good direction, mediocre screenplay.

Rating: 5/10 (30 September 2013)

I wasn't looking to check out "The Purge" in hurry, but it naturally came out to my list.
It's not bad as I thought it would be, but it still wasn't that good. It's well directed, had some rather descent moments with some fine angles, but screenplay was mediocre at best.
Right from the start I had a trouble with basic idea of the movie: once per year, for 12 hours all crime in America is legal. Sounds good? Well, not that much. Right from the minute one, if you just think little about it, it doesn't make much sense. Just ask yourself a question? What all those neighbors do for the rest of the year, and how will one family act to another knowing that their neighbors just killed someone last night?
In the hour before the Purge (around first 20 minutes), characters seem very relaxed. It doesn't make much sense, even if we are to believe they are used to "happening" of the Purge event. They walk around their house, fix flowers, greet each other with cookies!? Shouldn't they be scared and locked down at least few hours before the Purge start? The whole concept is hilarious. Minute before and after the "Purge time" crime is illegal, yet minuter after that, crime is legal? I must ask, what would happen if one person tried to murder his neighbor at 6:59am, yet the actual death happen at 7:01am. Would that be counted as crime? It's nitpicking, I know, but I couldn't resist. It's like a philosophical arrow.
Another hilariously bad thought in the screenplay was "weapon class". It's mentioned in just one scene, then completely forgotten. Basically, all weapons up to class 4 are allowed during the Purge (they are legal), but all weapon class above are illegal? What exactly does fit into does classes? So, killing your neighbor with shotgun during the Purge is legal, with it's not with, dunno, flamethrower? There's a hilarious line that say if class above level 4 is used during the Purge, state will react. How? They will send police? What the hell?
Kids are obviously allowed to watch TV news with footage of violence, murder, rapes and massacre. That's OK I guess in this movie's universe. At least, MPAA doesn't exist anymore and kids are allowed to watch rated R movies.
The scene with the boyfriend was predictable (or I was just lucky in predicting it) and ending is not well thought and becomes ridiculous.
Story gets going once the kid of the Ethan Hawke's family lets the stranger running from the Purge gang in their home. I didn't have that much problem with that scene, because it was a simple plot device and gives explanation why the villains want to target EH's house instead of dozen others.
Movie has some positive sides to it: It's well directed, had some moments of suspense and some directional moments are well thought. Director knows how to set camera properly for this kind of a movie and knows when and how to use the music (soundtrack itself was not memorable). Some scenes reminded me of "Assault on Precinct 13" (or Night of the Living Dead) with nameless villains trying to get into fortified building (here, home) while leads try to fend them off. Acton scenes are also well directed, they were tightly edited but you could see what's going on. Well paced.
Villains don't have much of a personality except the Leader, who is OK for the most part. He's bit creepy at first (I really liked the actor who played him and didn't mind his hilarious haircut) but there are few moments where he becomes cartoon character, mostly because of some silly lines he had to deliver. (tip: using Thee never makes your character sound creepy, just silly).
Rest of the actors were fine. Kid was bit off, but I am not sure if he was suppose to be that stiff as a character or actor is just horrible, because I don't remember seeing that kid (actor) in any other movie. Ethan Hawke is little unbelievable in scene where he has to give some exposition about the Purge and you can almost sense he is trying hard not to laugh (it was a very silly line). Daughter was OK and the actress is pretty. Lena Headey was her usual self (also, hot as usual).
Overall, like I said, mediocre screenplay that wasted director's solid skills. It's well paced, so if you can close your eyes on some of the stupid moments in the movie, you won't have a problem with this movie. You should just rent it when it comes on DVD, don' waste money on buying it, because you'll probably want to watch this one just once.