Binging and Purging

Binging The Purge.

In 2013, The Purge debuted and was a success. The story was simple. In the not to distant future (next Sunday A.D.?), the United States government creates a national purge. Rules are simple, for 12 hours all laws are suspended, and you can do whatever you want to do. You want to kill that annoying neighbor who is constantly asking you to Parcheesi night with her cat Mr. Snuggles…do it. Do you want to kill, rape and pillage? You can. There is no consequence. After 12 hours we, having fed our dark side, can go back to our normal lives tolerating Parcheesi and Mr. Snuggles again because not only does the law demand it but you want to. Crime is down, unemployment is the lowest it has ever been, and poverty is virtually nonexistent.  It works… unless you are one of the impoverished who can’t afford to defend themselves and are the most likely victims of the Purge. At least for 4 movies and an upcoming 10-part TV show on USA. It is a genius idea for a fictional film. It is timely too. Many of the same arguments 2^nd Amendment lifers use to defend their right to guns despite gun violence is the same rationale Purgers use to defend Purging.  The lives of others mean less than the right to Purge. The death of the lower class means nothing compared to the right to Purge. A movie that seems stupid and full of typical horror scares really has a message.

The latest movie in the series, a prequel named The First Purge, opens today on The Fourth of July. I was laying about yesterday and decided to binge watch the entire series so far and finally get back on this severely neglected blog and hopefully jump start my desire to write it again. For those still reading, I applaud you and thank you. The rest of you are on a list and I will deal with you during our upcoming first purge. You know it’s coming…

The Purge

 

The Purge is memorable for one reason in this series. It gave us the concept. Other than that, it is a bit of a snore-fest. Ethan Hawke is James Sandin, a wealthy man who earns his wealth selling security systems for people who don’t participate in the Purge. So, as we begin, James, his wife and his two kids are preparing for another Purge Night safe behind the walls of their “secure” home. Through a series of both stupid and ridiculous events, James and his family are pulled into participating in this year’s purge whether they want to or not. The villains are interesting at first. They are faceless members of a society who want to kill a man they know escaped into the Sandin’s home. They are terrifying in the same way the killers in the Strangers are until they take off their masks. Why would you do that? You are much more terrifying as a faceless monster. When the mask is gone, you lose creepiness and gain the Zack Morris douchebaggery that isn’t scary just slightly comical and weak. The Purge also fails by containing it with one family and ignoring the larger world of the Purge. This film could’ve elevated and given us the terror of Purge Night beyond the crying and whiny Sandin family. I can understand why this movie is contained because it is the first unproven entity of the series, but it really feels like a cheat to the viewer. We watched the trailer for this movie were promised a view of the Purge world. Sadly, we never really see the world outside on Purge night except in news clips. This movie is concerned with the Sandin family and little else. I just didn’t care all that much about them. James is a bit of an asshole, his wife is very one dimensional, his son is an idiot who causes the whole problem and his daughter is just a moody teen mad because she couldn’t bang her boyfriend on Purge Night. Why do I want to root for them? If your answer is only because they are the main characters, you don’t understand how movies should work. The film dictates your emotions not the irrelevant contrivance of who is deemed worthy. James and his brood are not good people. They profit from the fear and death around them. Maybe that is what the movie is trying to say. Maybe they deserve the fate they receive. Either way it falls just short of saying this and just left me feeling cheated and bored. 

Mr. Unhappy sez: What? What happened?You were on a gravy train with biscuit wheels! This may be why I took 4 years to buckle in for…

The Purge: Anarchy

Thankfully The Purge: Anarchy takes the concept and raises the stakes. We finally get to see what we came to see. This film is almost entirely during the Purge. We have characters who matter who are trapped against their will in the mayhem and chaos of Purge Night. Well all characters except Leo, played by Frank Grillo (From Captain America: Winter Soldier) who is a broken man preparing to enter this year’s Purge ready and with laser like focus on committing the murder he’s been planning to commit. He’s a good man, with training and skill, embracing the world around him until he comes across a mother Tanya and her daughter Eva who are set up for slaughter. Besides Leo, Tanya and Eva we also have a couple, Shane and Liz, who are breaking up, who have their car break down just before the Purge begins. Obviously, they will come together during the Purge Night and realize the love they still have for each other. The Purge: Anarchy is a pretty damn good movie. The violence is over the top and shocking but consistent with this world. Every step of the way, our heroes are in constant danger from gangs of Purging marauders, an odd group of government mercenaries sent out to keep the numbers of dead high, and even in the seeming safety of friend’s homes. Anarchy also gives us more background on the NFFA (New Founding Fathers of America) the overall series big bad and the themes of racism and class warfare that make this series more than just a horror movie. The idea of a government run war on the poor and people of color is especially important if you watch this through the lens of Trump’s America. The Purge: Anarchy is a smart adventure that opens you up to what the series is attempting to say to us. It delivers on the promise of the first movie and moves the story forward so the themes of racism and class warfare are front and center and shows that those who are purging are not moral but killers. End of story. 

