Great concept, Poor movie

Rating: 3/10 (20 August 2013)

Over the weekend I got to see one of the most anticipated movies of the summer for me, The Purge. I had high expectations off the build, the idea and the great marketing through the trailers. So here is what I thought was the Good, the Bad & the Ugly.
The Purge happens once a year; it's a 12-hour time period that crime is legal. As James Sandin and his family settle in for the annual Purge, his son makes a mistake that he would soon regret.
The Good – The Idea – James DeMonaco came up with a brilliant idea here, and boy was I excited.
My favorite part was the scenes leading up to Sandin (Hawke) turning into a kick-ass hero. While I 100% hated Hawke in this role, his becoming a fine hero that was trying to protect his family was pretty good. The fight scenes had a nice touch to them and he really kicked some ass.
The Bad –The Plot holes: Without spoiling the film, there were just some terrible plot holes planted throughout its entirety.
The Acting – Ethan Hawke (who I don't think has made a good movie since Training Day) was just terrible in this film with his lifeless portrayal of the father, James Sandin.
The rest of the cast from Headey, Burkholder (who I wish died), Kane & Hodge was just bland. I don't know what it was but they were awful. They never really got me to buy into their characters to honestly care what happened to them.
The Ugly – The Title of the movie is the Purge: The movie is based on a Purge, which is a 12-hour window where crime is legal. So why did we get stuck in a house for 2 hours and see very minimal purging? Outside a montage at the beginning, more of a build towards the whole "purge" situation would've been nice.
The End – So I really think a solid ending to this film could've saved it from being as horrible as the movie was. Well we just couldn't have a good ending could we? It was just as bad as the film was, and a stupid way to end this movie.
The Directing – DeMonaco never really goes to the places he should've with this film. From scene to scene it was just poor. For a "Horror" movie, absolutely nothing was remotely scary.
The Verdict - 1 and ½ stars out of 5
The Purge fell short of my expectations big time. What could have been a great concept was turned into a mockery. James DeMonaco should be credited for a great idea and then Purged for his poor execution on the film. Sadly, fans like myself flocked to see it and we will get an unneeded sequel to this movie. I would not recommend seeing this film to anyone in theaters.