(Spoilers.) A rare movie which,
at least when it was originally released, had its cake and ate it, too — but
the subsequent evolution into a franchise has pretty much negated, in
retrospect, the [violent but oddly bloodless] movie's social criticism and
supposed anti-violence message. The tale centers around a happily married,
well-to-do, neo-liberal couple with two kids who live in a vomit-inducing
McMansion-hell suburb in "New America", an Un-united States of the
future that pretty much reflects the neo-fascist attitude of today's totalitarian-minded
Republicans. (Note: "You are either with us or against us" is not an
attitude that is conducive to a working democracy.)
Trailer to
The Purge:
Do we really have to mention that
in the future today of the franchise (and this, its first film), for one
12-hour period a year murder and total lawlessness is legal? In The Purge, when some defenseless and
bloodied low-income black man (Edwin Hodge of All the Boys Love Mandy Lane [2009 / trailer]) screaming for
help stumbles into the neighborhood where safety-systems salesman James Sandin
(Ethan Hawk of Daybreakers
[2009) lives with his beautiful stay-home wife Mary Sandin (Lena Headey of Dredd [2012 / trailer] and, of course,
The Game of Thrones [2011-19], seen belwo from GQ and not the movie) and
kids live, their still-idealistic young son Charlie (Max Burkholder) gives him refuge.
Not smart, as angering the entitled Proud Boys and Girls of America is
definitely a mistake: they aren't wimps when they know they can get away with
it. (Really, though: is killing your girlfriend's dad a viable way to win her
hand and get in her panties?)
Anyway, first comes the concept
of "save our own skin", then that of "what have we
become?", and finally the desperation of the pure survival mode — but all
of it transpires in a fashion far more intriguing and involving than one would
expect. A surprisingly effective and affective movie.
2 comments:
Injecting petty politics into a movie revue just lost you one viewer. Get woke, go broke.
Oh, no! I just lost a thin-skinned proud someone. Boo-hoo. Stay a joke, be a dope.
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