I remember seeing the trailers for this film when it first came out and I was absolutely terrified. Terrified. Fast forward nine years and I'm maybe 5% less terrified, so I finally decided to give it a go. I've seen five minute cold opens to police procedurals that are scarier than this entire movie. While the acting was solid, I was just so incredibly bored throughout the whole thing. Even when disregarding how I hyped the film up in my head to be some kind of grand horrorfest, the initial concept of the film was so, so intriguing but the execution? Just your basic home invasion movie, and not even a good one at that. Pretty disappointing. I guess it was partly my fault for expecting this movie to make some kind of commentary on the human psyche and/or to delve more into the premise and intricacies of The Purge itself, but still. There was so much potential, but ultimately, the movie fell flat.
I usually like films that everyone seems to dislike, but no. Really annoying to watch. Great idea, awful execution.
Interesting new concept - had me interested for the whole movie. I can see how it's gotten so much dislike here, but I enjoyed it.
This movie had a great concept and started out promisingly, but it quickly degenerated into nothing more than a silly home invasion story. It's a real shame since it could have worked so well if it had stayed on the path of dark social satire.
3 Thoughts After Re-Watching ‘The Purge’:
I really like this film because it’s such an intriguing and horrifying concept. It’s a quick watch, but it’s super original. It birthed a whole franchise (albeit somewhat underwhelming) and eerie visuals that inspired a slew of Halloween masks I now see every single year.
There were missed opportunities here. And that’s always frustrating when an idea is so great. During this rewatch, I realized that much of this movie is spent walking through a dark house with a flashlight. With such a short runtime, we should’ve spent more moments getting to know these characters, especially the über-creepy leader dude who died way too quickly/easily. Very anticlimactic.
I could watch that scene where Lena Headey bashes her neighbor’s head into the table a hundred times lol. Immensely satisfying.
There's no doubt that it's a very good premise, but is not very well executed. A shame for a movie with so potencial.
I'm really curious about how they will react the next morning when they meet in the middle of the street... Will they just be like "Oh, good morning Mrs. Sandin. Haven't seen you since I tried to kill your whole family!"
I didn't love this film, but I was certainly entertained and I thought the concept was interesting. It'll be interesting to see the what the political climate looked like leading up to this. Perhaps in the sequels.
That aside, the film does do well with portraying technology of the future. It's realistic, at least at the time of the film's making, and isn't overly "in your face". One thing that comes to mind is Charlie's glasses, which featured pretty high resolution monitors showing the feed from his RC car... wirelessly!
The film was dark, but I think it did a good job of emphasizing key aspects of each scene. I thought the PoV from the RC car was a neat touch, giving it that sort of hand-held camera effect, but without the shakiness that normally comes with that.
I feel like there's a lot going on in this story that doesn't entirely add up. The entire story exists because Charlie opened up the house to the man. Anyone can debate the ethics in doing so or not doing so, but the point is that the entire plot exists because of this one action. I'm not sure how I feel about that. They tried to redeem it in the end, though, with the neighbors wanting in on it. Even that, however, wasn't well done. It was more of a "story's over now let's add a little more to fill out some time..." and they just, literally, sit there.
I agree with the other comments that say the family needed a panic room. For such an event, the protection offered by the security system is mainly for looks. Granted, this was mentioned in the film briefly. Also, if the "polite leader" had any intention of keeping the family alive, why did he cut the power? Meh, I'll suspend disbelief for this one.
This film wasn't good, and has a lot of plot holes. It felt as if they were stretching to get to 90 minutes for a feature-length film (they didn't by the way). I was entertained, but didn't really find much realism in the concept behind the film.
I had no expectations when watching this film. I didn't even know that the majority disliked the film until I came on here to log my viewing. I definitely didn't hate the film. It isn't my favorite movie of all time but as far as the horror genre goes I could see myself re-watching this later down the road. The movie did have it's irritating bits. Mostly that irritating little kid. Come on now! That kid is directly responsible for almost all of the tragedy. I hope he lives out his life with PTSD and eventually dies in the purge himself.
I'm very disappointed that there was less of a plot than the previews made it out to be. If you're into ~torture porn~ then you'll probably enjoy it.
