Let’s See How The First Purge Begun…Actually, Let’s Not - Cabell's Review

The First Purge is in theaters on July 4th, 2018.

Behind every tradition lies a revolution. Next Independence Day, witness the rise of our country's 12 hours of annual lawlessness. Welcome to the movement that began as a simple experiment: The First Purge. To push the crime rate below one percent for the rest of the year, the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) test a sociological theory that vents aggression for one night in one isolated community. But when the violence of oppressors meets the rage of the marginalized, the contagion will explode from the trial-city borders and spread across the nation.

The First Purge is directed by Gerard McMurray (who directed “Burning Sands” and “Battle Buddy”) and I have to be honest, going into this film I thought it could be cool seeing how all of this started. And boy was I wrong. So I had an okay time with the first ten minutes, then it overstayed its welcome and the Purge began. It took until the last twenty minutes for me to finally reengage. And this is mainly because this film has like three main characters all doing their own stories and the director just expects the audience to be emotionally invested because they are “family”. It honestly had me bored out of my mind for a little while and this film is only an hour and a half! As with all the Purge films they have a cool concept, but besides The Purge: Anarchy, I feel like they just never hit the mark.

Just like all its predecessors, this film is full of stupid jump-scares. And of course the characters are incredibly illogical, just like its overly convenient plot. At moments, I felt like the story was being spoon feed to me like a baby. For example, the camera would linger on some prop that would be essential to the story later on. But it would linger for so long it was borderline uncomfortable. And the plot is just as bad. Everything is incredibly predictable and very jumpy.

Over all, this film just proved to me that the Purge was a great concept, but Universal has done it too many times. The new TV series may be a fresh look on the franchise, but if any more Purge movies release I don’t think I will attend. I am not going to recommend anyone to see this film. If you really want to see a decent Purge move watch the second film, otherwise just stay at home.

Rating: 1.4 out of 5

Cabell (Senior Contributor) is a filmmaker from Tampa, Florida. He will watch just about any film but when he's not reviewing the latest hits he spends time directing films of his own.
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