The First Purge - movie review

The First Purge

Plot: The New Founding Fathers of America set Staten Island as the battleground for the first experimental Purge. Drug lord Dmitri seeks to protect his turf, while his activist ex-girlfriend Nya holes up in a church and her younger brother Isaiah seeks revenge on a violent junkie.
Cast: Y'lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Jovian Wade
Director: Gerard McMurray
Certificate: 15 (strong bloody violence, threat, language, drug misuse)
Runtime: 1hr 38 mins
Release Date: Wednesday 4th July 2018

The First Purge opens with an crazed individual nicknamed Skeletor explaining his desire to kill and release his inner beast. He follows that up by saying he feels a constant need to purge that anger. The scientist interviewing Skeletor then replies with "Hmm. Purge. That's a nice name" followed by a wink to the camera and Ashton Kutcher jumping from the screen yelling that we've all just been "PUNK'D". Ok, so maybe the last parts of that might not be entirely accurate but it could have been. The last Purge film had someone willing to murder for a candy bar so anything can happen in this series. Personally, I've never enjoyed the Purge series. It started abysmally, got slightly better with Anarchy and then fell back down into a hole with Election Year. Therefore, it was safe to say that I wasn't going into The First Purge with high hopes. When I walked out I turned to my friend and said "That was the best Purge film we've had but I still don't care at all."

This is one vicious game of Hide and Seek.

Situated on Staten Island, The First Purge is a lot smaller in scope but larger in its politically oriented message. After a new political party known as the New Founding Fathers take America by storm and eventually have an elected President, they pair with scientist (Marisa Tomei, whose appearance is fleeting) to tackle unemployment, crime rates and overpopulation as they introduce a social experiment allowing all crime, including murder, to be legal for twelve consecutive hours. In the past, I've found the premise of the Purge utterly ludicrous and completely unworthy of one film let alone four. However, whether this has anything to do with the current political climate in America, or the script toning everything down to a more grounded level, the circumstances of The First Purge felt a lot more realistic and terrifying. It came across that an event like this could scarily take place and for a large proportion of The First Purge, that fact compelled me and I found myself getting really behind this film. Eventually, the third act dawned and it became the generic Purge slasher flick we've seen in the past three instalments but it was that first hour that showed me what James DeMonaco (the screenwriter and director of the first three) was trying to tell me all along but it shouldn't have taken four films to get there. There are clear parallels in the portrayal of the NFF and Purge supporters to that of Trump, the Republican party and their supporters and despite having honourable intentions, DeMonaco can't help but make the references too obvious to the point where, after an attempted sexual assault, one character refers to them as a "pussy grabbing motherfucker". However, whilst the references are very on the nose, The First Purge deals with complex themes such as racial discrimination and classism and even though some instances are heavy-handed, most are dealt with delicately and help drive the message home. That nuanced approach does eventually go out the window when we see slow-motion shots of KKK members being beheaded and our main group of heroes brandishing AK-47's and doing their best John Wick impression.

Their debate about whose jacket was the coolest was getting pretty heated.

FACT: The poster for the film shows a picture of a red hat with the slogan "The First Purge." This is a reference to President Donald Trump's red "Make America Great Again" hat which was used throughout his presidential campaign.

One of my other major complaints about the Purge series is a host of unlikable protagonists that I'd rather see savagely murdered because of their stupidity than survive but in The First Purge, we're treated to genuinely likeable characters whose motivations seem honest. So far, Frank Grillo was the only remotely sympathetic hero but even he had some dumb moments. Leading the pack this time round and proving himself to be a brilliant action lead is Y'lan Noel who plays crime boss and kingpin of Staten Island, Dmitri. Whilst his occupation may be questionable, his dedication to the people of Staten Island and need to protect his land, brought a sense of humanity to him and that was aided by ex-girlfriend and vocal Purge protestor, Lex Scott Davis. She gave a particularly inspired performance as did her brother and Eastenders alum, Jovian Wade. It's also pleasing to see DeMonaco listening to the critics and improving his films accordingly. After the first film, the main critique was its waste of a premise and so DeMonaco focused the sequel on the widespread chaos of The Purge. After Anarchy, critics were claiming that the political message wasn't as strong as it could have been and so DeMonaco made the third film focused on an election. For The First Purge, DeMonaco shows the extent the government were willing to go to for it to be a success, the initial retaliation of citizens and how easily public mentality can be swayed through the media. It's the first Purge entry that actually has surprising depth to it all. On the other hand, it is a film that might have served better as a made for TV movie. There are some unforgivable uses of green screen and the worst blood effects I've seen in a long time. It's also woefully predictable to the point where I could map out every plot point, every twist and every jumpscare. I'm not saying I wanted originality from The First Purge but considering that they had managed to crack the premise once and for all, some fresh ideas would have been appreciated.

He looks friendly...

For a Purge film, this is surprisingly alright. Noel is a presence to keep an eye on for the future and it's the only Purge film where I felt like it could actually happen in real life. That being said, I'm still not convinced for this series. If I'm only starting to get interested by the fourth entry, that's not a good sign. Maybe a fifth Purge comes along and changes my mind but right now, it's just too late.

My Verdict: 6/10

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