Review: The Purge

Directed by James DeMonaco. Starring Ethan Hawke, Rhys Wakefield, Lena Headey, Adelaide Kane, Max Burkholder. 85 mins

In cinemas June

In James DeMonaco’s dystopian thriller, America in the not-too-distant future allows society one purge night a year when crime, murder and mob mentality are not just tolerated, but celebrated. This 12-hour aggression release allows the country to enjoy an existence otherwise free from crime.
One can only hope that this fortnight’s horror releases serve a similar purpose: let directors like De Monaco attack us with an arsenal of disappointing films, leaving us with a year of quality to look forward to.
The Purge’s genuinely brilliant premise is beautifully introduced, as the soothing tones of Claude Debussy play over CCTV footage of vicious purging, with personal vendettas and random killings of the poor and homeless taking precedent. The scene is set for an intriguing examination of society, fuelled by thought-provoking psychological insight and biting satire.
Unfortunately DeMonaco immediately abandons his unique idea for a bog-standard home invasion thriller, featuring a largely unengaging Stepford family and clichéd villains. Ethan Hawke stars as the wealthy patriarch, whose sophisticated home security system fails to keep intruders at bay on Purge Night. As the lead intruder, Rhys Wakefield makes an impressive transition from Home & Away nice boy, but his grinning Patrick Bateman Jr. type feels a tad too familiar to be truly menacing. His The Strangers-lite gang is also painfully derivative. The female invaders giggle menacingly on swings while wearing diaphanous white dresses – seemingly just because that’s what you do in home invasion movies.
With no sympathetic characters or basic geographical clarity, there’s no tension as random characters aimlessly wander through a confusingly cavernous house. The nonsensical action is only occasionally punctuated by hackneyed lines about the compassionless nature of the entitled – the only attempt to build upon the initial concept.
Hobbes philosophised that the ‘State of Nature’ would be “nasty, brutish and short.” Apparently it’s also ill-focused, dull and a tragic waste of a damn fine idea.