For many, this means donning masks and killing whoever they can find, while for well-to-do types like security hardware salesman James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) the Purge means heading back to his gated community and dropping the steel barriers surrounding his lushly-appointed house. Following a confident opening title sequence in which the soothing tones of Claude Debussy run counter to the casual violence of shootings and stabbings captured on security cameras, writer and director James DeMonaco ensures that events unfold briskly. The history surrounding the annual bloodletting festival are briefly introduced, and the scene’s set for a disquieting, spikily violent siege thriller that is, at its core, a reworking of such claustrophobic movies as Assault On Precinct 13 and Straw Dogs (DeMonaco even wrote the so-so 2005 Assault On Precinct 13 remake, which also starred Hawke). Hawke, who featured in another of producer Jason Blum’s low-budget genre films, Sinister, plays a similar character here: a family man of dubious moral fibre who spends a considerable amount of time exploring the darkened corridors of his house, eyes shimmering with fear. Hawke and the rest of the cast put in decent performances in a film that has little time to dwell on character nuance; really, the high concept is the star here, and it’s a strong one. These are timely and thought-provoking subjects to explore in a relatively low-budget genre film, particularly one that occasionally resembles a Paranormal Activity flick (a series which Jason Blum also produced), with its jump-scares and occasional forays into first-person suspense-building courtesy of a frankly terrifying doll/camera/radio-controlled car contraption created by computer whiz kid, Charlie. In fact, The Purge is, at times, more satisfying as a piece of commentary than it is as a dark thriller. A disappointing tendency to signpost certain elements of the plot deadens the impact they may have had, and one or two character choices seem rather odd in retrospect, including one character’s decision to suddenly obey the orders of that creepy doll/radio-controlled car thing mentioned above. The last time I saw Wakefield, he was panicking in a soggy cavern in the James Cameron-produced survival adventure, Sanctum. Here, he’s a revelation. A grinning, immaculately-dressed rich kid who plays the leader of a crowd of masked Purge murderers, he’s equal parts Patrick Bateman and Alex DeLarge. An early shot of Wakeman, standing on the family’s front porch and grinning maniacally, is the most effective in the film, and his crisply-manicured performance crystalises everything that’s interesting about The Purge: a character whose benign respectability is a flimsy mask for his utter lack of compassion. The rest of the film can’t reach the bloodcurdling brilliance of this one moment: the nameless, eerily handsome leader, beaming as he talks of his right to kill whomever he pleases. If The Purge is a modern retelling of Poe’s The Masque Of The Red Death, with Ethan Hawke as Prince Prospero, then Wakeman is the story’s crimson figure, the bringer of death to a self-interested gated community. Had DeMonaco staged the rest of The Purge as sublimely as this, we could have been in for a low-budget A Clockwork Orange for the 21st century. Instead, it’s an uneven yet supremely watchable anomaly in a summer of glossy, expensive diversions. The Purge is out on the 31st May in UK cinemas. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
title: “The Purge Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-07-20” author: “Barbara Mccoy”
For many, this means donning masks and killing whoever they can find, while for well-to-do types like security hardware salesman James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) the Purge means heading back to his gated community and dropping the steel barriers surrounding his lushly-appointed house. Following a confident opening title sequence in which the soothing tones of Claude Debussy run counter to the casual violence of shootings and stabbings captured on security cameras, writer and director James DeMonaco ensures that events unfold briskly. The history surrounding the annual bloodletting festival are briefly introduced, and the scene’s set for a disquieting, spikily violent siege thriller that is, at its core, a reworking of such claustrophobic movies as Assault On Precinct 13 and Straw Dogs (DeMonaco even wrote the so-so 2005 Assault On Precinct 13 remake, which also starred Hawke). Hawke, who featured in another of producer Jason Blum’s low-budget genre films, Sinister, plays a similar character here: a family man of dubious moral fiber who spends a considerable amount of time exploring the darkened corridors of his house, eyes shimmering with fear. Hawke and the rest of the cast put in decent performances in a movie that has little time to dwell on character nuance; really, the high concept is the star here, and it’s a strong one. These are timely and thought-provoking subjects to explore in a relatively low-budget genre movie, particularly one that occasionally resembles a Paranormal Activity flick (a series which Jason Blum also produced), with its jump-scares and occasional forays into first-person suspense-building courtesy of a frankly terrifying doll/camera/radio-controlled car contraption created by computer whiz kid, Charlie. In fact, The Purge is, at times, more satisfying as a piece of commentary than it is as a dark thriller. A disappointing tendency to signpost certain elements of the plot deadens the impact they may have had, and one or two character choices seem rather odd in retrospect, including one character’s decision to suddenly obey the orders of that creepy doll/radio-controlled car thing mentioned above. The last time I saw Wakefield, he was panicking in a soggy cavern in the James Cameron-produced survival adventure, Sanctum. Here, he’s a revelation. A grinning, immaculately-dressed rich kid who plays the leader of a crowd of masked Purge murderers, he’s equal parts Patrick Bateman and Alex DeLarge. An early shot of Wakeman, standing on the family’s front porch and grinning maniacally, is the most effective in the movie, and his crisply-manicured performance crystalises everything that’s interesting about The Purge: a character whose benign respectability is a flimsy mask for his utter lack of compassion. The rest of the movie can’t reach the bloodcurdling brilliance of this one moment: the nameless, eerily handsome leader, beaming as he talks of his right to kill whomever he pleases. If The Purge is a modern retelling of Poe’s The Masque Of The Red Death, with Ethan Hawke as Prince Prospero, then Wakeman is the story’s crimson figure, the bringer of death to a self-interested gated community. Had DeMonaco staged the rest of The Purge as sublimely as this, we could have been in for a low-budget A Clockwork Orange for the 21st century. Instead, it’s an uneven yet supremely watchable anomaly in a summer of glossy, expensive diversions. The Purge is out on the June 7th in US cinemas. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
