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The First Purge is an unflattering mirror for the United States of today.

plagiarize

plagiarize

It's not a loop. It's a spiral.
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
27,601
Cape Cod, MA
If you haven't been following the franchise, you may not know what it is really about.

Five years ago the first Purge was a home invasion movie with an over the top premise. There was a thin subtext about white privilege, that was easy to miss. The Purge: Anarchy made it clear that that purge was a front for government led culls against the poor and downtrodden. The Purge: Election Year brought the politics even further to the foreground, but was probably meant to be more of a tongue in cheek look at the society Trump could bring about, as if he had a chance of winning. But the people vs the white supremacists in power had fully stepped the foreground.

And then November 2016 happened.

2018's 'The First Purge' may have all the subtlety of a fist to the face but the truth doesn't get any less true just because it's being blasted at you in room shaking surround sound.

What was absurd is now one step removed from painful reality. Every policy designed to suppress the voice of minorities on the cusp of being the majority. Are we supposed to think it is a coincidence that all these things work to suppress our voices and stop our growth? That they all have the 'side effect' of protecting the power base of those who refuse to look after anyone but themselves.

The First Purge is not the best movie made. Let alone the best movie I have seen this year. But it is the painful terrifying truth.

This administration is out to marginalize and stand on the neck of anyone who isn't like them.

If you want to get fired up, and motivated, and have the constitution to sit through some two hours of hard reminders of how bad things have gotten, go see The First Purge.

I can't believe reality has shifted so close to these movies. We can't let it go further.
 

Deleted member 23850

Oct 28, 2017
8,689
Sounds interesting. I might need to see one of these movies.
 
Dyle

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,992
What if the fifth movie essentially drops the whole Purge thing and just becomes a documentary...

I haven't seen any of these movies, but it hitting so close to home makes me kind of interested.
 
Eidan

Eidan

AVALANCHE
Avenger
Oct 30, 2017
8,591
I was just going to make a thread about this movie. I saw it last night, and was surprised at how good it was. It's a pretty solid B movie with well choreographed action, an interesting premise, and a timely if unsubtle message and themes. It also has one of the best misdirections I've seen in a movie in some time. I'm surprised by the poor reviews I've been seeing.
 
NinjaScooter

NinjaScooter

Member
Oct 25, 2017
54,261
It's no coincidence that this was the original announcement poster:

30-the-first-purge.nocrop.w710.h2147483647.jpg
 
OP
OP
plagiarize

plagiarize

It's not a loop. It's a spiral.
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
27,601
Cape Cod, MA
Eidan said:
I was just going to make a thread about this movie. I saw it last night, and was surprised at how good it was. It's a pretty solid B movie with well choreographed action, an interesting premise, and a timely if unsubtle message and themes. It also has one of the best misdirections I've seen in a movie in some time. I'm surprised by the poor reviews I've been seeing.
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I looked at user reviews on IMDB. The bad ones had a lot of common themes. Calling it racist, race baiting, liberal / sjw proganda, etc. So, I'm not surprised by the poor reviews. Just kind of saddened by them.
 
Dali

Dali

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,184
I haven't used my moviepass since bladerunner. A coworker mentioned this movie to me. I may just check it out. I'm actually close enough to the theater where the app works from home.
 

Cokie Bear

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,944
As someone who hasn't watched any of the movies but is interested in the concept, is it worth watching them all or is there 1 or 2 I should skip?
 
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,883
The government in Purge Election Year was some clownshoes stuff.

"I know, let's allow government officials to be fair game on the Purge this year so we can kill our only political opponent! What? That heavily armed anti-Purge resistance that's been opposing us for several years knows where our family cathedral is and is coming for us? Who could have forseen?! WHO, I ASK YOU?!"

Also, if the Purge vs. Anti-Purge line was really a 10/90% split like they imply in most of the movies, the new founding fathers should have been unseated immediately. And if they have enough power to rig the election that hard then it shouldn't have mattered that there was someone running against them.
 
Eidan

Eidan

AVALANCHE
Avenger
Oct 30, 2017
8,591
plagiarize said:
I looked at user reviews on IMDB. The bad ones had a lot of common themes. Calling it racist, race baiting, liberal / sjw proganda, etc. So, I'm not surprised by the poor reviews. Just kind of saddened by them.
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Oh user reviews whining about the themes of the film doesn't surprise me. It's the 46% on RT I don't get. As I said before, it's a pretty solid B movie. I walked out struggling to think of any huge problems with it.

This is also the only Purge film I've seen, so there may be some franchise fatigue playing a role in critics' assessments.
 
OP
OP
plagiarize

plagiarize

It's not a loop. It's a spiral.
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
27,601
Cape Cod, MA
Eidan said:
Oh user reviews whining about the themes of the film doesn't surprise me. It's the 46% on RT I don't get. As I said before, it's a pretty solid B movie. I walked out struggling to think of any huge problems with it.

