To push the crime rate below one percent for the rest of the year, the New Founding Fathers of America test a sociological theory that vents aggression for one night in one isolated community. But when the violence of oppressors meets the rage of the others, the contagion will explode from the trial-city borders and spread across the nation.
I had only seen a little part of what the Purge films were about, but I wasn't sure as to why they were so popular and well received by audiences. The concept is both clear and intruiging at the same time, all crime is legal for a day, for those who wish to participate. But it's not all plain sailing for those who don't want to get involved and just want a good nights sleep, as we find out in this film. Like I said, I had little idea about the film's characters or plot, but I left the cinema desperate to watch the other films in the series. There was plenty in this film to be admired for these reasons, I comment on the camera angles within films a lot because they are what keeps the audience involved in the action. But the way in which camera angles were used in this film were really to be admired. I thoroughly enjoyed being face to face with the reckless and vigorous people applying to be in the purge, and then switched around, to be given another perspective of being face to face with the interviewers. I just generally feel that this gave the audience a really good perspective of what was going on and almost broke the fourth wall by communicating directly with the audience. At least that's what it felt like anyways. Speaking of the interviews, I thought it was a nice touch to keep these interviews going to give the audience a great example of the different types of characters that would be involved in the purge. To make some characters recognisible, whether they were actually being killed or doing the killing, it was cool to see some of these characters outside of the research facility, unleashing their anger on the other people and things in the streets.
I enjoyed seeing constant switches between characters, not only did this give the audience a great implication of the tension, drama and violence but it also allowed the audience to build a basic emotional relationship with the characters. As we were able to see these characters develop throughout the film, the changes in personality and stereotype challenges were really fresh and inviting too. To exemplify, by showing a black gangster who was violent, liked sex with no strings and ran a drug operation, we were definitely introduced to a strong and powerful criminal. But towards the end of the film, this character developed before the audiences very eyes, into a family man who wanted to protect people close to his heart. This change of character was really good and nice to see. Especially as it felt as if the audience followed him through the trauma and violence to end up how he did, therefore keeping the audience hooked and actively involved within the films plot. I liked how there was a constant news report that followed the event too, giving the audience up to date information and breaking news, and then showing the characters reactions to what was going on during the Purge. This was just a nice little way of giving the audience a feeling of an alternative reality. The manner in which the purge was mentioned and discussed maybe wasn't the most realistic ever, but it gave the impressed of a different world where there is a real Purge going on - but keeping the real world shock and surprise that we would expect. The mix of these two 'worlds' created an interesting mix.
There was a variety of really interesting and 'edge of the seat' action during this film, and for an action/horror film this achieved these feelings and conveyed them really well. The way in which tension and horror was conveyed to the audience was amazing, I felt myself holding my breath when a character was close to being spotted hiding, simply because that is what the character was doing and it just felt the right thing to do. Again, this film conveyed the emotion of tension and violence well. Scenes such as when two characters were held up against a wall, with a mysterious masked character holding a gun at them whilst laughing built up tension, only to drop this and completely surprise the audience when it was in fact a water gun. This film definitely played around with the audiences emotions well and plenty of times through scenes similar to that. We also saw scenes with 'nazi like costumes' worn by gangs patrolling buildings and just killing everyone in there, scenes like this were very effective at creating suspense and a bit of surprise when we see the camera pan in on what felt like the 'main character for the enemy'. Whilst he was on screen I could not take my eyes away from what he was doing, this was strengthened by the cameras movements replicating his, to show power and dominance over the helpless citizens in the tower block. The use of audio also supported these types of scenes very well, by using what felt like an old fashioned wild western music theme, not only did this slightly confuse me and everyone else, but it also suited the mass murdering that was going on really well and just for some reason seemed to fit perfectly in with the scenes it was in.
The addition of corruption and twists were also a nice addition too, and were supported by a strong and clear plot. I didn't find myself unsure as to what was happening and why very much at all during this film which is a rare occurrence, everything seemed to fit in well and the film ran very smoothly indeed.
But wait, this film wasn't all perfect at all. Otherwise it would be a 10, and surely on my lift of favourite films; there were some issues with the film which I would describe mainly as a knock instead of a series of catastrophic blows. I wasn't too sure about the characters at the beginning, we did see them develop throughout the film well but I just don't feel as if the characters were introduced very well. And despite us getting to know them well throughout the film - I still feel that it would have provided a much stronger foundation to build on if we were introduced to the characters a bit better. It was a little bit long to wait for things to happen in the purge, I felt myself a little unsure of when the violence would start, but when it did, it really did! However I must say that I do like the transition of a 'boring purge' to a full out war scene later on, this showed the development of the purge really well and kept it interesting. The emotions weren't the best either, after being re-united with a character who she hadn't seen for hours and wasn't sure if she was even alive, the character didn't seem massively happy. The emotion that was shared was a little bit dry too - this should have been emphasised more. I also wasn't too sure about the fighting back from the main characters either, for some points of the film the fighting back (shooting, melee weapons) was weak - too weak - and this made the characters look weak and incapable of proving a strong character to the audience. I do have some questions regarding the plot of the film too - not bad points at all, but me and the person I went to see the film with agreed that it would be good to watch the other films as they would hopefully explain some of the parts - such as the use of masks, or why the purge was introduced in a bit more detail.
Overall I really enjoyed this film, and what's best is that I left the cinema really wanting to watch the other films in the series, a very strong implication of a great film. The film doesn't have the best ratings from others but I would give this film an 8, I thought it was really enjoyable and played around with the audiences emotions really well. But it was still a bit rough around the edges. Hopefully this is something that will be cleaned up by watching the other films! Of course there were issues with the film but personally I didn't see any massive flaws that aren't apparent in most films, although many argue the violence was over the top? It's the purge, there were some really crazy and messed up people out there that night!! Oh and you would definitely find me at that party towards the beginning, it looked great. Well, it did until people started getting stabbed anyway...
Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did watching the film and writing the review. I hope you have a great day :)
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