confused and not fully explored

Rating: 3/10 (2 February 2014)

Such a terrific idea gone to waste. It's happened before and it will probably happen again. Sadly, with all its "Funny Games," "Assault on Precinct 13" and "Them" influences, it manages to be nothing more than a boring, cliché-ridden, confused mess.
The premise is simple; one night a year, for 12 hours, the population of the USA have the legal right to commit any crime they desire, including murder. One man and his family have gotten rich off this programme by selling security systems to his rich neighbourhood. This year he's going to get his comeuppance.
what could follow is a film that explores the money made on fear and the conspicuous consumption ideology of middle class America and Europe. It's also fun to watch the bourgeoisie get what's coming to them. Instead, shortly after the 'Purge' commences, most sense and ideas go out the window: the writers can't even come up with a decent villain.
As soon as the 'Polite Leader' of the freaks arrives, gurning at the Ethan Hawke's terrified James through CCTV, all tension is lost. We know exactly how it will pan out and, unsurprisingly, that's exactly how it pans out. Except, well, the whole Ethan Hawke having awesome combat skills for some lily-livered business man. There's barely a whiff of danger and no game of chess played between hunter and hunted. Unlike other home invasion films (the aforementioned ones as well as "Panic Room," in particular), the main characters here seem to have every idea of what is happening and every idea of how to prevent it. There's also very little to fight for in this film; Jodi Foster and Naomi Watts were both fighting for their families in their films and the poor couple in "Them" were fighting just to stay alive. Ethan Hawke, however charismatic, isn't fighting for the justice or injustice of "The Purge," his belief in the system is never clarified and he certainly doesn't seem to be fighting for his family seeing as they all seem too cosy and miserable in their massive home.
Sadly, the writers don't know what to do with their cast and characters disappear and reappear on a whim, doing very little but pushing the film towards an inevitable climax. There's a homeless man who puts the gears in motion and some neighbours who are/aren't the family's saviours but they're all so inconsistent. This could have played like a more violent Hitchcock film or at the very least a smarter version of "Mother's Day" but fails in both aspects - too loose and underdeveloped for Hitchcock and too lacking in conviction and horror to be "Mother's Day." The fact that the main antagonist is cornier than Blowfeld makes the whole thing even harder to stomach - was he aiming for Michael Pitt in "Funny Games?"
All in all, the film ends criticising the violence it is based on making the protagonists nothing more than a bunch of cowards who are too afraid to stand up for their convictions. I sincerely doubt that this is the film they wanted to make.