Mr. Unhappy sez: A course correction and a great movie. If you like the idea of the first movie, you’ll feel the payoff here. The course is set for…

The Purge: Election Year

Election Year is a step back from Anarchy but not too far back. Leo is back (spoilers), this time as a secret service agent protecting a nominee for President opposed to the Purge played by Lost’s Elizabeth Mitchell. Election Year is basically a return to Anarchy where we again assemble a group of potential victims who must survive the night when things go wrong (as they always do). There is Joe Dixon, a shop owner who loses his Purge insurance the day of The Purge and must stay at his shop to protect it from the catholic school girls who tried to steal a candy bar. There is Marcos, Joe’s employee, who volunteers to help Joe protect the shop over Joe’s objections and seems to be handy with a gun. Finally, we meet Laney, a triage medic who spends Purge Night driving around in an ambulance, trying to help victims and is apparently a bad ass. The enemy NFFA gets fleshed out as we see the behind the scenes machinations and their need to keep the Purge going at any cost. As the election approaches (apparently elections occur in May in Purge land), Mitchell’s Charlie Roan is surging in popularity and has become a threat the NFFA cannot ignore anymore. So the NFFA suspends the rule that government officials are given immunity during the Purge so they can kill Charlie.  Leo, basically the Jack Bauer of the Purge, is gonna have another bad night Purge night as he struggles to protect Charlie despite betrayals from within the secret service, roving bands of mercenaries roaming the capital with a kill order for Charlie and the opposition to the NFFA planning a strike on high ranking members of the NFFA. Election Year is a smart movie (at times) and continues the story line of racism and class warfare in our Purge world. Charlie, a survivor of a Purge Night that took her entire family, has a need to end The Purge. The NFFA see her as a threat to the peace they’ve created in America and are willing to fight to save it.  It is mostly a slightly lesser version of Anarchy with new characters and a political subplot. While I liked this movie, it was just not quite as good as Anarchy, probably because we no longer have the element of surprise that Anarchy had as we’ve now seen a Purge. It’s just a rehash of Anarchy and I would’ve enjoyed a new fresh angle. If they had started the series with Anarchy’s story and then grounded and delivered a smart contained movie here, it would’ve been welcome. Imagine the whole movie taking place in a house where Charlie is trapped with Leo in a house while people hunted them. They try to add  a new subplot of the Purge as a religion but  it never really becomes believable. It is by far not the worst of the series but  overall…

Mr. Unhappy Sez:  Election Year is a smart and engaging story that gives you another purge night to enjoy the carnage. It is not a bad movie but not great either. Great in this series is reserved for…

The First Purge

Now we come to the latest and frankly my favorite of the series. The First Purge takes us all the way back to the first experiment that led to creating The Purge of later movies. The government has chosen to close off Staten Island and suspend all laws for 12 hours. They will pay citizens to stay on the island and give cash rewards for purging. Nya is opposed to the Purge and runs a protest opposing it. Her brother, Isaiah is desperate for a way out of the projects and takes a job slinging rock on a corner for crime boss Dmitri, who once dated Nya and is not happy to learn of Isaiah’s involvement in his empire. The NFFA story line is headlined by Marisa Tomei, who offers a little star support as the scientist who created the experiment that would become The Purge. The First Purge begins simply enough with people partying and looting stores rather than killing. The NFFA has given all purge volunteers special contacts that cause the Purge participants eyes to glow in a very creepy effect while it records what each participant does for distribution to the media. Isaiah, after being disrespected and cut by scary crackhead Skeletor (yes really), sets out to use the Purge to enact his revenge on Skeletor. After a series of events, Nya leaves her church sanctuary to rescue Isaiah and they are stuck on the street.  Dmitri, who was content to hide in his compound, begins to see he can’t just sit back and let the NFFA destroy his island empire. This addition to the series is a breath of fresh air as it reboots the whole idea and shows you how something this odd and immoral could begin. The NFFA is trying to save America (sound familiar). America is overpopulated, drowning in debt, and the NFFA is a fresh voice offering solutions to our problems. It is easy to see how people could be swayed by them but they need this to work and are willing to do whatever they can to make it happen. It is both relatable and terrifying to see what is very much happening in America right now in a new way. The NFFA are just trying to help America be great again. That it means killing people of color and the lower class is the part Americans seem willing to overlook for their comfort. The Purge films and The First Purge particularly are a parable of our current times and honestly has a valid viewpoint that drives this story. While this may work in this world what are we becoming by doing it. I cared about the characters (which barring the first movie I have in each of them) and wanted them to survive. The story flows in a logical way and isn’t just a new version of Anarchy which is where Election Year fell short. While there is some ridiculousness in the third act you should, if you’re watching the fourth movie in this series, know what you’re getting into. I’m excited to see where the TV show goes.  

Mr. Unhappy sez:  Crazy as it is this movie in particular and the series as a whole is a great statement about our country and our democracy. See it if you want a fun time, some scares and an interesting narrative. The First Purge may be scarier because it shows how close we are to this world. 

In the grand scheme of things, I’d rank these in the following order:

1. The First Purge
2. The Purge: Anarchy
3. The Purge: Election Year
4. The Purge

 

As for the whole series…

Mr. Unhappy sez: I liked The Purge movies. They aren’t Oscar bait but they are easy and entertaining while still having a message. I’m interested to see what they do with the TV show.

The binge and Purge is now complete… until the TV show.