I saw The Purge today. I liked it. More discussion after some space for preview protection.
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There will be spoilers.
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As I wrote in the “Spoil the end for me please” thread, I felt it worked better as a horror movie than a Sci Fi movie. The whole idea of a night where crime is made legal creating a better world seems goofy to me but I appreciated the attempt at asking the questions of differences between the Rich and Poor and how they are treated by society.
Also, I tend to think generally speaking people are good and I would like to think fear of imprisonment isn’t the only reason people don’t just murder each other on a daily basis so for that reason too I am not sure I buy the premise.
However, putting the allegory aside, just as a Home Invasion horror movie a la The Strangers for example, it was very entertaining, with some nice scares.
Also, while in hindsight it may have seemed silly, there was point near the end once the true purpose of the Neighbors’ rescue was clear, I could have easily seen the movie end with Homeless Vet’s attempt to rescue them fail and then a fade to black with the sounds of the neighbors murdering the family and then a cut to an ironically upbeat song as the credits role.
The movie didn’t go that way but there was a point where I thought it might so I was genuinely worried the main characters would all die.
All in all I would give the movie a solid B. Not great but better than I expected.
“Goofy” is one thing. The way it’s presented is totally implausible.
There is no way a civilization could continue to function if people were occasionally allowed to commit any crime with impunity. Every major urban center in America would be a smoldering pile of rubble by the time the sun came up and the firefighters called the all-clear - 9/11 would be a sunny day in the park by comparison. No bank in the world would be willing to offer a business loan, or a home loan, or an auto loan, or anything else of that nature if it were distinctly likely that the collateral would be looted and destroyed within 11 months and they would have no legal recourse against the people responsible. Anyone who parks their car on the street - chances are you’re not seeing it again. Used car lots? Forget about it. The bank itself? All the security cameras in the world won’t do a load of good when someone drives a stolen Humvee through the front door. Millions of people would be caught in the crossfire every year simply as a result of getting stuck in traffic when 320 million people try to make it to a safe place all at once. The cleanup alone would take months. Just allowing it to happen once would be all it would take to convince any sensibly-minded person that it’s a horrible idea.
I liked it. I thought they used a lot of restraint in how they told the story. It would have been very easy to pace the story as a very typical suspense film, hitting all the right plot points at all the right moments, but instead they chose to be a little more creative about the storytelling.
I haven’t seen the movie (wasn’t planning to anytime soon - the similarities to “Return of the Archons” were obvious from the get-go), but you’re right that the premise as described is unworkable. It could be nuanced a bit, i.e. once a year a small segment of the population (the wealthy and politically connected) can rampage unchecked and with full government sanction and protection. It could be a modern take on the Oprichniki thugs that had full license under Ivan the Terrible until, of course, he found they’d become bothersome (they went just a tiny bit too far when they utterly trashed the city of Novgorod) so he had them eliminated.
Just got home from seeing it. Not only does the movie not work on a overall premise level, the small details are incredibly ridiculous as well. Just some little (?) nitpicks my sister and I worked out:
So the Ethan Hawke character is a big-wig salesman selling the most advanced home security system available. Yeah. This advanced security system consists of steel doors over the doors and windows (which can easily be pulled off with a truck and some chains), and some outdoors security cameras. Oh, and a few guns in a safe. But…no motion detectors, safe rooms, interior cameras, no generator (oh, except conveniently for the all-important computer monitors). Basic security systems these days are more advanced. Maybe that was supposed to be the point or something…they only had the illusion of safety, but it didn’t work. It was just stupid.
People acting completely nonsensically. Why did the kids keep running off randomly in the house, hiding from their parents? Why didn’t anybody ever lock the damn door behind them? Why didn’t they untie the homeless man so he could help them defend the house? Why didn’t they get together, find a corner to barricade, hand everybody a gun, and kill anybody who came near instead of playing stupid cat-and-mouse games throughout the
house? And the dumb kid waving the flashlight around when he’s supposed to be hiding. And did the boyfriend really think the girl was going to be okay with him killing her father? Just because it’s “legal?” Really?
That said…it was somewhat entertaining. Some good spooks and scares. And the main “rich kid” was creepy as fuck.
And I enjoyed the moral quandary of trying to decide if you sacrifice this innocent stranger to save your kids, or if you should risk their safety in order to do the “right” thing.
I think this movie was a liberal’s wet dream. It was all about a bunch of rich white people killing each other over money while a homeless black man watches them all die at the end and does nothing except save the women and children. the homeless black man lives and all the rich white men dies.