{"id":9834,"date":"2024-12-10T17:58:07","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T22:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=9834"},"modified":"2024-12-10T17:58:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T22:58:07","slug":"the-first-purge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/12\/10\/the-first-purge\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Purge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The First Purge<\/strong> (2018)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Action-Horror-Sci-Fi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 97 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong disturbing violence throughout, pervasive language, some sexuality, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Gerard McMurray\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: James DeMonaco\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Kevin Lax\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Anastas N. Michos\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 4, 2018 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Y\u2019Lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, Mugga, Patch Darragh, Marisa Tomei, Luna Lauren Velez, Kristen Solis, Rotimi Paul, Mo McRae, Jermel Howard, Siya, Christian Robinson, Steve Harris, Derek Basco.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $69.5M (US)\/$137M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0I like the Purge movies. What\u2019s interesting about them is how they\u2019ve evolved since the first movie in 2013 B.T. (Before Trump). At first, you couldn\u2019t really take them too seriously in their depiction of a dystopian society in which citizens are encouraged and permitted to commit heinous crimes (including murder) during a 12-hour time span known as \u201cThe Purge\u201d. Every year, for one night, all crime is legal. People are allowed to do whatever they want or need to do to purge themselves of all anger and hatred. Of course, that\u2019s the official reason. The real reason for the Purge is something only a sinister political party like the NFFA (New Founding Fathers of America) could concoct. Let\u2019s just say they have a terrible way of making America great again.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The First Purge<\/strong> is a prequel that tells how and where it all began. It was originally a social experiment conducted by Dr. Updale (Tomei, My Cousin Vinny) to test the theory that allowing citizens to act out their aggressions will ultimately lower the crime rate. She\u2019s backed by the NFFA represented by slimy Chief of Staff Arlo Sabian (Darragh, The Path) who you just know has something sneaky up his sleeve. \u201cThe Experiment\u201d, as it\u2019s called, will take place in Staten Island, NY. Residents are being paid a lot of money to participate. However, not everybody is on board. Local activist Nya (Davis, Superfly) tries to discourage her friends and neighbors from taking part as it\u2019s bad for the community. Drug kingpin Dmitri (Noel, Insecure) forbids his crew from joining in because it\u2019s bad for business. Meanwhile, Nya\u2019s younger brother Isaiah (Wade, EastEnders) signs up so he can go after the psycho junkie, Skeletor (Paul, Dutch Kills), who attacked him while he was dealing for Dmitri.<\/p>\n

\u00a0And so the Experiment begins. Initially, participation is minimal. There\u2019s some looting and vandalism. Isaiah goes looking for Skeletor. Skeletor claims a victim at an ATM. Mostly, people hide in churches or go to block parties. Updale and Sabian stare at footage not liking what they see or rather, what they\u2019re not seeing. In need of better results, Sabian sends in a group of armed mercenaries to stir the pot by attacking residents. This, of course, leads to key characters fighting back. By the way, there are NO spoilers here. Everything I revealed was already revealed in the trailer.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In our current political climate, the premise of the Purge movies doesn\u2019t seem so far-fetched. The idea of a hate-mongering political party in power hits very close to home. There\u2019s no telling where our society is headed. We live in uncertain times. The folks behind the Purge movies understand this and know exactly what buttons to push. These are the things I\u2019d say if I wanted to analyze The First Purge<\/strong> as a political allegory. However, I don\u2019t think every audience member cares about this. Some, most I would expect, just show up to see a violent action-horror flick. Why don\u2019t we look at it that way, okay?<\/p>\n

\u00a0The First Purge<\/strong> is a slick, nasty, violent action-horror movie. In other words, it\u2019s exactly the prequel Purge fans want. Well, almost. The heavy political overtones aren\u2019t exactly subtle but then again, this franchise isn\u2019t exactly known for its subtlety. Take the image of the lead mercenary decked out in a black leather trenchcoat similar to the ones worn by Nazis and other white supremacist groups. Or the group of mercenaries dressed like KKK. We know what the movie is getting at; let\u2019s get to the violence because ultimately, this is what the audience wants to see. I\u2019m pleased to say that The First Purge<\/strong> more than delivers in this area. There are shootings, stabbings, beatings and burnings. Skeletor is like a ghetto version of Freddy Krueger. There\u2019s a great deal of bloodshed. This gorehound is satisfied.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I usually talk about the actors\u2019 performances in my reviews but I don\u2019t think I will this time. I mean, who goes to see The First Purge<\/strong> for great acting? Nobody, that\u2019s who! I can say that the actors deliver the exact kinds of performances the movie requires. They play stock characters. They look scared when it\u2019s called for and jump into action at just the right moments. What more could you want? I could say something about Tomei. I could question what she\u2019s doing in a high-class exploitation movie. Why bother?<\/p>\n

\u00a0The First Purge<\/strong> is a well-made movie. The action scenes are well-orchestrated. It kind of reminds me of early John Carpenter, one bit is right out of Assault on Precinct 13 (you\u2019ll know it when you see it). All in all, The First Purge<\/strong> doesn\u2019t disappoint. It\u2019s a good movie. If you like the other three Purge films, there\u2019s no reason you won\u2019t like this one too.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The First Purge (2018)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Action-Horror-Sci-Fi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 97 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong disturbing violence throughout, pervasive language, some sexuality, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Gerard McMurray\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: James DeMonaco\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Kevin Lax\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Anastas N. Michos\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 4, 2018 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Y\u2019Lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, Mugga, Patch Darragh, Marisa Tomei, Luna Lauren Velez, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/The-First-Purge-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9834"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10096,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9834\/revisions\/10096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}