Universal has released the first poster for the fourth installment of The Purge franchise, titled The First Purge. The film is expected to serve as a prequel to the franchise, exploring how the annual purge originated.
The Purge surprised everyone in 2013 and showed that Blumhouse Productions was more than Paranormal and Insidious Activity. The premise was simple and effective: in a dystopian United States after an economic recession (yes, USA, not Argentina), the dominant political party establishes 12 hours of purging for citizens to release stress and make catharsis by committing crimes, “release the anger, purge ”, including murders. The crime is legal. The first was an attractive home invasion for the context, which was exploited in its following sequels: Anarchy and Election Year. Todxs wanted to see what happened on the streets, and James DeMonaco (creator, screenwriter and creator) along with Jason Blum (producer), neither slow nor lazy expanded the brand.
The First Purge, although it is the fourth installment, is a prequel. We talked about the first purge as the title says. The first 12 hours of purging, the first experiment, which if it works, will be carried out throughout the country from next year. This time, we follow Nya (Lex Scott Davis), an anti-purge activist, Isaiah (Joivan Wade) Nya's brother, with claims to be a dealer out of poverty, and Dmitri (Y´lan Noel), former Nya and the drug lord narco gansgta of the neighborhood but with a good heart that seeks the best for his community. As we know, different circumstances will make them leave their safe places by avoiding murderers.
To explain what is happening in the country, the film uses these montages full of social anarchy and various news media that explain the social and economic debacle (difficult to stop relating it to our lands). These assemblies must be in fashion because I saw similar in at least four lengths in the last year, but good, following. After the inefficiency of the traditional parties, a new political party seizes power: The New Founding Fathers (NFFA). The new president assumes power and his assumption phrase is “the American dream is over. We will do what it takes to make them dream again. ” There may be many sticks to the Trump campaign, but come on, they also looked south, there are many coincidences with our pampas.
From the beginning the movie tells us that this experiment is based on racism. The city chosen to carry out this test is Staten Island, mostly made up of minorities. The interviewees are black and Latin, poor and angry, willing to participate in the purge because they need the money. While Dr. Mary Updale (Marisa Tomei) 's project points to the psychological and social, to the "social catharsis to lower violence", however, the brains behind the NFFA want to purge, that poverty goes down, eliminating The poor literally. And they will do everything that the power gives them to carry it out, sending squads of mercenaries with KKK dyes to incentivize and kill. A fake flag operation. If you're morochitx I ran, because the purge goes for you.
The beginning is promising, because it is interesting how you get to the first purge, but from the characteristic buzzer that starts it, from my point of view, everything falls apart. There are postcards of assassinations locxs with style, some grandmothers with stuffed animals cart, different masks that attract attention, and as always that slowed down is not missing so that we see well some look of a particular executioner. From that aesthetic point of view, it meets and is something that is expected.
A great start was wasted with current political metaforizations, which although some seem forced, manage to make it say "well, let's continue to see what happens." The interviews conducted by white people in totally white offices speak of the purity to which those of the NFFA feel destined. In fact, this fictional political party has a real website: newfoundersamerica.org where they sell red caps (like the ones Trump used in his campaign). The analogy of the poor and minorities being eliminated by capitalism, the class war that Marx always talked about is super clear, even though it falls into some stereotypes of blacks and whites. Most likely I am speculating on this; Director Gerard McMurray only has one movie before this one: Burning Sands (can be seen on Netflix), when he keeps doing more he may be right.
The weakest is seen in the construction of the characters, too flat or exaggerated. Isaiah and Nya are the most likely, but with Skeletor (Rotimi Paul) and Dmitri, to my liking, they pee. The first serves to show the madness of the purge, but outside of that it seems like a crazy cross between César Romero's Joker, Uncle Lucas and Jack Torrance who ends up caricaturing him. The second, Dmitri, ends up being a kind of Rambo with doses of John McClane. He can only end a squad of expert mercenaries. Not even Frank Grillo in previous films was so capo. This characterization is what (in my opinion, those experienced in the field can criticize me) takes this length of the genre of terror and puts it into action.
That is the weakest of the saga does not neglect that the universe of the Purge will continue to grow. In fact, La Purga-La serie has come out, with the production of James DeMonaco, Jason Blum and the chantun of Michael Bay. With a theme very much like The Walking Dead, that is, different lines of stories with characters distributed on the map that converge at the end.
In conclusion, a movie that promised me something at the beginning and forgets the message along the way. For fans of the saga will comply because it is part of the canon, who starts the saga by this prequel, will soon forget it.