twist on the totalitarian story. The Purge is shown to have an additional motive. If this is indeed a totalitarian society, it uses the opposite strategy. Unlike most dystopia portrayals, where fear is instilled through oppression of freedom, it is instilled here via the grant of total freedom. In other words, it ensures that organized insurrection is difficult since the Purge makes people not fear the government, but fear their very own friends, families, and neighbors. In the end though, the movie makes it sound as though once the Purge ends, everything goes back to normal which is impossible. For example, if I saw my next door neighbor - whom I am friends with - rape, torture, and murder a complete stranger outside my window, during the annual Purge, I cannot simply write that off as a catharsis. You cannot expect me to go back and treat that neighbor like my friend the next day. One cannot shut down civilization and then expect it to come back within twelve hours. Aside from its weak argument, there are a number of moments in the movie that come off as cheap plot twists that were simply meant to keep tensions high, plus the movie descends into a simple survival tale instead of a smart commentary on humanity. In conclusion, you will get a good thrill out of it, but do not expect it to terrify you as it does not make its arguments very strong. In fact, the Star Trek episode came off as more believable, since those people's humanity was suppressed completely by Landru, and brought back to tranquility through mind control.