This is also the only Purge film I've seen, so there may be some franchise fatigue playing a role in critics' assessments.
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Many great horror movies review badly. I guess I'm just used to it that it doesn't flag in my brain as weird.
 

Deleted member 11976

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,585
All I can say is: shoutout to the 4 20-something dudes who ran up on my girlfriend and I late at night, wearing masks from the movie, shouting stuff like, "TIME FOR A FUCKEN PURGE, BOY" at the tops of their lungs.

They didn't do anything after that but I thought we were going to get seriously fucked up and/or die.
 
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,883
panecasio said:
All I can say is: shoutout to the 4 20-something dudes who ran up on my girlfriend and I late at night, wearing masks from the movie, shouting stuff like, "TIME FOR A FUCKEN PURGE, BOY" at the tops of their lungs.

They didn't do anything after that but I thought we were going to get seriously fucked up and/or die.
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With the clowns gone, there's no one stopping assholes from running around at night.
 
Avengers23

Avengers23

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,504
Much like "Much Apu About Nothing" from season 7 of The Simpsons, it's too fucking real for this moment in time.
 
LGHT_TRSN

LGHT_TRSN

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,151
We just got back from seeing it and yeah it's dropped all subtlety over the course of the franchise, for the better imo. This was probably my favorite one yet as it didn't rely on the great white savior bullshit either.

They aren't good movies, but they do have something to say no matter how ham fisted it may be.
 
konka

konka

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,856
plagiarize said:
Many great horror movies review badly. I guess I'm just used to it that it doesn't flag in my brain as weird.
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I just saw it and I wouldn't classify it as a horror movie by any stretch. Like, as you said, it has the subtlety of a tractor trailer truck. The line delivery was eye rolling and anybody who is even remotely familiar with Staten Island will be sitting there thinking wtf bizarro world Staten Island is this. Like I get the link to our current fascism, but that doesn't make it a good movie...
 
Dali

Dali

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,184
Gravy Boat said:
As someone who hasn't watched any of the movies but is interested in the concept, is it worth watching them all or is there 1 or 2 I should skip?
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The first is a home invasion movie. I can't remember the second. The 3rd was a movie about an offensive where there was a punisher type character and a resistance. I enjoyed them all even though the premise leaves holes in the reasoning like "if i murdered my neighbor yesterday, or even last year, and tossed the body on the streets on purge night then it seems like I'd get away with it." The purge claims to have eliminated crime for the most part but to me it seems to enable murder all year long since there's no real investigation of bodies found after purge night.
 
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,883
Eidan said:
Oh user reviews whining about the themes of the film doesn't surprise me. It's the 46% on RT I don't get. As I said before, it's a pretty solid B movie. I walked out struggling to think of any huge problems with it.

This is also the only Purge film I've seen, so there may be some franchise fatigue playing a role in critics' assessments.
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46% is pretty much what I'd expect The Purge to get. People complaining about the themes are the type who want to bury their heads in the sand to escape the world and were just there for the murder. But even if you were there for just the political themes, these have never been that solid of films. The premise is insane and that's the main thing that gives them the push that they do, not the quality of the film.

Dali said:
he 3rd was a movie about an offensive where there was a punisher type character and a resistance.
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That's actually the 2nd movie. the Punisher character is after the guy who killed his son in a car accident but got off on a technicality, but he keeps running into people who need help during the Purge, and there's a resistance. The 3rd is about that same Punisher character becoming head of security for a senator running against the NFF to end The Purge, and white supremacists hired by the government come to take her out while the resistance from the 2nd movie is planning to go take out the NFF.
 
Theshow84

Theshow84

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
198
SOMD
panecasio said:
All I can say is: shoutout to the 4 20-something dudes who ran up on my girlfriend and I late at night, wearing masks from the movie, shouting stuff like, "TIME FOR A FUCKEN PURGE, BOY" at the tops of their lungs.

They didn't do anything after that but I thought we were going to get seriously fucked up and/or die.
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I want to piggy back on this, a few years ago this happened in my town.... http://wjla.com/news/crime/man-arrested-for-threatening-to-kill-all-white-people-in-la-plata-md ..... smh
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,631
We're going to look back on the Purge series in the same way that we look back at the nuclear monster movies of the 50s. Sociopolitical time capsules that bluntly reflect the fears and concerns of their time through b-movie genre fiction
 
Slayven

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
93,315
I mean if it was real you know folks would be camping out like black friday to take out some brown folks.
 
Loxley

Loxley

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,635
Paul Ryan always struck me as a guy who would gleefully hunt poor people for sport if he could.
 
