THE PURGE (2013 - HORROR / THRILLER) ** out of *****
(May want to rethink your process, Purge mob...)
CAST: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane, Edwin Hodge, Rhys Wakefield, Tony Oller, Chris Mulkey, Arija Bareikis, Dana Bunch, Tom Yi.
DIRECTOR: James DeMonaco
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and some damn good reasons to be good to your neighbors - straight ahead...
IT'S LIKE THIS: Ah, the "High Concept Movie".... Where would Hollywood be today without it? Nowhere. That's where.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, the "High Concept Movie" is a flick whose premise can be summed up in one or two catchy sentences. This allows screenwriters to more easily (and effectively) pitch their ideas to the production executives of the various studios bankrolling productions. And if that High Concept Pitch is catchy enough, it is enough to make a production executive cum hard in his/her pants. Trust me - it is disgusting and highly exciting to watch in equal measure.
Anyhow, here are some examples of some famous High Concept Movies and their pitches: ALIEN ("Seven astronauts respond to a distress call in deep space, only to encounter a chameleon-like creature that destroys them one-by-one"); BEVERLY HILLS COP ("A brash, irreverent cop from Detroit, Michigan goes to Beverly Hills to investigate the murder of an old friend, but has to contend not only with the puzzling case, but also the bizarre, superficial place known as Beverly Hills); PRETTY WOMAN ("A hooker with a heart of gold agrees to be a cold-hearted business tycoon's escort for a week, only to humanize him when he falls in love with her"); JAWS (A New England island community is terrorized by a marauding Great White shark, and it's up to three mismatched men to end its reign of terror"); RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK ("A roguish archaeologist is drawn into a serpentine mystery and race that just might lead to the greatest discovery of our time: the Lost Ark of the Covenant"); and JURASSIC PARK ("An island resort off the coast of Costa Rica features genetically-engineered dinosaurs, but when a group of scientists arrives to evaluate the facility, something goes horribly wrong: the dinosaurs escape and turn the tables on the humans")
And so it goes... It's fair to say that pretty much any movie playing in the summertime is a High Concept Movie. These flicks are most attractive to mainstream American audiences, because they are simple and uncomplicated. They're basically the polar opposite of the "Weird Art House Flick", which is a movie so complex and bizarre only weirdos like me would appreciate it. Just like one of our next reviews, BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO, which is a love letter to the Giallo sub-genre (colorful Italian suspense thrillers from the 60s, 70s, and 80s) and its celebrated directors like Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Luigi Bazzoni, Michele Soavi, Lucio Fulci, and many more in this uniquely and operatically Italian field. Needless to say, BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO and any of the High Concept Movies mentioned before are not going to rub shoulders at the same party anytime soon. But more on BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO and Giallos later. For now, let's go back to High Concept Land.
If there was ever a prime example of a High Concept Movie, it is our next review. THE PURGE is not about a mass deletion of useless computer files. Nor is it about everyone in the United States taking a massive shit at the same time (but just imagine how that would affect the national plumbing system). Nope, it's about a single day every year when all Americans are allowed, within a 12-hour nocturnal period, to kill anyone they want. This practice is called "The Purge" because, evidently, it allows the nation to blow of some steam and control the population - by going medieval on each other.
Basically, the pitch for THE PURGE probably went a little something like this: "In the near future, to combat population increase and societal unrest, the United States Government has created a holiday called "The Purge" when all criminal activity - including murder - is allowable for a 12-hour period. The Sandin family suddenly finds themselves under siege in their fortified home when they harbor an innocent man being pursued by a bloodthirsty group of 'Purgers'." Cue the toe-curling orgasm of the studio exec on the other side of the table as he/she imagines the possibilities.
And so it went... The heroes of THE PURGE are the aforementioned Sandin family. We have: (1) daddy James (Ethan Hawke), a businessman who specializes in home security, which is very lucrative whenever Purge Day approaches; (2) mommy Mary; gorgeous homemaker who enjoys the fruits of James' labors; (3) son Charlie, who is your basic precocious teen with long hair and a serious jones for electronics; and (4) daughter Zoey (Adelaide Kane), who is your basic whiny pill of a teenage girl. They all live in a fairly upscale residential area that is very secure, not in small part to the wares that James peddles.
As Purge Night approaches, we get cheery/creepy commercials on TV urging folks to "Enjoy Purge night by watching the 'festivities' on TV" or "Throw your own Purge Party." James, Mary, Charlie, and Zoe, however, just want to ride out the tense night in silence behind their steel-plate barriers and keep their heads low. Which makes a lot of sense, because of their is anything that might attract the attention of a blood-thirsty band of murderous Purgers, it's the sound of dance music booming from someone's house. Keep it low-key, Sandins, if you want to survive the night.
Unfortunately, something happens to force the Sandin's collective hand: on one of their security camera monitors, Charlie sees a helpless African-American man (Edwin Hodge) outside being chased by a bunch of Purgers. Having some degree of compassion, Charlie disables the house's defense system - and let's the poor man in. Much to the chagrin of James, Mary, and Zoe - who aren't exactly tickled pink that the subject of a massive manhunt is now holing up in what they though was their sanctuary.
