‘The Forever Purge’ isn’t as scary as real life
Some people just don’t know when to quit.
Lose a presidential election? Storm the Capitol and try to get it overturned. If that fails, conduct specious, moneywasting audits. Just break the rules you pretend to support and make new ones while wrapping yourself in the flag. Sound familiar?
“The Forever Purge” mirrors that tableau. It’s set in an America where battle lines have been drawn, at least figuratively. A brief prologue of news reports finds a nation where no one agrees on anything. And it’s not just disagreement. It’s a country beset by racial tension, economic inequality and social unrest that threatens to spill over into violence.
It’s pretty much right now, in other words. Only not as scary.
You can easily imagine this on One America News Network or Newsmax
Into this country — as in, crossing the border — come Adela (Ana de la Reguera) and her husband, Juan (Tenoch Huerta). Adela sees promise in the U.S. Juan is not so sure, but developments at home in Mexico force them to flee. They wind up in Los Feliz Valley, Texas.
They find work and are adjusting to their new life, despite pockets of bigotry popping up here and there.
But then it’s time for their first Purge. For the uninitiated, “The Purge” franchise portrays a United States in which, for 12 hours one night a year, all crime is legal, including murder. It’s a government-sanctioned event that is supposed to let off steam, although you’d think free yoga classes or something would work out better for everyone.
“Can the Purge help this divided nation?” a newscaster intones as “America the Beautiful” plays softly in the background.
You can easily imagine such a thing on One American News Network or Newsmax, or maybe Tucker Carlson in one of his more unhinged moments, which seems to be most of them lately.
The New Founding Fathers of America, or NFFA, is the ruling party. They bring back the Purge, after a brief absence, with some weapons restrictions, and with some government officials declared off-limits.
People prepare in their own way. The Tucker family, who own the ranch where Juan works, close the metal shutters and hole up. Caleb (Will Patton), the patriarch, is an open-minded man who sees the Purge as a tool of the rich — even though he himself is quite wealthy. His son Dylan (Josh Lucas) isn’t so accepting; he doesn’t have much use for Juan, for instance, despite (or perhaps because of) Juan’s expertise with horses.
“I’ve always taught my son to be a proud American,” Caleb tells Juan as he’s paying him his “Purge protection bonus.” “Maybe I didn’t teach him what that meant. I’m not sure I know what it means anymore.”
Dylan utters one of the film’s great unintentionally funny lines: “I hate the damn Purge. It’s hard to socialize on that night.”
I’ll bet.
Juan and Adela join other Mexican immigrants who gather in a big building and pay for protection. Adela has a look outside and sees some of the carnage taking place.
Then morning arrives, and the Purge ends.
Except it doesn’t. We learn this when a TV reporter has his head blown off while reporting live. (Yes, the movie is insanely violent.)
A fringe group of white supremacists has decided one night isn’t going to cut it. “This is the real purge,” one such yahoo tells a kidnapped family. “The eternal purge. Ever after!”
As another idiot puts it, “The purification of America has begun.”
And the Tuckers and Adela and Juan are caught in the middle of it. Uneasy alliances are formed, and they hit upon a potential ironic solution.
As in other ‘Purge’ films, filmmakers don’t know how to sustain the idea
As seems to always happen with “Purge” movies, the film has an interesting idea it’s not quite sure what to do with. Director Everado Gout, working from franchise creator James DeMonaco’s script, keeps the tension taut. The
actors are fine — de la Reguera, Huerta and Lucas are given the most to do; de la Reguera in particular impresses as someone who will not back down, and goes to surprising lengths to keep those she cares about alive.
Eventually, the film morphs from a horror movie to a border shootout. It’s not a seamless transition.
The idea of where extreme partisan thought and behavior could lead us — has led us, on Jan. 6 — is terrifying. Who would have thought a “Purge” movie couldn’t keep up with reality?