'I didn't care for the characters in this poor film'
FILM REVIEW:
THE FIRST PURGE (15)
SHOWCASE CINEMA DE LUX PETERBOROUGH, OUT NOW
CAST: MARISA TOMEI, MELONIE DIAZ, LEX SCOTT DAVIS, LUNA LAUREN VELEZ, PATCH DARRAGH, ROTIMI PAUL & Y’LAN NOEL
RUNNING TIME: 1 HR 52 MINS
DIRECTOR: GERARD MCMURRAY
Here it is – my review of The First Purge.
Not the very first The Purge, but The First Purge. Erm… not 2013’s The Purge, but 2018’s The First Purge.
That really is going to cause a lot of confusion.
For those unfamiliar with the Purge Franchise, the concept of the films sees a world in which for 12 hours, once a year, all crime is legal. This includes murder.
The result is that crime is at an all-time low for the rest of the year.
When the first Purge . . . let me rephrase that . . . when the 2013 original Purge came out, I remember hearing about it and thinking what a genius concept it was – the first unique horror in quite a while. But then I watched the film and I was surprised to see that it was just your typical home invasion movie. What’s the point in having such a unique idea if you’re just going to make something we’ve seen a thousand times before?
The next two films expanded the universe but still never quite reached its full potential.
I expected the fourth instalment to go much bigger than before, but surprisingly it has taken a huge step back.
This prequel sees The Purge being trialled for the first time ever within a small contained space. In this experiment, residents of Staten Island are given five thousand dollars each to stay home during the 12 hours of the Purge . . . and are offered even more money if they get involved themselves.
With this being the first one ever, there is a more political side to the story. We see rallies and protests from those against The Purge, and we learn a little more as to why the government thought it was necessary in the first place
The protagonist of this movie is a guy called Dmitri (newbie Y'lan Noel) who happens to be a drug lord. Not only is he a womaniser, but there’s kids selling drugs for him who are getting stabbed in the streets . . . and we’re supposed to be rooting for this guy?!
What I will say about Noel is that although I didn’t like the way he was written into this story, he is a fantastic actor. I see some huge roles coming his way. In fact Oscar-winning actress Marisa Tomei (Spider-Man: Homecoming) is the only really recognisable face.
As for the villain, we have Skeletor (Rotimi Paul) – a coke-sniffing psychopath who is hard to take too seriously. At the start of the film we see him sinisterly talking into the camera about how angry he is with the world and everyone in it. But he’s just so animated and over-the-top that he was swaying more towards comedic than scary.
And speaking of scary, for what is essentially horror film, it’s lacking in this department. In fact, I’m not too sure this film knows what it is. Like I said, it’s not scary. There’s no suspense. You could also say it’s more of an action movie, but it’s not really that either. Sure, there’s lots of bullets flying around, and a lot of knives swaying back and forth . . . but there’s no substance to the action. It’s also trying to be a bit of a political thriller, but again, it’s half-hearted about it. It keeps cutting to protests and shots of news reporters talking about the experiment, but it only scratches the surface.
With The First Purge being an experiment, the government are closely watching the events unfold across numerous cameras. About 45 minutes into the film, one character is watching one of the monitors and says out loud, “There’s nothing happening!” – to be honest, he read my mind.
When you’re the fourth movie into a series, you’re in a position to hit the ground running. The audience shouldn’t be waiting 45 minutes for our first kill. Let’s be honest – most people are watching films like this to be entertained for 90 minutes by pure carnage!
Overall this was just very poorly put together. It felt like a made-for-TV movie. I didn’t care for the characters, I wasn’t scared by the horror, and I wasn’t thrilled by the action.
Honestly, I try to see the positives in all films but I struggled with this one – and the sooner it’s removed from memory the better.
Rating: 2/5 Mikey Clarke
OUT THIS WEEK IN PETERBOROUGH & SPALDING . . .
THE INCREDIBLES (PG) SHOWCASE CINEMA DE LUX PETERBOROUGH, FROM TOMORROW
On the back of stellar reviews - and a record-breaking animated opening of $183 million in the States - the Parr family return for another helping of superhero action after a 14-year hiatus.
When the family are arrested after a botched mission, their special heroic superpowers have to be curbed after being deemed illegal.
But a special deal is brokered by a wealthy conglomerate to keep Holly Hunter’s Elastigirl - deemed to be the least powerful member of the group - ‘on the beat’ to restore the Incredibles public image.
This means Mr Incredible (Poltergeist’s Craig T Nelson) is left at home to dauntingly look after newborn Jack - who has devastating emerging powers that need to be kept in check - along with Violet and Dash, while his wife is single-handedly saving the world.
Expect this to be the incredible animated blockbuster of the summer...
SKYSCRAPER (12A) SHOWCASE CINEMA DE LUX PETERBOROUGH, FROM TODAY
Blockbuster addict Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is back for his stereotypical summer actioner - and to be fair to him he usually delivers exactly what’s on the tin. This time he stars alongside nineties starlet Neve Campbell (Scream) as former FBI agent (and coincidentally amputee) and Head of Security Will Sawyer, who lives with his family in the world’s tallest building in Hong Kong. But when this seemingly impenetrable building comes under attack by terrorists he has to take matters into his own hands to save them.
THE SECRET OF MARROWBONE (12A) SHOWCASE CINEMA DE LUX PETERBOROUGH, FROM TOMORROW
This horror-thriller from the acclaimed writer of The Orphanage and The Impossible, Sergio G Sanchez, sees a young man and his three younger siblings - who have kept the death of their beloved mother secret to remain together - plagued by a sinister presence in the sprawling manor in which they live. This 1969 set flick sees a heavily British presence headlined by George MacKay (Peter Pan), Anya Taylor-Joy (Split) and Stranger Things’ heartthrob Charlie Heaton - and wowed audiences at the Toronto Film Festival.
SOUTH HOLLAND CENTRE SPALDING:
THE HAPPY PRINCE (15), FROM MONDAY
