Dir: Gerard McMurray; Starring: Y’lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, Marisa Tomei, Patch Darragh, Luna Lauren Velez, Kristen Solis, Rotimi Paul. 15 cert, 97 mins. Every American zeitgeist gets a horror film tailor-made for it, and no franchise has stepped up to meet the Trumpian present more eagerly than The Purge. The first instalment, a modest home-invasion thriller, actually arrived before its moment, in deepest Obama-era 2013. But its underlying premise – a populist US government legalises all crime, including murder, for one night a year – struck a chord with an audience that was fast en route to its own perpetual national feud. The sociological underpinning of the film’s conceit was fuzzy: something to do with thinning out the underclass while goosing the stock market. But it was successful enough to merit a bigger-budget (and significantly better) sequel, which was followed by part three, subtitled Election Year and released in the heat of the 2016 presidential race. That film featured a principled, left-wing female presidential candidate who was hunted by her egotistical, finger-waggling rival and his fascist goon squad. You’ll never guess who won.<doc-sep>The First Purge type Movie genre Horror What are The Purge movies supposed to be? Are they horror movies, in which we’re given a ludicrous set-up (all crime is legal! Mayhem reigns!) so we can enjoy ideally no more than 90 minutes of gore and anarchy? Or are these movies social commentary — an attempt, a la Blumhouse’s most critically successful venture to date, Get Out, to illuminate cultural truths through the shared nonverbal language of jump-scares and goosebumps? In the Purge franchise’s own mind, one suspects these movies are both. Unfortunately, The First Purge succeeds at accomplishing neither. In The First Purge (a movie whose title already sets up a miserable Abbott and Costello routine, for it’s the fourth film in the franchise), the United States government — run by a new neo-fascist political party — decides to implement an experiment on Staten Island: for 12 hours, all crime will be legal. Citizens will be paid $5,000 if they decide to participate in the experiment by remaining on the island, and those participants will be fit with neon-glowing camera contact lenses so their violent debauchery can be broadcast to the public. The logic here is shaky at best (yes, I know, I know, I did just write the word “logic” in a review of The First Purge) because the goal seems to be to broadcast as much gory violence as possible to a still-free press — these fascists work slow, it turns out — but wouldn’t that turn off the vast majority of the public? If this is the First Purge, and it’s not yet something the modern-day populace is acclimated to, one imagines mass-broadcasted footage of a drug addict slashing a stranger with a fist of hypodermic needles (the first “purge” of the night) would cause most rational-minded people to recoil and think, “hmm, perhaps this isn’t the best embodiment of our nation.” The experiment, as it’s called, was engineered by a miserable-looking Marisa Tomei in a terrible blonde wig, dressed as if she’s planning on attending an uptown art gallery opening when all of this murdering is over. We’re made to believe this character is a true believer in the moral righteousness of the Purge, a woman whose sense of right and wrong permits encouraging free-wheeling killing but who draws the line at the government fudging the numbers to make the trial look better. (Equally incorrect casting: the monotone, middle-aged accountant-looking guy who was apparently elected president. Aren’t fascists supposed to be charismatic?) For the first two-thirds or so of the movie, the scares are lacking. As our character archetypes — I mean, protagonists: Nya (Lex Scott Davis), her little brother (Joivan Wade), her heroic ex-boyfriend (Y’lan Noel) — wander wide-eyed through near-abandoned streets, it feels more like an overpriced haunted house than anything: out pops a guy in a scary mask waving a machete! Out pops a lunatic wearing a raincoat who sprays you with water! Oh no, hands grabbing at your ankles! These moments are so discrete and harmless you expect our heroes to collect a souvenir photo when all of it is over. The premise of a “Purge” — the helplessness and anarchy of it — is so promising, it’s no wonder why they keep making these movies and why people (your reviewer among them) keep paying money to see them, expecting guilt-free, bloody mayhem, a symbolic two-hour Purge from the obligations of responsible consumerism. Why then, does this film feel so cardboard? In part, no doubt, because of its self-seriousness (the moments of humor they do attempt to inject are awkward and misplaced) but also maybe because law-enforcement is never a considerable factor in horror movies, and so removing it, while fun in premise, doesn’t do much as a matter of actual practice. All horror movies find a way to nullify the comfort of an active and capable police force (“My phone is dead!” or “This cabin is so far away, police won’t be here for hours!”) until the final moments. “No police to help” is the precondition for good horror, but no more. And early on, The First Purge teaches us that police aren’t a helpful factor in the lives of our characters: pre-Purge, a junkie slices a young drug-dealer in the face with a razor blade in his mouth. That same junkie is the one who goes on to hypodermic needle-stab someone else, but obviously he’s not someone who was patiently waiting for crime to be legal to really let loose: he already sliced our hero in the face! Where the Purge movies could have been about the slow — and then terrifyingly rapid — dismissal of morality and social norms, like High-Rise, it chooses instead to skate