May I just say that no longer having to see the posters for this film, which looks idiotic, moronic, sophomoric, and just plain dumb, several times a day, every single day, is yet another reason I’m happy to’ve left Manhattan?
Just saw it, here is the end:
[Spoiler] The premise is that from 7 pm to 7 am on one night a year all crime is legal. The gist of the plot is a family hunkers down under a fancy security system the father sells. The son sees a man running from people out to kill him on Purge night and he lets him in. The people after him attack the house.
[skipping a bunch of stuff to get to the end]
The father is killed and the house is almost overrun until the neighbors arrive and kill the remaining invaders. The mother is thankful until the Neighbors reveal they saved them so they could kill the family themselves, bitter about the husband’s success. The guy they let in saves the family and rather than killing the neighbors, the Wife says there will be no more killing and they basically wait out the rest of the night in the most awkward silence ever. Just before 7 am, the most obnoxious of the neighbors reaches for a gun and the Wife busts her nose for her trouble. The end of the Purge night comes and the neighbors (and the homeless guy they let in) walk off and have to live with themselves and what they almost did. Over the credits they play audio of news reports of what happened during the Purge night. There may have been an after credits scene but my friend wanted to leave so I don’t know.[/Spoiler]
I liked the movie. It works as a horror movie much better than a sci fi movie. I will start separate “Saw it” thread to discuss the movie.
If the bad guys get in the house, that’s not exactly a selling point for the security system dad’s trying to sell.
No security system is unbeatable. Mostly you just want to be a more difficult target than other houses around you.
So it sounds like the consensus is that there was no particularly stunning bit at the very end that would justify the review’s comment.
I haven’t seen the movie, but perhaps it just doesn’t translate to written description.
I saw the preview for this hokum a while back and all I could think was:
How does 12 hours of random violence once a bloody year solve anything?
It’s the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard. Does anyone really believe that such a law would cause all the poor and/or unemployed people to just go kill each other off? I don’t even understand how that would work. The poor person thinks “I’ll go kill this other poor person so I can steal all the money he doesn’t have”?
Just stupid.
It’s a pretty flawed premise. Besides, once you relinquish control, who says you’re gonna get it back? The premise only begins to work if you limit crime to the small stuff. What’s to stop someone from hitting the National Guard Armory, grabbing some artillery, and shelling the local government?
While I agree that the basic premise is about as stupid as they come, in this specific instance, they’d kinda need to get through the National Guardsmen.
The whole premise pisses me off as much as The Hunger Games.
Well the stranger only got in because the son disarmed the security system and let them. Sandin did explain to his wife all the stuff that’s in the fine print of the system. After all he’s only a top salesman; he doesn’t own the company. The truly rich likely do have systems designed to resist a military assault. Or they just hire mercenaries or go abroad.
Well I imagine military bases lock down and just shoot anyone who approaches them. Government facilities are probably very well protected; the film outright states that high-ranking officials are exempt from the Purge. Just summon enough Guardsmen for duty, and allow their families shelter within.
How is 1% bad?
Businesses can’t expand if there’s nobody to hire.
Clyde Barrow seemed to manage it just fine. His B.A.R.s came from one. I don’t know about your armory, but ours normally has very few guardsmen at it.
I didn’t know that, but that makes it even more lame. I don’t buy that when you say “Do what thou wilt is the whole of the law”, that the exceptions would be honored, or that society would just prey downward. Most people don’t get into serial violent crime for the yuks. I also don’t buy that when the 12 hours are up, anyone who had an enjoyable time during it would quietly return to normal behavior.
FWIW They mention that Federal Employees above a certain level are exempt. I guess that protects them from a coup.
Hardest I’ve laughed in months.
The movie’s surprise success has earned it a sequel. Looks like they’re going to get the chance to expand the mythology (assuming they want to).
So why wouldn’t everyone just claim that they’re federal employees during the purge? Even if there’s a specific ID, it wouldn’t be a problem, since there would be a thriving forgery operation and black market for them.
My nephew wanted to see this so I took him. It was awful and the end was no surprise at all. I kept asking myself why this really loaded family didn’t have a bunker.
Also worth noting, for a good portion of the movie, characters just disapear. The daughter is nowhere to be found, nor is the stranger. The parents don’t really “freak out” until the end.
Curious about this: over the end credits was a “newscast” about Dallas being the worst hit city. My guess is that this voice over changes for different markets? If I lived near NYC, would that be “the worst hit city”?
I haven’t seen the movie and the synopses I’ve read did not really go into much detail regarding that, but I would imagine “Category 10 officials” would be high-profile, easily recognizable people like Congress members, Supreme Court justices, etc. so it would not be a matter of just flashing an ID.
However, seeing as how “all crime is legal,” I would think that applies to one’s self-defense as well, so I would not just barricade up my home, I would booby trap all of the entrances, plant mines in the yard, build a crow’s nest on my roof equipped with a .50 caliber machine gun, and blow away anyone who came within 30 yards of my house. Or maybe just rent a tank…
And wouldn’t this annual event have a drastic effect on the design of not just single-family homes, but all buildings? Wouldn’t all buildings start to resemble medieval fortresses, with high stone walls, moats, drawbridges, and the extinction of ground-floor windows?