Set up for greatness but nosedives as it begins

Rating: 5/10 (8 June 2013)

This movie was totally set up to be a iconic horror movie, the plot was a new idea, and not a stereotypical demon demon ghost ghost horror movie. The masks could have been some of the most recognized masks in horror history along with Michael Meyers, Ghostface, etc... You maybe could have seen people dressing up as characters from The Purge for Hallloween. But sadly, this movie wasn't well done enough for it to be in horror history. If they hadn't relied so much on jump scares, they could have legitimately scared people just by the horror that The Purge really is. If they would have made it more suspenseful it could have been great. If they would have focused on the feelings of rage that the characters had against other characters that made them want to kill each other, it could have been an amazing and thought provoking movie. But sadly, it falls short of being anything more than a summer horror flick. The Purge trailer really captured my interest. It had a very intriguing plot with actors and actresses that I like. However, only a few minutes into the movie I could tell it was going to go downhill from there. It all started with the characters. All of them were WEIRD! They had no depth and just came off as dumb and careless. I felt like Ethan Hawke's character was just narcissistic and obsessed with the fact that they had a nice home and lots of money. When his death rolled around, I truly didn't care. I had no feeling of sadness because they didn't write his character well enough that you were rooting for him and his family to live. Charlie was the most normal character, and I liked him. He seemed to be the only one with a sense of feeling, remorse, and what was right and wrong. Zoey was just a stereotypical dumb & ditzy teenage horror movie girl. Oblivious to what her boyfriend's intentions were when he snuck into her house to "talk" to her father. That part was SO predictable. I don't really know what to think about the mom, I didn't really like her, but I didn't think she was as bad as some of the other characters. Now let's talk about the stranger that wanted to kill the guy Charlie let into the house. Oh. My. Gosh. That was some terrible over-acting and terrible lines going on whenever he was on screen. And I'm not trying to be harsh, but it just wasn't good. OK, that's enough about the characters. Now for the script. The script had me shaking my head from the beginning of the movie to the end. It just wasn't written well. No backstory on any characters, and it didn't make you have any feelings toward them. And there were also a few scenes that the cinematography made me cringe. Sometimes it was way too close to their faces, sometimes I could barely tell what was going on. It wasn't all bad, but a few scenes were not shot good and I would have definitely changed some of the angles they shot. And the ending, oh my... The whole theater was laughing when Mary said "lets end this night in peace", or whatever she said. It was just plain stupid. It's almost like the writers ran out of idea's on how to end it and just said "OH WELL!" Even though this review sounds harsh, it wasn't an awful movie. It holds your attention throughout because you want to see what happens. And it didn't feel like it was dragging out the story. The masks were creepy and one of my favorite parts about the movie. It was an OK movie. I didn't hate it, but I did think it was pretty stupid at times. If you're interested in watching this, I'd say wait to rent it. Thank you for reading!