Film of the Week: The First Purge

The Purge is one of those franchises that actually gets better with each passing film. The first was weird and at times boring, but The Purge: Anarchy, and The Purge: Election Year, are entertaining. They ramp up the action, they explore more of the city during that particular night, and they build upon the concept with each film, despite all three being basically the same film.

There is one main theme running throughout the three films and that’s, The Purge works because The Purge works. It explains it semi-vaguely in the first film, and shows it working throughout and in the subsequent two films, but doesn’t really emphasis further. It takes the original concept and assumes it works and shows the audience that it works. It was hard to really accept that way of storytelling in the first film, but we do get a sense of understanding in the other two films. Even the TV show, which is an Amazon original, gives us a unique aspect on the concept, and builds upon what The Purge is, and does keep that core theme of, it works because it works.

The fourth film, The First Purge, goes right to the beginning, when the concept is just an experiment, an idea based upon some scientific study performed in secrecy and was only now released into the public, for anyone to sign up and take part in – mainly people who are angry at the country for their own personal reasons, or are drug lords attempting to make a bucket load of money during that one night. It once again provides us with a unique perspective on the concept, building upon the world we know of well, keeping it entertaining and fresh, and so I was excited to watch it.

For the most part, when the night begins and the actions starts, which is the majority of the film, it generally is entertaining. The atmosphere is on point throughout, the tension is high, and because it’s the very first purge, an experiment to see what happens, the world gets to wonder why it’s something the new founding fathers actually want to make happen. Granted, throughout the three films previously, we see people protesting against the purge, but they can’t do anything to change it and so have no choice but to accept it, whereas in this film, those who are protesting genuinely believe they can make a difference, and that changes the tone of the film ever so slightly.

But the one thing that remains constant is the core fact that “the purge works because the purge works.” With it being at the experimental stage, understandably so the news networks of the world are gathering around the sight to find out more information and question those in charge, which means those in charge have to explain why the purge is a good thing and what it will do to humanity in the long run. They briefly explained essentially the same thing during the first film, but it had to be filled with more detail, except us, the audience, has accepted the lack of an explanation. The First Purge tries to change the core of the film, but also tries to keep it the same, by once again only vaguely answering the questions pitched by reporters, and that didn’t sit well with me.

I enjoyed it when the action started, but beforehand, it subtly changed its vagueness enough to still keep it vague, yet explain itself at the same time. I’d prefer it if they didn’t explain why, but decline to comment until after the experiment, so they can state their results instead of attempting to defend why they’re doing it in the first place. That would still be keeping to what we’re, the audience, are familiar with.

It is a film I do recommend though, because the majority of it is exciting from beginning to end, and knowing it’s the very first purge, the excitement of those taking part; being allowed to do whatever they want, is definitely a new angle we can all get our teeth stuck into.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)