America. The near future. Unemployment is at it's highest. The 1% run everything. The 99 have nothing. Suffering is widespread. Race has become a massively divisive issue. The populace is alienated by a government that does nothing for them. So far so familiar. A new political party, the New Founding Fathers of America arises and people vote for them in their droves hoping, praying for something different to the status quo. Nothing changes. The 1% still run everything but now an experiment is in place to relieve frustration and bubbling resentment. A trial run Purge is going to take place and Staten Island is the location.
During a purge all crime is legal, robbery, assault and even murder. It is hoped that this legal crime spree will let people blow off steam and that the rest of the year will be crime free. If you don't want to take part, you are free to leave but if you want to participate there's money to be made and the amount you make depends on your level of interaction. Nya is an activist who thinks the purge is a horrible idea, Isaiah is her brother who is going to use the purge to right a wrong and Dimitri is Nya's ex and a drug lord who is curious about how the purge will play out.
The Purge franchise is a rare one in that it has improved with every new film released. Usually it's the other way around but by broadening the story and expanding it's scope with each new release the film makers have added unusual depth and biting political commentary to a franchise that would be mired in it's b-movie roots otherwise. It's a dark and timely franchise. Horror thrillers for modern day America. This 4th film is a prequel and brings us back in time to how everything started.
The ridiculously OTT ending aside I quite liked this. There was nothing subtle about it, it's blunt as hell tbh. If the first film was a hammer blow then this one is like getting hit by a freight train. It's a nightmare look at the state of the States that skirts uncomfortably close to truth in place. Trucks full of assault rifle welding men in KKK costume. Black men being murdered by cops. White nationalist imagery. Racial violence everywhere. Killers in long black gestapo jackets. The way black people are viewed by the media. A speech by a politician is basically M.A.G.A. and hints that the only way back is to kill minorities. It's no accident it's set on Staten Island either. New York's forgotten borough, forgotten like the people on it. The main cast is nearly all African American too. Disenfranchised alienated denizens of a ragged housing project. Chosen by the white architects of the Purge who assume they will kick off when given the chance. It's rare Hollywood films are allowed to be this biting and close to the bone and in this political climate films like these are needed.
It's a pity then that it goes off the rails at the end. The interesting ideas and terrifying imagery of earlier are cast aside when all out war kicks off. Heroes taking on evil in silhouette, CGI blood splatter everywhere, slow motion struts, it's all so overblown. It also begins to revel in the violence that it criticised earlier. Condemning it one moment and showing it's the only answer in the next sends out a very mixed message. It becomes so brutal that it gets offputting. It really earns it's 18 certificate. How it only got a 15 cert in the UK is beyond me. Characters barely introduced earlier in the story pop up again here to be used as cannon fodder and because we don't know them we don't care.
The cast is mostly unknown. Lex Scott Davis and Joivan Wade as Nya and Isaiah are effective but pushed aside near the end when Y'Ian Noel's Dimitri becomes the main focus. In fairness he looks the part in full on action mode but feels out of place here. Keep an eye on him though, he'll be headlining big action films soon enough. Marisa Tomei as Dr Updale, the woman behind the purge is the only well known actor and feels absolutely wasted.
This was an interesting addition to the Purge franchise. Broadening and explaining the story while keeping a relatively intimate focus on proceedings. The final third of the story felt like a step backwards though. A rage filled film like this should do something more with itself than fall back into bullet and blood spraying cliche. Hopefully if there's another entry it will concentrate more on the human side and less on pyrotechnics.
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