Before you know it, the leader of the Purge mob (Rhys Wakefield), is talking through the security cameras at the Sandins. His message is simple: kick their prey out - or become one like him. And he means business. Big time.
Will James comply? Will he kick the man out to save his family? Or will he take the moral high ground and protect the dude? If so, can they last the night and outwit the Purgers long enough to reach the end of the Purge Period? Are all those solid steel barriers strong enough to keep out a band of resourceful killers? Will Mary stand by and let her husband sign their death warrants? Who will live? Who will die? How will this Purge Night end?
Two words: not well.
BUT SERIOUSLY: Over the years, more and more films are becoming High Concept to be commercially viable. Arguably, the biggest box office successes have been High Concept Movies. As the movie industry has become more and more competitive and cutthroat, reducing a story idea to a one-to-two-catchy-sentences phrase greatly increases the chances of peaking the interest of studios.
This isn't to say, however, that a High Concept automatically translates to a High Quality Film. We've seen many High Concept films disappoint just as often as they please. In the end, there's only one conclusion to draw: whether or not a film has a High Concept, execution is everything. A film with a catchy pitch will still fail if its execution doesn't live up to the promise of its premise. Further proof of that is THE PURGE.
This film has an admittedly arresting (if ultimately highly unbelievable) premise: all criminal activity being sanctioned one night a year to maintain population control and overall order - and what happens to one family that gets caught in the crossfire. And while the initial passages of the THE PURGE have a potent sense of hushed dread to them as we approach the beginning of Purge Night, the story begins to fall apart at the beginning of the second act - and then flaming out entirely in the third act.
The start of the second act is the point where the innocent, unnamed man played by Edwin Hodge, chased by the Purge mob, is given sanctuary by Charlie into the Sandin house. The Purge mob subsequently converges onto the domicile, threatening all sorts of heinous punishments to the James and his family, should they continue to harbor the man. In theory, this is when the suspense factor of THE PURGE was suppose intensify and ratchet up. Instead, the movie begins to flatline.
At this mark, THE PURGE turns into just another home invasion thriller along the lines of PANIC ROOM, THE STRANGERS, STRAW DOGS (original and remake), and the upcoming YOU'RE NEXT - with very strong doses of ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (original and remake) mixed in. It should be noted that writer/director James DeMonaco is also one of the screenwriters of the ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 remake (which also starred Ethan Hawke) from 2005, which I really liked. The problem is DeMonaco is recycling that superior film's central premise (which was already recycled from the classic original in 1976) in THE PURGE, and the end result is ineffably weak and, by now, thoroughly lacking in freshness.
In ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, both the 1976 and 2005 versions, we have the similar set-up of an individual being protected within an isolated location - with a murderous mob trying to break in and kill him, and also anyone who stands in the way. In those films, we could understand why the mob had a vested interest in killing their prey. In the 1976 film, he was a murder witness who could identify the perpetrators. In the 2005 film, he was a mob boss who knew about high-level police corruption. In both films, we got why the villains wanted to break in.
In THE PURGE, however, we are never told why the mob has zeroed in on this lone individual who has sough shelter at the Sandin stronghold. He very much seems like an innocent bystander who just happened to run into the mob - and was chased. Given the lack of a compelling motivation for the bad guys, their determination to break into the Sandin house to kill him makes no sense. Eventually, the cat-and-mouse chases that should have been the backbone of this film, end up becoming redundant and tiresome. In particular, there is a long stretch in the middle of the film where everyone just seems to be creeping around in the dark with flashlights bumping into each other. It all ends up being very rote.
THE PURGE might have been saved from its interminable second act by a solid, suspenseful third act and climax. Unfortunately, aside from the promise of a potentially very nasty plot twist near the end which DeMonaco deliciously teases us with, the third act is just as routine and uneventful as the middle section - and the ending falls completely flat. In the end, DeMonaco fails to deliver on his catchy High Concept. At the screening we attended, I overheard the couple in front of us comment afterward that they were expecting more to be done with the premise than just to show one family being terrorized. In DeMonaco's defense, given his production's low budget ($3,000,000), a broader action canvas showing widespread chaos was just not feasible. However, I'm sure he could've come up with a more compelling story to tell with his funding, than just a retread of ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13.
THE PURGE might have also fared stronger if we actually cared about the Sandin family. However, in the film's first act (the strongest part), they are shown to be a group of superficial materialists. That doesn't exactly lend itself to sympathy. The script also doesn't adequately plant the seeds of morality that are supposed to make Charlie - and then James - decide to defy the Purge mob. As a result, their "changes of heart" that lead to the pivotal decision to protect the hunted man later on simply don't ring true. Another flaw of the script are some fairly corny lines in the third act - especially one uttered by Lena Headey near the end that had me close my eyes and wish I hadn't heard it. I have had a crush on Lena Headey forever, and I think she is a great talent, but even she can't pull off that line without sounding ridiculous. I doubt Meryl Streep, the best actress ever, could do it, either.
In the end, THE PURGE is a prime example of a High Concept movie with overall lousy execution. Evidence of that is shown in the film box-office performance: it opened very big the first weekend, then dropped precipitously by about 75% in second weekend - proof that even mainstream audiences know a fumbled High Concept when they see it.