through those haunted house scares and clunky symbolism. By the final third of this movie though, I’m not sure if you can call it symbolism at all, when it’s just the thing itself and not a representation of it: When people haven’t been murdering enough, the fascist government sends in mercenary racists to systemically gun people down. In a clear echo of the 2015 shooting in Charleston, neo-Nazis ride motorcycles away from a church whose congregants were slaughtered. The KKK glide in bloody sheets through the sheets. The leader of the unit assigned to murdering everyone in the protagonist’s apartment building is dressed like an SS officer, with his goons in minstrel black-face masks. (Were these costumes provided to these last-minute Purge missionaries or did they select people who already had them?) These images are horrifying, but if 2018 has taught us anything, it’s that, even more horrifying, in the real world, the villains don’t wear bloody KKK hoods or twirling metaphorical moustaches. Evil is petty and banal. Racists love to begin their sentences with “I’m not a racist, but.” Neo-Nazis balk at the comparison to Nazis, and use the accusation as fuel to prove how outlandish and off base their enemies are. How much less terrifying the world would be then, if they were all wearing SS uniforms, and their power dissolved at sunrise. At one point, as an organized militia armed with machine guns begin their march into the heroes’ apartment building to murder everyone inside, a neighbor earnestly pulls Nya aside and says she’s worried about the state of the country. A reminder: armed gunmen in Nazi costume are currently storming up her stairwell to remorselessly kill them. Hey lady, now’s not the time for an exaggerated wink to the audience. I promise, just dealing with The Purge would be interesting enough. C+<doc-sep>Share this Story: ’The First Purge’ review: B-movie is depressingly prescient ’The First Purge’ review: B-movie is depressingly prescient Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Article content **Two stars out of four. This Fourth of July, we’ve got a chance to celebrate America’s birth in a very American way — watching internecine warfare, spasms of savage violence and a dark government conspiracy pulling the strings. That’s right, it’s time for a new Purge. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or ’The First Purge’ review: B-movie is depressingly prescient Back to video “The First Purge,” the fourth film in the franchise, is an origin story set in modern day New York that allows creator James DeMonaco to do what he does best — mix social satire with doses of heart-pounding horror. It’s a worthy addition to the B-movie “Purge” cannon, even as it’s depressingly prescient. For those unfamiliar with the low-budget-but-high-earning “Purge” series, here’s how it works: In a dystopian near-future, the government, led by a nefarious party called the New Founding Fathers of America, allows an annual 12-hour period of lawlessness without recriminations. Over the course of a single night, rape, murder, robbery and everything else is permitted across the nation as a way to release anger but also a way to cull from an overpopulated nation and lower crime. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Over the past three films, DeMonaco has explored all kinds of different facets to this rich and complex notion, from gun control to the behaviour of predatory corporations, to government brutality against people of colour and class wars. This time, DeMonaco goes back to the root of the “societal catharsis” to dive into how murder is incentivized and celebrate the first resistance to the purges. DeMonaco sets “The First Purge” on Staten Island, where the first beta test was launched (and is, incidentally, his hometown). He has bafflingly attracted Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei to play the behavioural scientist who has designed the purge for the NRA-backed New Founding Fathers of America. She’s not on any side here; she’s just a data-driven gal unwittingly about to unleash holy hell on a sealed-off island. On the ground, we meet our main players — Y’lan Noel, who makes a hunky and very charismatic drug kingpin; Lex Scott Davis, as his old girlfriend who has become a community activist; and Joivan Wade as her younger brother, torn between the lure of quick drug money and his sister’s unwavering morality. Rotimi Paul makes an absolutely frightening psycho and Steve Harris is an always welcome addition. (There’s also a cameo by Van Jones as a TV reporter skeptical of the purges.) DeMonaco has handed over directorial duties this time to Gerard McMurray, who made his feature directorial debut with the Netflix hazing drama “Burning Sands.” It is perhaps fitting that McMurray, an African-American director, helps tell the story of an inner-city minority community under siege that overwhelmingly stars actors of colour. McMurray has a deft touch juggling action sequences, humour and intimate dialogue. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content The first purge actually starts off unevenly, with many Staten Islanders who have stayed (and who have pocketed $5,000 in the process) choosing to have a boozy block party rather than murder each other. The New Founding Fathers of America soon decide to goose the violence level with a familiar tactic and the film moves into action hero territory, with Noel turning into a John McClane-like hero, and our makeshift community banding together to fight an oppressive regime — very Yankee Doodle Dandy. The blood flows so much that in one sequence it splashes the camera itself. