All Bark and no Bite

Rating: 3/10 (31 May 2013)

By the year 2022, America has become so nihilistic that it deems necessary one night of the year where people can commit any crime legally, in order to better benefit the economy.
This provides the framework for "The Purge" a horror/thriller/sci- fi/social statement/dystopian movie that is ultimately too unsure of itself. The film tries to juggle themes of unemployment, the 1percenters, out of control youths and the American dream while also juggling the standard conventions of a paint-by-numbers horror in the house movie. All this added baggage turns whatever the film makers were trying to say into incomprehensible background noise, when all they can manage to convey is: "Boo Jumpscare!", "Look at our creepy villains!" and "I bet no-one who sees this will be old enough to remember Straw Dogs!".
Ethan Hawke (who looks really haggard here) plays the father of a family of four, Lena Heady plays the miscast wife and two kids no-one will ever see again after this movie play the kids. I'm not just saying these things to be cruel. I promise you wont ever see Ethan Hawke half-ass it through a movie like you will here, I guess after Training Day he just gave up trying to be good in movies. Lena Heady is a fantastic actress, but she is in totally the wrong role here. Heady dominates the screen playing icy, disdainful strong women roles (Dredd, GoT) but is stuck playing the most bland generic motherly figure possible to write, she takes a mundane role and adds nothing to it. The children were horrible, i don't need to go into them any more. Rhys Wakefield steals the show as the polite leading member of a gang of murderers, a good example of what a creepy face and smile combo can bring.
But what really sinks The Purge is the fact that no character in the movie acts like a real person does, it's all contrived to get the movie going. Characters switch motivations in the blink of an eye, only seeing the danger of the situation when the script suits it. After being told of their impending death unless they surrender a homeless man seeking refuge in their home, the family does almost nothing to keep themselves safe, they obviously don't care enough about their family to save their lives.
The dialogue had me rolling on the floor though, "surrender the homeless pig" and "let us purge their souls for America" are likely to have audiences howling.
A common scenario in this movie, was to have one of the main characters held at gun point or some other situation of imminent death, only to be saved by some other character off camera. This was fine the first time or second, but after about the eighth it was becoming predictable and laughable.
Plus this movie is short, it barely scrapes 80 minutes. I get the impression they filmed this movie in a week inside some rich white persons home and then slapped the movie together without really having much footage to edit.
The Purge is a bad movie, plain and simple. It's themes aren't though out, the actors aren't trying, the characters behave irrationally, the intense moments are hysterical, the editing is choppy and clumsy, the scenario is unbelievable and poorly staged and its not even long enough to really get mad over because it ends so soon.
It may have had a pretty cool idea for a premise, but the execution sank this sucker. I expected better from Platinum Dunes.