The Purge

***
Release Date: May 31st 2013

In the future, a wealthy family is held hostage for harboring the target of a murderous syndicate during the Purge, a 12-hour period in which any and all crime is legalized.

Director: James DeMonaco (writer of The Negotiator and Assault on Precinct 13)

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey  

When watching The Purge, go in with an open mind. It suffers with an endless amount of improbabilities, and with such an unlikely event to happen every year (read above), you can't help thinking it's absurd.

The biggest, most foolish deed comes from Charlie, the son of James (Hawke) and Mary (Headey) Sandin, who has certain responsibilities that someone of his age wouldn't usually have. After thinking 'what, why and how' (and there's plenty of these), The Purge can make for quite the engaging thriller. It's theme touches on moral values, and how far would anyone go to save their family.

Don't expect to get the time to know the Sandin's. Clocking just under 85 minutes, The Purge puts us straight in to the annual event. Some of the family members are more annoying than others (the daughter (Zoey) acts like a stroppy teenager and is constantly disrespectful to her father). The parents are a little egotistical, rubbing it in the neighbours' faces that if it weren't for them then they wouldn't have such secure houses.    

It all goes awry when Zoey's boyfriend attempts to kill her father. On top of that Charlie lets a stranger in, unaware that an angry masked mob is seeking this very person, and will do anything to kill him. This is what society has resorted to, the working class fight for their lives and the rich folk sit comfortably within their fortified shells.

Overview: The Purge is not always predictable, there are a few twists so it's at least watchable until then end. Where the budget was small ($3m) and the gross amount was high (over $89m), expect a sequel.