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or The “Purge” films have never been very subtle and “The First Purge” is no different. At one point, the brave ragtag Staten Islanders are being systematically hunted by heavily armed white gunmen wearing KKK hoods or Nazi coats and masks that look like blackface and minstrel shows. (Oh, and big thanks to costume designer Elisabeth Vastola for reprising her work from “The Purge: Election Year” by creating some masks that will haunt my nightmares forever.) But DeMonaco’s signature hammy scriptwriting also rears its head. The characters are barely one-dimensional and prone to doing stupid stuff, like wandering out alone during a night of mayhem. “We’re safe,” the sister says at one point. Her brother responds thoughtfully: “For now.” (They’re not.) Poor Tomei is a wonderful actress marooned. “What have I done?” she intones toward the end, having to use her eyes to convey the turmoil her dialogue cannot. But there’s no denying DeMonaco’s ability to conceive of a film that seems ripped from the headlines. “The First Purge” is hardly sci-fi in the face of neo-Nazis really marching in U.S. streets, immigration policies that have been denounced as inhumane and a Congress awash in NRA donations. One thing DeMonaco can’t do is avoid his own timeline. We know that the purges are still raging in 2039, so whatever happens in Staten Island can’t end them. That’s a truly depressing thought on this Independence Day holiday: There will be more blood in the streets, not less. Share this article in your social network Latest National Stories Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Trending<doc-sep>
So this is how it starts. In The First Purge—fourth in the series of violent, bankable Purge movies that have been hitting theaters since 2013—a political party called the New Founding Fathers has come to power, and they’ve made a grand promise to a nation ailing from economic, housing, and every other variety of political crisis. “The American dream is dead,” says the new president. “We will do whatever it takes to let you dream again.” Whatever it takes, in this case, means loosening the safety valve that’s kept everyone from going mad from repressed violence. (Or so it seems.) If you’ve seen any of the other Purge movies, you know how that’s done: for 12 hours, from dusk till dawn, all crime—murder, theft, arson, you name it—is made legal. After three movies’ worth of hunting, stabbing, breaking and entering, and setting people on fire, all carried out in costume masks grotesque enough to qualify as a violent crime themselves, it was only a matter of time before we got a prequel telling us just how this annual bloodsport was born. No one will be surprised to learn that it was always government-sanctioned; that’s been clear from the first movie. But The First Purge is bold—or irresponsible, pending how you feel about a movie like this ripping some of its violence from the headlines—enough to suggest that the Purge itself has white-supremacist roots. (If you don’t want to know any more about the film’s plot, you should probably stop reading here.) According to director Gerard McMurray’s film, the annual event’s roots are in a secret plan to weed out—you guessed it—America’s black, brown, and poor. As far as most of the nation knows, though, the Purge began as an experiment devised by social behaviorist Dr. Wade (Marisa Tomei), known to the public as the Architect. She wants to figure out just how quickly a society given the opportunity to descend into anarchy will do so. It’s her idea to run a control experiment; it’s the New Founding Fathers’ idea to choose Staten Island, New York, as the site of that experiment. And it’s the movie’s decision to offer us a Staten Island that’s populated pretty much only with people of color. So, yes—it’s science-fiction, specifically on that last point. But that’s just how genre movies work. People on both sides of the aisle are going to accuse this movie of being too woke for its own good, but in the dirty tradition of cheap American genre movies, the Purge films have been making a meal of racial and class-based tensions all along. The first one, which starred Ethan Hawke, took place in a monied, predominantly white suburb, which is a funny thing to remember as you watch this one; I anticipate a sequel that fully connects the thread from here to there. In the meantime, we have The First Purge, which specifically focuses on Nya (Lex Scott Davis, also in the new SuperFly), an activist from the projects who’s raising her little brother, Isaiah (Joivan Wade). Nya’s ex-boyfriend, Dmitri (Y’lan Noel, of HBO’s Insecure), is the local druglord—check the gold chain, leather jacket, and impeccable fade. It’s Dmitri’s plan to keep himself, his gang, and his stash safe during the Purge because, as he points out, their deaths would lose him money. It’s Nya’s plan, meanwhile, to look after Isaiah—but Isaiah, tired of being poor, decides to try his hand at the Purge instead. Here’s where it’s worth noting that the government, truly doubling down on this “social-experiment” bit, has built incentives into the trial. Staying on Staten Island for the entire 12-hour rite earns you $5,000. “Participating”—which should, in theory, entail crimes less grievous than murder, but mostly just amounts to murder—earns you extra. To keep track of who does what, the government supplies participants with specialized contacts armed with cameras. Dr. Wade and the president’s chief of staff watch from a control room, shocked, at first, by how few people are killing each other. Don’t you worry; the government has a solution for that unforeseen issue. I kept wanting to scold The First Purge for thumbing its nose at the Trump administration with such obviousness—for having Nya fight off an attacker who tries to grab her by the pussy, for pointing out that the purgers with ulterior motives speak Russian.