A decent watch but with all the hype I expected more.

Rating: 5/10 (22 October 2015)

2022 USA, Crime is non existent and unemployment is at an all time low (that's reality gone before the film has even started.) To help build a society they've introduced Purge night. An annual twelve hour period where crime is legal, anything goes, including murder. Everyone makes a plan for Purge Night, lock down, parties an murder. The film focuses on one wealthy family, The Sandin's. James and Mary are hugely wealthy, living in a smart neighbourhood with their two children Zoey and Charlie. James has made his money by selling top notch security systems, even their mild mannered neighbours have all invested. The Purge is seen as a time to cleanse America, the homeless and other drains on society are purged. On that night Charlie let's in a homeless stranger who's pursued by a group who mean to purge him. James is given an ultimatum, release him, or they'll break in and kill everyone.
I think my expectations for this film were really high. It satisfied to some extent, but I had expected so much more. I bought in to the world they had created, somehow the thought of crime only occurring one night a year made sense. The production values were high, the camera work slick, it felt like a very well made film.
My gripe with the film is that it felt small, what could have been big, brutal and gritty turned out to be a home invasion film, which let's face it could have happened at any time, the concept of Purge night seemed a little redundant somehow.
Quite a few clichés surrounding the main characters, the daughter with awesome legs, the creepy boy, the nice but sinister neighbours. I will applaud the performance of Rhys Wakefield though, he managed to create a huge disparity between his appearance and his behaviour, he at least felt original.
I had hoped for more, the basic premise was excellent, it was just sadly underused, I'm sure there will be several follow ups. 5/10