Quite obvious and boring, forgettable.
Possibly the most ridiculous and unjustified story idea ever which is taken seriously. Totally flat cliché character especially the kids. Awful script that reveals everything that will happen way before it does. Repeating dialogue to drill plot points into the viewer like they're total idiots. Logically don't even start thinking about this movie because it makes no sense.
This movie is an insult.
Kind of predictable, kind of annoying, kind of evil...I watched it. The most difficult part to get through was the stupid teenagers. I kept hoping they would get a baseball bat through the skull. Everything else was just kind of "there". Meh.
Well to be honest, I only watched this movie because I saw that one Rick & Morty episode I now have to rewatch because there were probably references to this movie.
As for the movie itself: Interesting idea, kinda meh though.
didnt really enjoy this movie.the kids were so annoying,whole movie was bad
"Just remember all the good the purge does."
I forgot how "grounded" the first one is compared to the rest of them. I will give kudos to how fresh the premise was when I first watched it. On this rewatch, I get a little more annoyed at decisions that are made, but appreciate that they did a lot with less in this one.
Well I won't lie, this movie pissed me off because I honestly believe this could've been a million times better than what was actually produced. We get the whole concept of "All crime is legal for 12 hours", but the only crime we get to see is murder and we only focus on 1 family in a house. I think this could've been better as a Found Footage film with someone surviving out in the city or told as an anthology film told through news reports showing off a wide multitude of crimes.
This movie also has one of the most loathsome kids I've ever seen, the dad should've beat up the kid for opening the doors to a stranger and then handcuffed him for the rest of the night. I think I would've given this movie one more point if that kid got some sort of comeuppance, I hate this kid more than the one from The Babadook (2014).
The only reason this received any recognition is because of the pretty interesting concept it has. If you were to remove all mention of the Purge premise, this would just be any other basic stale slasher film.
Mindless entertainment like the tv show...momma wouldn't approve
In an idealized future version of America, we vent our national frustration on one golden night, in which all crime up to and including murder is legal and the results are somehow televised. Apparently it works, because violence is supposedly down and employment is way up, but there is the tricky issue of surviving that single naughty holiday without passing through the crosshairs of an enemy.
As a concept, The Purge is ripe. Especially so today, four years after its release, when the nation seems as politically and culturally divided as ever and violent undercurrents are simmering. There's so much opportunity to toy with the metaphorical overtone (including one or two extra-interesting caveats about the event itself which are left unexplored) that it's amazing they're merely used to prop up a rather generic horror/suspense combo. Family makes a series of poor choices. Bad guys show up on their doorstep to make threats and embrace modern horror stereotypes. Big showdown with a few telegraphed twists. That's the jist. The allure of the Purge, and the nationwide embrace of what it means, is right there, just begging to be further mined, but instead it's relegated to mere background color. An excuse not to call the police, really, and nothing more.
Despite an inspired (and, go figure, largely unexplored) take by Rhys Wakefield as the charismatic gang leader, this is some bland, uniform stuff.
Great concept even amazingly chilling. Movie pacing and execution leaves a lot to be desired.
The Purge is a surprisingly fun and original horror/thriller flick.
The acting in my opinion is on point for the absurd nature of the film. The actions feel relatable for most the characters, and nobody really feels like they're out of place.
I would classify the Purge more as a graphic thriller than a horror, but there's some good scares throughout.
If you're into bloody thrillers, I think The Purge is a great watch.
Most unique concept, beautifully executed. A must watch.
It was a beautiful film, the last scenes were extraordinary but the movie came too fast
Nice to revisit this one. Enjoyed it much better the second around time. It drags at times and the antics of the teenaged daughter are annoying to say the least. Still the movie has pop and pulp.
This has got to be the worst movie I have ever seen.
I really liked this one...It might be a bit predictable, but has more moments that thrill than disappoint.
The premise was the only interesting thing about it, what a waste.
Good concept for a scary movie but didn't like it. And the acting was terrible.
These people have a super fancy security system, yet the boyfriend of the daughter can sneak inside?
