The First Purge (2018, Y’lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, Mugga, Patch Darragh, Marisa Tomei) – Movie Review

The fourth in the franchise started by The Purge back in 2013 is a nasty, unpleasant and revolting exploiter peddling strong disturbing violence and a wrong-headed near-future alternate reality, where the rich folks in power in America belong to a third political party, the ultra right-wing New Founding Fathers of America, who have somehow defeated the Republicans and Democrats (though the new President seems modelled on the current one anyway).

Some smug Government nasty bloke Chief of Staff Arlo Sabian (Patch Darragh) decides, with the help of the anxious-looking The Architect Dr Updale (Marisa Tomei), to conduct an experiment, where, after midnight on some random day, laws are suspended for 12 hours on New York’s Staten Island and the low-income groups will be paid $5,000 to risk their lives staying during the experiment.

The point is, if there actually is one, that Arlo Sabian is an obscene racist who will do anything to make The Purge a success (for rather obscure political reasons, ie to keep his far-right party in power) and that the low-income groups are so poor and so desperately in need of the game-changing $5,000 that they have no choice but to endanger their lives for 12 hours.

But, and here’s the third point, the low-income groups are basically sweet, nice and peace-loving, as well as God-fearing, so some of them take to the church hall for safety and comfort, and others take to the streets and sing and dance. Unfortunately, then deranged Skeletor (Rotimi Paul) turns up and starts killing people, but that’s about OK apparently. So, with the experiment backfiring, Arlo Sabian who wants to reduce the numbers of the low-income groups, sends in the cavalry, white supremacist bikers and ku klux klaners to start a race riot.

A few nice folks, Isaiah (Joivan Wade), his sister Nya (Lex Scott Davis), her boyfriend Dmitri (Y’lan Noel) and an older woman called Dolores (Mugga) – who has this grim horror film’s few funny lines – try to survive the night, and we follow their survival and fight back story.

Director Gerard McMurray feels that he has crafted a horror film about being a black man in America but his film is very divisive and inflammatory. He has got it very wrong. This is not a good forum for social commentary and reflections on the abuse of power. Rotimi Paul’s Skeletor character is impressive but again wrong-headed.

Black Panther told a near-future alternate reality story, but in a decent and non-divisive way, with a warm and hopeful message that enormous numbers of people worldwide responded to. The First Purge’s message is, like Skeletor, angry and violent. [Spoiler alert] The movie ends with a furious call to arms: ‘Fight on!’ This is worrying, and I’m sorry but I’m not looking to be worried on my night out, I’m looking to be entertained.

Obviously it is no spoiler that the 12 hours eventually ends, after a lot of people die grisly deaths in a huge body count, but I didn’t think the 98 minutes of the film was ever going to end. It seemed more like 12 hours than a little over and hour and a half. It makes uncomfortable, unpleasant, distasteful and boring viewing. It is shocking that, with this level of gratuitous gun and slasher violence and gore, the BBFC think it is OK for a 15 certificate.

James DeMonaco writes the screenplay, but it is murky and incoherent, just a weak premise and a series of poorly staged deaths and killing scenarios. He wrote and directed the first three –  The Purge (2013), The Purge: Anarchy (2014), and The Purge: Election Year (2016) – but they have got steadily, dramatically worse since the first one.

Producer Jason Blum thinks he has a secret for making great horror films, but this is not one of them. The Purge was good as an original one-off movie but is rotten as a genre franchise, so here’s hoping that The First Purge is the last.

By the way, the performances are adequate in the cases of Y’lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade and Mugga, which is commendable given the circumstances of inhabiting not properly developed roles. Rotimi Paul just has to be there, so no acting is required, but Patch Darragh and Marisa Tomei are bad – in a bad movie.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Movie Review

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