The Forever Purge

Summary

“You rich can hide behind your steel walls, no more! Powerless, how’s that feel?”

The Final Purge was the most successful of the Purge films at the box office, but it was also the most critically divisive. I actually liked the movie, but it definitely felt like the series was becoming a little repetitive by focusing its attention on urban areas during the Purge night for three films consecutively. With The Forever Purge, writer James DeMonaco (who wrote all four prior films, and directed three of them) returned with a refreshing new setting and the strongest script since The Purge: Anarchy. Fans of the series should find the newest film, capably directed by Everardo Gout, a good sequel and a well thought out extension of the Purge universe. It could have served as an appropriate finale to the series, but there is apparently another movie in development. I watched The Forever Purge directly after watching the other four Purge films.

The film begins in Mexico as Juan and Adela (Tenoch Huerta and Ana de la Reguerra) are led through underground tunnels under the border wall into Texas. The year is 2048 and the NFFA (New Founding Fathers of America) have regained control of the country and reimplemented the annual Purge. Juan and Adela find jobs in a small town near Austin. Juan becomes a farmhand and cowboy for the Tucker family, and Adela gains a job in food preparation in town. Ten months later, the annual purge is about to begin. At the Tucker family ranch, Dylan Tucker (Josh Lucas) takes issue with Juan’s ability to rear a horse better than himself. He does not treat Juan fairly because of an underlying racist feeling towards Mexicans. His family does not have that issue. The patriarch of the family, Caleb Tucker (Will Patton) hands out Purge bonuses to all of the farmhands and tells them to stay safe and spend the money on protection. Kirk (Will Britain) tells Juan that he has a plan to spend the money, but it sure as Hell won’t be on protection. Caleb and his family – including daughter Harper (Leven Rambin) and Dylan’s pregnant wife Cassidy (Cassidy Freeman) – settle in for the night in their large ranch style home. Juan and Adela join their friend and fellow ranchhand T.T. (Alejandro Edda) on a bus ride that takes them to a protected warehouse for the night. As the Purge night begins, Adela looks out from the top of the barricade with a guard and sees buses driving the streets planning to “purify” the city of anyone that is not a W.A.S.P. Adela looks through the scope of a rifle and the guard asks her how she knows how to handle that weapon. She doesn’t say. The next day, the Purge has ended and the Lucases leave their bunker. Juan and Adela begin to head to work as people begin to spray the blood off the sidewalks and reopen their homes. When Adela arrives at work, her coworkers are not there. She steps outside and is ensnared in a deadly machine. Masked men tell her that the Forever Purge is happening. She is saved by her boss, Darius Bryant (Sammi Ratibi.) Back at the ranch, Dylan steps outside to look at their property. In the horse stables he is assaulted by masked men led by Kirk. Kirk ties up the family and explains that a Forever Purge is occurring and all the rich can no longer hide behind the protection of their money. When Caleb expresses his disdain for this ideology, Kirk executes him. As Juan and T.T. arrive for work, they see that Kirk has the family tied up. Springing into action, Juan and T.T. save the Lucas family. As the Forever Purge breaks out in El Paso, and the NFFA has trouble securing Texas and other parts of the country, Canada and Mexico announce they will open their borders to American refugees for six hours before shutting down their borders for the foreseeable future. The unlikely team of Juan, T.T., Dylan, Cassidy, and Adela begins to make their way to the border.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Forever Purge. Fans of the series who are ready for the films to take a different direction will find The Forever Purge a breath of fresh air after two sequels that, while enjoyable, felt too repetitive of the action in Purge: Anarchy. This Purge is the most effectively written since Purge: Anarchy. By focusing his attention on the immigrant story and cultural differences that can be overcome together, The Forever Purge strikes me as a fairly hopeful film. Originally the film was meant to be released in 2020, and the film has the marks of being a commentary on the immigration policy of the Trump Administration. Whereas Election Year and The First Purge directly tackled political realities that Americans faced at that time, The Forever Purge focuses more on the shared American identity and immigration issues without feeling overzealous. The political background is more in the background than the prior two films. The writing by James DeMonaco is some of his strongest in the series. The characters are better developed and all are likable.

The film was directed by Everardo Gout, who capably directs sequences where Juan, T.T., and Adela speak in their native Spanish. Like The First Purge focused primarily on a black cast, The Forever Purge focuses on issues that impact Latinos. The casting in the film is well suited to the task. Josh Lucas is a capable hero with a realistic misunderstanding of other cultures that felt a lot more real than the forced racism shown in films like Crash. The racism of a fairly normal person that says he has no problems with Mexicans, but just thinks that races should be separate from one another, is not the type of racism that is commonly shown onscreen. Lucas brings those aspects to life and it feels real. Josh Lucas is a good character actor and it was nice to see him with a role that allows him to show off some of his talent. Cassidy Freeman is amazing on the HBO show The Righteous Gemstones, so it was nice to see her in the film. Leven Rambin is not given a ton to do, but is good in her role. I applaud the casting of Will Patton in any film and enjoyed his small role. The real stars of the film are Tenoch Huerta and Ana de la Reguera. Both actors command the screen as Juan and Adela. I hope we see more of them in pictures made in the States. Everardo Gout did a great job in the director’s chair, and I hope he will be on hand to direct a sequel if one is made.

In my opinion, The Forever Purge is possibly the best film in the Purge series and it is definitely the best the series has been since The Purge: Anarchy. Fans of the series should check this one out.

Video

The Forever Purge arrives on Blu-ray with a great looking 1080p presentation featuring a MPEG-4 AVC encode in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Cinematographer Luis David Sansans is best known for his work on the show Narcos, and he brings some strong visual flair to the film. The best shot sequence in the film involves a long “one shot” during the siege of El Paso. Sansans is the first director in the series to shoot in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and the effect is that the characters are more in focus than the mayhem around them. While I am a big fan of 2.39:1 ratio, I was pleased with the results here. The Blu-ray does an excellent job of presenting the Arri Alexa Mini LF shot 2K mastered film.

Audio

The Forever Purge features a fantastic Dolby Atmos surround track. This is the first Purge film to be given a Dolby Atmos track on Blu-ray (the 4K UHD versions of some of the films have Atmos tracks,) and it sounds great. The Purge films have all had pretty well made surround tracks for their films, but this is probably the best sounding film in the series.   

 Supplements:

• Alternate Opening – Storyboard Sequence
• Deleted Scene
• Collapsing the System: Behind The Forever Purge
• Creeptastic Wardrobe
• Theatrical Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 5/5

Supplements- 2/5

Overall – 4.5/5

The Forever Purge is the best entry in the series since The Purge: Anarchy. Written during the last days of the Trump presidency as immigration was on voter’s minds, The Forever Purge envisions an America where the hate has boiled over to the point that a state of forever purging appeals to the masses. James DeMonaco, who wrote the prior four films, returns with one of his strongest scripts. The Forever Purge is a well written film with characters that have good backstories and motivations. The cast is very capable and director Everardo Gout, working with cinematographer Luis David Sansans, does an excellent job of keeping the action interesting. The pace of the film doesn’t drag at all for its running time. I really enjoyed The Forever Purge and think most fans of the series will be impressed. The technical specs on the Blu-ray are excellent and the few supplements included are interesting.