I loves the sounddesign in this one, cristal clear crisp sound. The story was a lil bit to cheesy, but the insanity was very well played. My Gilrfriend was creeped out by those insane guys. Even is though the story has some loop holes, like if they spend so much cash on a defense systen and the guy who sells them knows that it has flaws, why the hell did he not build a panic room ? All in all the movie was ok, I had fun but I knew when shit was about to happen and when there were jumpscares comming.
Very dumb premise and irritating overall
It's a good date movie. But too predictable. 7/10.
This fort is so poor, no wonder the neighbors felt cheated. ;)
Much like many horror films, The Purge (2013) is a reflection and commentary on classism & American privilege. In regard to its political/social message & ideas and worldbuilding in general it is an excellent piece; I'm barely surprised and almost happy that there are more movies in this series -- what little was shown here really did made me want to look behind the curtain and see more.
The dialogue, while often very... "written", for a lack of a better descriptor, provides a clumsy, but still effective vessel for conveying the message, even if not so much for characters' backstories & individualities (not necessary in a project like this, but not unwelcome). The little characteristic details that are there mostly belong to Charlie, definitely a shining star among the cast.
The pacing is nice, and the fighting scenes choreography is fun, even if it can be hard to discern what is going on between the shaky camera movements.
An interesting contrast is presented in the set design between the three acts & the way light and shadow function, making the different "sections" of the movie feeling more divisive and the stakes -- more properly increased. The sound design is also on point, with an interesting effect closer to the midpoint of the movie.
f*ck charlie - NOT a good boy
The movie is entertaining, the concept is amazing but the execution was lacking in some places. The acting was overall pretty good. I wouldn't say there is really anything special here but I wouldn't say its a bad movie.
Blame the dad for everything 10/10 realism
So much potential, yet this was a flustercluck.
I know I had said in my Halloween Ends review it drew traces of Haneke for me, and well, after finally checking this franchise out, it feels VERRY Haneke. Specifically a riff of his infamous Funny Games.
Although short, the film acts as a unique meditative experience and psychological home invasion thriller. I feel like most people came into this movie expecting something flashy and gore-infested ala something like Zombieland, and maybe the sequels have more of that stuff, but I heavily appreciate how this film gradually illudes from excessive violence and gives us an unholy cryptoic messaging around every corner, firstly with the addictiveness of sin, and secondly with the hypocrisy of the richest of society. It makes us ponder why we'd want violence at all, and why the nature of death and chaos fascinates us; commentating on our hyper-idealized and romanticized worldviews on what is right and wrong and how that spells our inhuman separations, and ultimately what leads us to take pleasure in chaotic behavior. It's certainly underrated to me, where every other critic is poking at simply the concept of the movie and not the actual work itself; same thing happened with The Matrix.
Where this film loses me is its odd choices in character depth and having pointless bodies get killed off fairly quickly with no real use. Not to mention, this film falls victim to the deus ex machina savior trope; of some random person off-screen coming to save the day. Not asking for a happy ending, but at least go the full track if your willing to run the mile.
The TV show "The Purge" is a mediocre attempt at exploring the concept of a night where all crime is legal. The story is not well-developed and the themes explored in the show are not original. It simply depicts the current state of the United States, with white men committing mass shootings, leaders being protected by any means necessary and the ultimate solution being to make war to boost the economy. However, the acting is good, but overall the show is not very good.
Is there another movie that sums up the USA so succinctly?
I don't think so.
And they've whelped 5 of these rotten fuckers.
I first saw this film in theater, I thought it's neither great nor bad. After rewatching this, it's a lot shittier than I remember. It's not a good watch, not fun at all, very boring throughout and you'll find cheap scares everywhere. A really great premise but wasted in a bad development, making this film looks shallow. The social commentary could've been powerful but it decides not to go there. The family members are insufferable like their decisions are nonsensical I can't keep track of their stupidity and those villain clowns try too hard to look like psychos. I was mad and annoyed the whole time.
Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey star in the provocative horror film The Purge. A suburban family barricade themselves inside their home and stave off a murderous mob during a government sanctioned 12 hour period called the Purge in which all crime is legal. The film addresses some interesting themes, including the nature of violence, class stratification, and mob mentality. And, the directing does an especially impressive job at maintaining suspense and tension throughout the siege. Some parts of the film are underdeveloped, but overall The Purge is a smart and terrifying thriller.
