American Nightmare 4 : Les Origines

I've said since day one that The Purge is an incredible concept which positively reeks of potential. I love the idea and there is so much that could done with it, but the moment the first film revealed itself as yet another home invasion movie my belief that Hollywood could do it justice diminished.

Now here we are with the 4th movie and a prequel no less, they've had 5yrs to think about the concept and what they could do with it. So why is this latest offering the worst?

You know what it reminds me of? Attack the Block (2011), that awful British sci-fi movie about aliens that attack a council estate. So we have the absolute scum of the Earth as our protagonists and I'm supposed to cheer them on? Absolutely not.

The First Purge does the same thing, our "Heroes" are drug dealers, weapons merchants etc who I simply cannot get behind. If a movie has no real protagonists it's DOA for me.

Full of the usual fantastic social commentary, incredible aspects of the Purge concept but once again a weak delivery. For the fourth time the concept feels wasted and instead we're subjected to another brainless action flick.

The more I think about the concept however the more I question whether it can be done justice. Surely there is someone out there who can do something with it?

So in conclusion, The First Purge is the worst Purge.

The Good:

Lex Scott Davis

Every aspect that embraces the concept

The Bad:

Some wretched characters

Stock scream

Awful soundtrack

Ending is ridiculous

This film was embarrassing like a straight to video flick from 2003. There was nothing remotely interesting about it. It was corny and It had outdated racial stereotypes which frankly I found offensive.

It really is a shame they have ruined these films, by far the worst one they have made. The first 3 are amazing but I wouldn't waste my time or money watching this again. 1 local drug dealer takes on and beats the whole.

It's not a terrible film, but also not a great film. Go in expecting the same as the last two films (not the first film, that was a completely different type of movie)

It's a dreadful bore, with poor writing, and an incredibly forced depiction of the Black side of this fictional movement. Everything the film tries to start anew feels so out of place and none of it amounts to anything remotely interesting, while everything else feels like a forced tie in product to the other films before it, never directly addressing them, but largely relying on similar setups and situations that the other ones have already dealt with. The acting is incredibly over the top, the screenplay even more so, never knowing what it quite wants to be or wants to say. The direction is harsh, the tone and look of the film bleak, and it never decides on whether it wants to be a trip to empowerment or a social commentary, both of which the film pulls off poorly. The music is forced, the characters thin, and I can't think of many things positive about the film besides potential that the film so poorly executed. In the end, The First Purge is not only a pointless sequel, but a truly lackluster film, with no agenda but to accumulate some more money for this seemingly never ending franchise. My Rating: 2.5/10