The first Purge
Ploys In The Hood
released Out NOW! 15 | 97 minutes Director gerard McMurray Cast Y’lan Noel, lex scott davis, Joivan Wade, Mugga
Let’s face it: a Purge prequel is a fundamentally bad idea. Compelling though the concept of the lawless 12-hour free-for-all is, it’s impossible to conceive how such an institution might plausibly come about. The First Purge tries its best, staging a small-scale experiment and paying locals to stay put, but never really convinces. For one thing, the New Founding Fathers Of America’s “hidden agenda” is anything but.
Racial issues have always bubbled just beneath the surface of the Purge franchise, so it makes good sense that this fourth outing takes place around the housing projects of Staten Island, and featutes an overwhelmingly African-American cast.
Sadly, the first hour is tediously aimless – as someone remarks, “There’s nothing happening”. And when the pace does finally pick up, audience engagement is stymied by the fact that a bunch of drug dealers are positioned as heroic defenders of the community. There’s a practical reason for that: who else would have sufficient weaponry? And they’re less loathsome than the opposition: mercenaries in racist masks, Gestapo overcoats and Klan-style robes. The film riffs on events in Charlottesville here to conjure some resonant, provocative imagery; all that’s missing are the tiki torches.
All the same, there’s no escaping the fact that while more relatable characters do exist (like Lex Scott Davis’s activist Nya), we’re also required to cheer on a bunch of sleazy criminals who execute rivals and treat women like objects. So when the strains of Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” – so strongly associated with the Black Lives Matter movement – blare out as the credits roll, it rather sticks in the craw. Calvin Baxter
We’re required to cheer on criminals
Early on, a poster for Blumhouse’s forthcoming Halloween sequel is visible on the wall in young dealer Isaiah’s room.