Finally watched this one. In my mind it was always this great movie, because I kinda love the idea? But yes, the movie is not that good. Doesn’t make sense that you’re rich in a world with a concept like The Purge, but all you invest in is a pretty wall or something. Buy a freakin‘ Panic Room ffs.
Eh, for what it is, it's enjoyable enough. What really elevates this movie up though is it's brilliant concept, and how it actually has an effect on it's characters and resolution. There's a few points in the middle I didn't care for, and motivations that felt extremely unrealistic, but it's got it where it counts. I hear the sequels are better though, so I'm excited to watch those. This could use a bit of tweaking, but I'm going to be nice and give this a generous pass. Didn't hate it, don't think it's amazing, but I think it's a cool idea.
Despite mixed reviews, the film grossed $89.3 million during its run, far surpassing its $3 million budget. The film was turned into a scare zone for 2014's annual Halloween Horror Nights due to its success.
A wicked, high-concept satire about a futuristic America.
Es genial la idea de esta película...
Muy buena!
Everything was predictable but it surprised me and I kept watching. I like the concept of the movie. They should purge my country like that.
Mi alma, que idea tan perversa, pero muy buena sin embargo. La pelicula no es tan mala como aclaman, claro que pudo ser mucho mejor pero cumple con el genero por lo menos. Lo mejor es que no asusta por ella misma, si no por lo que propone.
Good enough for a boring saturday night. It was interesting and had a decent ending, I'll watch the other one as well.
I was curious about part two so despite reading little positive about the first installment I watched it anyways. The ratings here a too nice. Yes, the concept is "interesting" but it is also beyond stupid just like the movie's content. Being predictable and having what I'd call boring, pointless, violence does not help either.
I liked it..... Looking forward to number 2!
This movie portrayed americans as stupid people who cant think for themselves and just kill people because thats the way it is. would have been more interesting if there would have been some kind of resistence movement that is hunted by those gun wielding nutjobs.
Good Movie - Picks Up Speed about halfway through - can't wait for second installment.
Straight forward. Makes gun owners happy to be gun owners.
Not bad. Nice concept, decent acting, and a couple of nice twists. Sometimes the storyline / actions are a bit illogical.
Mixed feelings. The concept is awesome, but the movie kinda sucks, even though there's a great social criticism behind it in the end.
I was really looking forward to this movie. The concept is fascinating. But ultimately, it was so frustrating to watch as the family & kids, time & again, make the stupidest of decisions, that I quit the movie about halfway though.
Well, there's 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Utter hogwash.
Had some good laughs with this film. However, it's great to reflect about the hypocrisy of the North-american people... This seems surreal, but, for me, the USA are the most propitious country to do something like that in the future. The last line says everything: "I lost my two sons last night. I was a proud american. Not anymore."
Heavy handed but not as terrible as I expected it to be.
Surprised this movie was interesting
1/10 and even that rating is very generous for this film.
Yep, agree with these folks... fun, silly, predictable but some nice ideas and twists... 6/10.
Fun to watch but predictable.
Something new. And predictable.
ugh, why didn't the stupid family die? I hated them the whole movie! And why in the hell would the homeless guy help them, why???
"The Purge" starring Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey, is a horror film with great story concept but poor execution. The film's concept is very creative and very original, what happens if you can do any crime in one day and everything is legal. But the execution is where it all goes bad, from the very predictable scenes (like everybody here said) to the very stupid direction that the movie takes at the end. "The Purge" might seen like another average home invasion horror film (The Strangers still the worst home invasion horror movie ever) but at the end of the day the film still entertaining despite some annoying characters and a predictable plot. Worth checking out if you got time to spare.
Predictable as said but entertaining and quite spooky.
Give it a watch for sure.
Fantastic movie and a kinda scarily realistic but unrealistic (I know confusing) concept for today's government issues. Left me on the edge of my seat!
Shout by ZephDeafVIP 5BlockedParent2021-11-25T15:37:32Z
I've never wanted to beat a child in a movie more than I wanted to beat the son, and oh boy is the daughter just as dumb.