TMG Scale: 1.0 MPAA Rating: R
Starring Ethan Hawke. No one else.
The only thing relevant about this movie is that after seeing it YOU will want to purge….hurl, puke …and perhaps ask for your money back. The first big clue you have that this movie is a huge rip-off and of zero worth is that it was made by the producers of Paranormal Activity. The next is that whatever the screwball message of this film, you can be certain it was anti-Christian, anti-Republican, anti-Capitalism, anti-White, anti-Success and racist beyond belief. The fact that it was made by a bunch of elite, white, rich people from Hollywood is just a nuance they don’t want you to notice.
The movie is so far fetched that Direct James Mather sets the scene in 2022. We are expected to believe that the U.S. Government has then been taken over by super smart folks who think they know better than anyone else. They allow killing without recourse for 12 hours once a year. This new U.S. Government thinks it can purge the country of those that don’t believe the way it does, and that the way to peace and a civil society is to let thugs vent once a year by killing their neighbors. So far-fetched because you quickly realize with the NSA and the IRS and radical Muslims allowed to kill with no recourse, this isn’t 2022, this is the Obama Administration! (Small matter I suppose that such a low budget film could not even afford cars that looked like 2022 models to even try to fool you.)
The after movie conversation turned quickly from what was the message in the film, to who did the writers want you to hate the most. For me that was easy—the film distributor of course! Film school 101 is you must have at least one likable character in a movie. Ethan Hawke plays the Dad, James Sandin as a detestable security exec who cares more about his sales bonus than raising his kids. Wife Mary simply looks like she is preoccupied by a bad case of hemorrhoids. Daughter Zoey is a clueless, oversexed teen and son Charlie plays the role of a unisex moron who occasionally could be mistaken for an ill-trained Pomeranian. Who wants to save this family or care if they all die? In this film, you are simply hoping they all get killed off quickly so you can get home and lock your own door and be safe. Unfortunately, you realize your phone is tapped, the IRS is out to get you, and the President has buddies in the Muslim brotherhood who patrol streets looking for white people to kill. The only real solace you can find is in the nightly news when the U.S top National Security adviser assures you not to worry “it is just a film.” Yes indeed, perhaps it is time to purge?