A victim of it's own poor writing

Rating: 3/10 (29 March 2014)

The story, though extremely far fetched, could have made a very good dystopian sci fi horror flick. Unfortunately, this film takes that idea and goes nowhere with it. We never find out who these mysterious New Founding Fathers are or how such a law could have been passed in such a short time. On the other hand, the film's main villain, the "Polite Leader" is laughably one dimensional and shallow. Thanks to this character's ridiculously cheesy opening dialog, we know exactly what he and his friends want within 2 minutes of screen time. Any possible social commentary this film was trying to convey becomes lost in the awful script and wooden performances of most of the cast. Now, let's talk about the climax. My God, what a "I'm the screenwriter and this is the big twist I pulled out of my you-know-what" ending. Let me "spoil" it for you. The neighbors all gang up on our heroes and attempt to "purge" them themselves. Why? Well, because they got rich selling them expensive home security systems, that's why! Sorry, did I miss something? They traded their money for a product they wanted, and they're so mad about it that they would kill because of it? Basically, they're jealous they're not making as much money as our heroes, though they are clearly in the same basic financial situation as them, as they live in the same neighborhood. I'm sorry, but even for a movie like this, that makes no sense! Anyway, the movie kind of fizzles out after that, and the audience is left to ponder just how bad the effects of a "Purge" would be, though most people who saw the film would know such a law would be a bad idea in the first place.
While "The Purge" features some good action sequences, I found myself too distracted by the incredibly inane characters and ridiculous plot twists to care. Also, that robotic baby thing was clearly lifted from "Toy Story". Also, the masks were lame. Seems like if it's legal to kill all these people, you wouldn't need to hide your identity, and might make you really sweaty too.