Original Concept; Execution the Problem!

Rating: 6/10 (27 March 2020)

The Purge is one of those minority films that has a better ending than beginning. I came to the film enthusiastically, though knowing little about it. However the idea of a family who find themselves endangered by a gang of murderers during the annual Purge, a night during which all crime, including murder, is temporarily legal seemed really intriguing to me; especially considering America's collective love of all things to do with guns, ammunition and the right to bear arms. The Sandin family set-up is good too, with dad James a very successful entrepreneur, whose company specialises in home security systems, specifically designed to offer protection during The Purge.
Unfortunately the main storyline's implementation relies frustratingly again on the eternal trope of the "naughty children". So we have son Charlie, who's clearly supposed to be at least 12/13 in the movie and a nerd who likes to play with electronic toys. Now despite needing to have Dad explain to him what The Purge is at the start of the movie (to give us valuable exposition), he unilaterally decides to turn off the security. Yes, somehow he already knows the access codes and decides the family will handle things differently. BTW after this occurs and creates all manner of chaos, Dad never has a critical word to say to the brat.
Speaking of brats, we haven't spoken about daughter Zoey yet, who is also a unique piece of work. Although Dad doesn't approve of her boyfriend, of course she knows better. Then when said boyfriend tries to kill her father during The Purge but is grieviously wounded himself, what does she do? Yes, she runs away into the mansion-sized house, worrying about the murderous boyfriend's health and not her father's. She spends much of the rest of the movie running away from anyone who's actually likely to offer her protection. She's worse than a damsel in distress; more like a moron in distress.
Mom played by Lena Headey, until very late in the third act, plays a stereotypically indecisive, dithering woman, very much the polar opposite of her infamous Game of Thrones persona, Cersei Lannister. She does a lot of nervous creeping around the house with a gun in her hand ... but not much else. Most of the heavy lifting in terms of decisive action is taken by Ethan Hawke's James and let it be said; he does a pretty good job. Also smarmily good is chief villain "The Polite Stranger", though it's difficult to see how he inspires much loyalty amongst his gang of thugs, when he's shown to off one for a minor infraction, within the blink of an eye.
What lifts The Purge in overall quality is an excellent third act, where we actually are given several reasonably unexpected plot twists which ramp up the suspense and interest quotient accordingly. The quality of the action improves too. Early in the film there are a couple of really badly-lit, choppily edited sequences, whereas in the back half, we start to actually see who's attacking who and what they are doing about it; always a help. Even the post - credit soundtrack adds to the overall calibre of the tale.
Many will be aware that due to the success of this first film, a franchise was created with the immediate sequel, The Purge:Anarchy supposedly being even better than this one. I just might be tempted after seeing this, given half a chance.