RiOrius

RiOrius

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,086
I've always thought the recent Purge movies had interesting ideas, but I'm put off by the horror/slasher stuff. I was able to handle Cabin in the Woods and Happy Death Day, but Purge trailers have always looked too gory for me.

Still, I've got a MoviePass so I vaguely intend to check the new one out at some point. Are any of the previous ones on Netflix or similar?
 
OP
OP
plagiarize

plagiarize

It's not a loop. It's a spiral.
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
27,601
Cape Cod, MA
Katten said:
Can recommend this article on the very same thing.
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Thanks for sharing. A good read, even if they somehow invented a fifth Purge movie out of thin air.

And I'd argue the first movie, on reflection, dealt with a lot of the same issues, just not as front and center. Rich white people who don't want to get involved have security systems that keep them safe. Poor black people don't, and entitled white yuppies hunt them for fun. It's just from the perspective of the white privileged family in the suburbs.
 
Dullahan

Dullahan

Always bets on black
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,410
A friend of mine saw it, and he was telling me about how unsubtle the movie is in it's messaging. In a good way.

Like....USA you need this mirror. It's what you are. Subtle, nah but who cares?

I can't wait to see it myself.
 
Compbros

Compbros

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,438
Too bad it's wrapped in a shit movie. On top of that the heavy handedness is basically in the first act and then it becomes thriller bullshit which ignores and doesn't even deal with the themes it brought up in the beginning. Unsatisfying in every way.


Edit: No one that praises this movie should be condemning Detroit: Become Human.
 
FRANKEINSTEIN

FRANKEINSTEIN

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,151
AZ
I've never seen the 1st movie because it looked really dumb to me. The 2nd looked cool and I'm a Frank Grillo fan and thought it was great. Felt like a lower budget 80's action movie and I mean that in a good way. Watched the 3rd, I liked it but didn't think it was nearly as good as 2. I'm not sure about this newest one. I'm sure I'll see it but might not in a theater.
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,631
Dullahan said:
A friend of mine saw it, and he was telling me about how unsubtle the movie is in it's messaging. In a good way.

Like....USA you need this mirror. It's what you are. Subtle, nah but who cares?

I can't wait to see it myself.
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I think subtlety gets put on a pedestal sometimes. Like if a movie is unsubtle about its message or theme, that's almost always seen as a flaw.

But sometimes being in your face and blunt as a hammer can be more effective than being subtle subtext.
 
overcast

overcast

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,463
Looked about as subtle as a sledgehammer tho. Movie generally looks bad imo.

Might catch it down the line.
 
Addleburg

Addleburg

The Fallen
Nov 16, 2017
5,074
compbros said:
Too bad it's wrapped in a shit movie. On top of that the heavy handedness is basically in the first act and then it becomes thriller bullshit which ignores and doesn't even deal with the themes it brought up in the beginning. Unsatisfying in every way.


Edit: No one that praises this movie should be condemning Detroit: Become Human.
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I may not have the same specific issues as you do, but I agree with you that it's still a pretty shit movie.

And while I agree with the OP that the film definitely touches on things that aren't far removed from many people's fantasies of being able to legally kill brown folks, much of it feels like a film that's capitalizing on our current climate and not necessarily treating the root of its politics with much nuance or depth.

It's all well and good to present white people in KKK hoods, government-funded mercenaries, and police officers getting their jollies harassing minorities as social commentary, but it undercuts this premise by including one of the most stereotypically "crazy black guy" characters I've seen in a long time, showing us a couple of crazy, cackling homeless women, and giving many of the brown folks colored contact lenses that, yes, look cool, but ultimately render many of them as demonic and inhuman especially when they're often filmed in shadowy environments. It wants to say that the purge is inherently a bad thing, but is eager to wrap it in a B-movie action-filled aesthetic rife with caricatures.

It also doesn't help that many of the characters interviewed at the beginning still boil down their core struggles in a moronic, "I have anger that needs to be released" sort of idiotic way.

I can appreciate the current film as a dystopian commentary against those in power, but much of it just felt very disingenuous to me. The Purge: Anarchy did a better job with its storytelling while still acknowledging that the purge mainly existed as a means to legally kill brown people.
 
MizneyWorld

MizneyWorld

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
446
I've enjoyed these movies less the more they ramp up the political context. Personally, I'd rather horror-focused movies using the 12 hour purge premise to stick characters into horrifying situations. Instead I find ridiculous cheesy acting that subtracts from both the horror and political (for those that prefer it) context.

Skeletor was embarrassingly terrible.
 
SaviourMK2

SaviourMK2

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,711
CT
I've always argued the Purge films (But in my defense i only saw the first one), should've been a multiple character story. Different crimes, different people, at one point or another intertwining. Like Love Actually, but Horror.
 
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