Interesting concept, but very dull.

Rating: 4/10 (3 February 2014)

The Purge is probably one of the most average films I've seen in my life in just about every facet. It's a hard film to down, because it does what it does fairly well, but it's even harder to find something good to say about it. It's the cinematic equivalent of McDonalds. It'll fill you up and it tastes pretty okay, but it's still just a little unsatisfying.
I will start on a good note, though: the concept is, admittedly, extremely interesting. All crime legal for 12 hours gives rise to pretty much anything happening in the film, not to mention it's pretty fascinating to explore the moral and emotional implications of committing a crime under such circumstances. Does it suddenly become right because it's legal? Are we free of our guilty conscience under these circumstances? Is our conscience determined by law in the first place?
All the concept in the world means nothing though if it's not used properly, and that's The Purge's biggest disappointment. The film does nothing to explore the concept, and instead settles on being a fairly mediocre home invasion thriller. That would be tolerable if it were a good home invasion film, but really it isn't, and in fact it's very run of the mill. The main villain is so over the top in his mannerisms and apparent nastiness that he's rendered totally unbelievable, and ends up being more like a caricature than a character. Every other "bad guy" is masked, which is pretty much Lazy Scriptwriting 101.
So, we fall back on the action, which is admittedly pretty okay. Again nothing spectacular, and certainly not as frightening as the trailers may make you think, but pretty solid. Somehow you feel the film is going to be nastier than it is, but it never really kicks off the way it should. There's not enough gore to make it at least a somewhat entertaining splatter-fest, and not enough tension to make it truly exciting. Again, average. Matters aren't helped by the acting, with Ethan Hawk's performance being the only one that feels particularly good. The ending especially is a massive anticlimax; I'm not really sure what the screenplay is going for with it, but it's not exciting, or memorable in any way, shape, or form.
We're left with a pretty average film all round, and one that's aggressively average. That's usually an alright thing; average doesn't mean bad, and usually, I would award an average film a 5 or 6 out of 10. It gets a 4, though, because it's such a missed opportunity. The excellent concept of the story belongs to a better, braver screenplay. Maybe next time.