La noche de la expiación

Humans have a natural instinct as predators to kill, but society forces us to repress these feelings by living in a ''civilized'' way....according to new Ethan Hawke led film The Purge, a very interesting concept of a film, which explores a future society in which all crime is allowed for one night a year...

It's 2022 (not actually that far away), and unemployment in America is 1%, crime is at an all-time low, and generally, everybody seems happy, especially James Sandin (Hawke), a rich citizen who makes his fortune selling security systems for houses to use during the annual Purge. Basically the reason why unemployment and crime is so low is because, for one night a year, a Purge occurs, where all crime (murder, raper robbery, the whole lot) is made legal, and no police or emergency services are allowed to interfere. Mad. But also intriguing. James and his family happily avoid the Purge by using a security system outside their large house while the rest of society kills each other, but all that changes when their youngest son Charlie decides to let a stranger into the house......

This starts off as a really captivating film, the concept of legal crime kept me hooked, but soon enough, it descends into a stereotypical action film where Ethan Hawke fights off gangs from his house with a variety of handguns,and all originality gets lost in a haze of bullets (literally). The short running time (85mins) and variety of twists every 5 minutes makes sure that it doesn't get too boring, so overall a decent watch, but nothing that provokes any thinking afterwards.

6/10- A lesser version of Panic Room

It's 2022 in America. Unemployment is at 1% and crime is at an all-time low except one night every year. The law allows many forms of crime including even murder in that 12 hour period. James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) sells home security and is having his best year. He has gathered his family (Lena Headey, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane) to wait out the night. Things don't turn out well starting with the daughter's boyfriend. Then the son allows a vagrant to enter their house who is followed by a mob intend on killing that homeless person.

The premise is interesting and original reminding me of Sparta and the Helots. It's certainly a good way to get into a horror movie. However there are a lot of aspects that went uninvestigated in this movie. Everybody has enemies and it's an obvious avenue to go for. For example, he's the best salesman which seems to me to be an obvious reason for other co-workers to kill him. Writer/director James DeMonaco just didn't think through all the possibilities in this world.

The obvious fix is to make the purge be only against the poor and the helpless. There could be rules about harboring the hunted. The family lets in that homeless guy which could make them fair game. I'm willing to not harp on it but I must deduct a point for the mistake.

When the power goes out, the darkness is not a good way to shoot a film. However when the mob gets vehicles which could light up the house, the lighting looks good. All the light and shadows provide great horror opportunities. I wish more of the movie take place in that lighting scheme.

Another missed opportunity is the ticking clock. It could have been a great vehicle for raising the tension. Instead the movie wastes this away by sitting around to run out the clock. It's not the most compelling climax.

It's a great original premise with loads of opportunities. With a few more tweaks, this could be a great horror franchise. It has a built-in morality play. The premise doesn't even need any one particular character to carry it either. This could run for a long time if they put in a few fixes.

The Purge (2013)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Annoying, dumb and eventually cruel film dealing with the one day of the year when America allows you to kill anyone who want without being punished. This "purge" is supported by a security system seller (Ethan Hawke) and his wife (Lena Headey) but during the 12-hour period they find themselves the target of a gang of murderers. THE PURGE pretty much gave away its story during the theatrical trailer and I thought to myself that we were going to get something fresh or something that has a few interesting ideas but just didn't work. Sadly there are some interesting ideas floating around but the screenplay is simply so bad and so clichéd that it pretty much kills anything positive. The biggest problem is that the film is never scary, which is just downright disappointing. Another problem is that the film itself doesn't know what to do with its "free day to kill" idea. It takes a while for the viewer to warm up to this futuristic world where we can kill but as soon as you accept this "law" the screenplay then pulls a quick one and starts to challenge the morals of such a thing. We then get a bunch of political non-sense thrown in just to make us question the whole thing. Why sell a film on an idea and then not know where to get with it? Even more annoying is that this film contains some of the dumbest and most annoying characters in the history of cinema. Yes, the history of cinema. The couple's young son is someone I wanted to be off the screen ASAP. The daughter isn't much better but just wait until the two twists that happen. Both Hawke and Headey give good performances as does the rest of the cast. If you're expecting a horror film then you're going to be disappointed because even though there's quite a bit of violence, for the most part this is nothing more than a rip-off of STRAW DOGS but set in the future with this one "change." Sadly, THE PURGE just never works and in the end you're left with a major disappointment and just a cheap excuse to kill.

Short and Simple Review by WubsTheFadger

First off, this film could have been amazing. The plot and premise are very original and had a lot of potential. But sadly, the story is full of clichés such as stupid teenage kids, bad decisions, and clueless villains. If they had only made the film in a way that we could see multiple Purge stories, it would have been better. The ending is the probably the best part of the story.

The acting is okay at best. Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey perform the best. Max Burkholder and Adelaide Kane play two of the most annoying, stupid, and idiotic characters I have ever laid eyes on.

The film starts off very slow and continues to have slow pacing until the end.

The blood and gore aspect of the film is very good. This is one of the highest points about the film.

Pros: Very original story, the ending, good acting from Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey, and a good use of blood and gore

Cons: Slow pacing, wasted potential with the story, annoying characters, Max Burkholder and Adelaide Kane and their terrible performance, and a lot of clichés

Overall Rating: 4.3

I liked the concept of this movie it was engrossing and made me really think. I had hoped this movie would push above average but with certain plot holes and a story that gets weak towards the end it fell within this category. None of the acting stood out apart from Lena Headey. You will want to watch the movie for its concept but find the final product a average thriller action.