An Intense Night At The Sandin Household

Rating: 5/10 (15 June 2013)

The Purge could be a brilliant piece of social commentary, however it throws that out the window in order to become a much less appealing predictable horror film full of unneeded violence and predictable horror movie clichés.
The film has a promising first 20 minutes that introduces us to the family led by father James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) and mother Mary Sandin (Lena Headey) and also introduces us to the idea of the purge. The purge is a 12 hour period of time in which all crime is legal, it is meant to provide people with a release so that they can "cleanse their souls". In the futuristic American setting it had been working like a charm and gained the support of many.
I would be lying if I said this movie didn't boast solid performances from a few of its actors, namely Ethan Hawke and Rhys Wakefield. Wakefield is probably the brightest spot as he very effectively portrays the main villain who gives the Sandin family a hard time. However, the problem with this film is that these performances are put to waste due to the painfully dumb script. It is unmercifully cliché and old. The main conflict is created in such a poor way that it makes the rest of the movie a joke. Had the writers found a different way to create conflict than through an ignorant child then the film would undoubtedly been a much better one.
The movie is full of your typical horror clichés and is written with a low sense of creativity. The concept itself sounds like a brilliant plot for a fresh new horror film with an underlying social commentary but that is not the route it takes. Instead it becomes a boring almost humorously dumb unoriginal effort. If you looked up wasted potential in a thesaurus you would probably see a movie poster for The Purge.
5/10