AND THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
First Purge waters down social criticism that gave earlier efforts their chutzpah
The rule of sequels, generally speaking, is that the bigger the number after the title, the worse the quality, box office and critical ratings. But The Purge, now in its fourth chapter, seems to be bucking that trend — each instalment has seen a mild bump at the box office, and while the reviews have never been great, neither have they got worse.
I daresay The First Purge may be more of the same. On a budget of $13 million, it’s unlikely to lose money. But unless you thrill to evildoers getting their comeuppance with a splash of red and no shades of grey, this may be where you’d be wise to cleanse yourself of the series’ influence.
Gerard McMurray takes over as director from James DeMonaco, who stays on as the sole writer of this chapter. As the title suggests, the setting is prior to the first purge movie, which imaged a future United States (it was set in 2022) in which, for one night a year, all crime is legal.
Pedants have long questioned the fine print of such an event. What if I injure someone on Purge night and they later succumb to their injuries? What if I start a crime but don’t quite finish in time?
I’ve been more interested in what the Purge would look like in Canada. I imagine a night of harassing federally protected migratory birds, illegal parking and cheating at Trivial Pursuit. (I’d also fail to separate my recycling, and maybe grow more pot plants than allowed.)
In The First Purge, a vague new political party (the New Founding Fathers of America) with an ugly flag is financing a “science experiment” on Staten Island, seeing what would happen if people get a night off from being law-abiding citizens. You have to feel for the Five Boroughs: First Manhattan becomes a prison in Escape from New York, and now this.
The experiment is run by a government functionary (Patch Darragh, terribly underwritten) and a social scientist (Marisa Tomei, woefully miscast), the latter of whom mysteriously develops a conscience halfway through the movie. But the real victims are the poor Staten Islanders who have accepted $5,000 cheques for staying home on Purge night.
Chief among them are Isaiah (Joivan Wade), a young man who sees the Purge as an opportunity to get even with a local psycho who goes by the name Skeletor; his sister Nya (Lex Scott Davis), who just wants to keep her community safe through the night; and Dmitri (Y’lan Noel), a local drug kingpin.
The actors do good work, which is the sole reason to even consider watching The First Purge. And there are a few interesting ideas swimming around in the soup of DeMonaco’s screenplay.
The notion of rival gangs that have one night to attack each other with impunity could make for a fascinating thriller along the lines of The Raid or Assault on Precinct 13, minus the cops. Isaiah, torn between the desire for vengeance and an innate goodness, makes an appealing anti-hero.
Alas, The First Purge has no time for such thought-provoking plot lines. Instead, the movie imagines that a night of lawlessness quickly turns into a giant rave/street party, until the evil government types tire of all this peace, love and understanding, and unleash hired whitesupremacist militias on the mostly black populace.
The result is that the criticism of economic inequality seen in the first three Purge films — which, I know, is closely tied to race — is siphoned away in favour of a simpler black/white, government/citizen showdown.
Dmitri ends up cast as a combination of Rambo and John McClane, culminating in the most ludicrous escape since Indiana Jones survived a nuclear blast by hiding in a fridge.
“It’s over?” someone asks after this scene, just as I was checking my watch (one hour and 37 minutes, but it feels longer) and wondering the same thing. The answer: “For now.” And he’s right: The Purge will be back in September in the form of a TV series, and quite possibly in yet another movie. Though if you’re anxious to avoid that, do what many in the film do on Purge night and stay home.