The First Purge

Summary

“Skeletor’s Purge is on.”

The Purge: Election Year was the final movie directed by James DeMonaco in the series, but he stayed on as the writer of the series for the next two films. The Purge: Election Year came out in 2016 and it, up to that point, was the most politically relevant of the series. Donald Trump won the election in 2016 and across the country white supremacists and other hate groups felt empowered. The times felt very xenophobic and it was not helped by the 24/7 news coverage that seemed to amplify divisions amongst Americans instead of helping to unite the country. Mass shootings felt like a daily occurrence (Parkland, Las Vegas, etc.) and the racially motivated attacks in the church at Charleston and elsewhere set the stage for tough times in America. For The First Purge, writer James DeMonaco decided to make a film that was all about the zeitgeist that America was experiencing. Demonaco made his most political film with The First Purge, and that made the film arguably the least popular entry in the franchise with viewers on both sides of the issues who felt like it did too much or too little. I prefer it just slightly to Election Year, and had no problems with the political ideas in the film. With the majority of the cast played by African Americans, DeMonaco wisely handed over the director’s chair to Gerard McMurray. Like the other Purge films, the conceit inherent to the plot is pretty ridiculous. Unfortunately, that shaky premise is brought to the forefront in The First Purge. This hurts the overall narrative slightly, but I felt like the dialogue in The First Purge was a huge improvement over The Purge: Election Year. 

The plot of the film takes place in 2016. Two years after the NFFA (New Founding Fathers of America) have been elected into governmental power, an experiment is announced by NFFA chief of staff Arlo Sabina and sociologist Dr. May Updale (Marisa Tomei.) The experimental Purge will take place on Staten Island with participants receiving $5,000 to engage in the Purge activities and survive the night. Many of the participants in the experiment will be given contact lenses that will relay video signals back to the NFFA so they can monitor the efficacy and participation levels of the experiment. The participants that stay behind include: a rage filled psychopathic drug addict who calls himself Skeletor (Rotimi Paul;) Dmitri (Y’Lan Noel) – a drug kingpin who doesn’t want to lose what he has worked hard to attain; Nya (Lex Scott Davis) – a social worker and protestor who wants to keep people safe during the Purge; and Nya and Dmitri’s teenage son Isaiah (Joivan Wade) who has just started dealing drugs and wants to kill Skeletor with impunity. 

The First Purge is a movie that basically meets expectations. There are things that I admire about the film, and things that I thought didn’t quite work. For better or worse, this is the most political Purge film. There are events in the film that are tied directly to news events that happened around the time of the film. It is not a coincidence that in one sequence a girl has her crotch grabbed and yells, “pussy-grabbing’ motherfucker!” The film features a church shooting (thankfully not shown onscreen) and has sequences with villains dressed in Ku Klux Klan outfits with machine guns. This is not subtle filmmaking, and if any of this triggers your sensibilities this will definitely be your least favorite Purge film. For myself, I enjoyed the political direction that the film took, because I stand against fascists and racism. It feels cathartic to watch Ku Klux Klan members defeated in the fog by their African American foes. As I mentioned earlier, the film has a primarily Black cast and the dialogue comes off much more natural than the herky-jerk dialogue in Election Year. I was happy to see a fresh perspective projected into the franchise. It was nice to have a new directorial vision from Gerard McMurray. This is arguably the most visually interesting film in the series thanks to the colorful nighttime cinematography by Anastas N. Michos. I have enjoyed watching the ways in which the series consistently took risks on shaping the visual and political stances of the films. I feel like the series has never really gotten as much credit for the risks it took, and that is a shame. In the future, these films will serve as an interesting time capsule about the anxieties we felt as a nation in the second decade of the twenty first century.

Where the film fails is simple: after watching Purge: Anarchy and Purge: Election Year, The First Purge feels just a little too routine in terms of its plot mechanics. This is probably because the film takes place for the third time in a row within an urban environment and once again features government approved mercenaries killing impoverished citizens inside housing projects. If this had been the second or the third film, it would not feel as by the book, but the feeling that we have already seen this all before hurts the film. Another weak point of the script is its actual focal point. By focusing attention on what has always been the least realistic aspect of the Purge – how America decided to mandate a Purge – the filmmakers put themselves in an uphill battle against common sense. This film series is fantasy that reflects he worst part of our reality, and trying to explain how the fantasy spawned from our reality is too big of a leap to be taken seriously. The scenes in which they try to show how the Purge was adopted feel ridiculous, despite their best attempts.

Honestly – this film suffers mainly from being judged within the series itself and how it shapes up in comparison. I think that as a standalone film, The First Purge is pretty good. The film is well shot, strongly opinionated, and has good performances for the most part. If it had been the third film in the series, I think it would have been really well received. Instead, the film was basically torn apart by fans and critics online. If you look at the IMDB aggregate, you will see what I mean. I was entertained by the film – especially the character of Skeletor who was one of the better villians within the series – and will go on record as saying that this film is going to age better than any of the critics thought when it was released. It’s 2021 and 2018 already feels like a looooong time ago. I look forward to seeing how my review looks in a decade and if I called this one right.

Video

The First Purge arrives on Blu-ray with a fantastic 1080p presentation featuring a MPEG-4 AVC encode in 2.39:1 aspect ratio. This is the first Purge film not shot by cinematographer Jacques Joufrette, and the new visual approach from Anastasia N. Michos is welcome. Digital cinematography developed in leaps and bounds from the first film in 2013 to The First Purge in 2018. Michos was interested in creating a much more colorful nighttime playground for the characters to navigate, and the results are fantastic. The film looks great on Blu-ray.

Audio

The First Purge features a great DTS:X surround track. This is the first Purge film to be given a DTS:X track, and it sounds fantastic. The budget increases with each film, and so does the sound design’s efficacy. LFE is consistently used and the urban battlefield is well realized.  

 Supplements:

• Deleted Scene
• A Radical Experiment
• Bringing the Chaos
• The Masks of The First Purge

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 5/5

Supplements- 1.5/5

Overall – 3.75/5

The First Purge has proven to be the most divisive entry in the series. There are things that I really enjoy about the film, and aspects of the film that don’t quite work. I will go on record as saying that I don’t understand why the film was so harshly criticized and that it will probably age much better than anyone expects. I liked it better than Election Year, but not quite as much as the other entries in the series. The Blu-ray features an extremely well done DTS:X track and a great looking digital transfer, but the supplemental features are underwhelming. If you like the other films, I recommend checking this one out and forming an opinion!