The First Purge

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 It was corny and It had outdated racial stereotypes which frankly I found offensive.

What I loved about the Purge series is how it focused on the darker side of humanity. No one was able to be viewed as a "good guy" because, given the right circumstances, we all harbor terrible passions that can be let out if allowed. In this movie, they show "how it all started" but in doing so, they couldnt help but pander to a certain group of people who want to make all white people evil and all black and poor people victims. Even the black gangsters who routinely kill and spread evil over the world end up being shown as "true heroes". Why does everything have to be "this group is good, this group is bad"? There are good and bad in ALL groups and that is what made Purge so awesome. I doubt I will watch any more of these films. Trust Hollywood elite to ruin a good thing because they cant keep their opinions to themselves.

The characters are underdeveloped and the acting is bad, which made me indifferent whether they survived or not. There is no real suspense, only random action scenes. Lastly, the "scientific layer" they tried to add, and the stereotypes, are just insulting to the viewer.

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

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)