Review: The Forever Purge

Purge Night is back, and a particularly nasty group of Purge Night enthusiasts in Texas have decided that one night of purging simply isn’t enough for them. They want it to last forever. We follow the lives of well-meaning, wealthy rancher Will Patton and his family as well as Patton’s illegal Mexican immigrant horse wrangler/farm hand and his family, the latter of whom are staying at a local compound for Mexican immigrants during Purge Night (walled, of course). After successfully surviving the night, both groups go back to their daily lives. However, they are soon greeted with the horrific realisation that hell on earth isn’t set to end anytime soon. Patton’s family are held hostage by their (white) farm hands, who want the ranch for themselves, envious of Patton’s wealth. Also, these forever purge people seem hell-bent on ridding America of any non-white elements. Josh Lucas plays Patton’s less ingratiating son, who escapes their captors along with his pregnant wife, his sister, and two of the migrant workers. They survived the night, but can they survive forever?

 

I really enjoyed the first two “Purge” movies, was greatly disappointed with “Election Year”, and still haven’t seen “The First Purge” as of September 2022. Yet, here I am having seen this 2021 film from debut English-language director Everardo Valerio Gout (A Mexican filmmaker who comes from a background largely in TV) and writer-creator James DeMonaco (who wrote and directed the first three films). I think I’ll try to track down “The First Purge” because this is at least a step back in the right direction for the franchise, so I’m keen to see if that trend started here or there.

 

The themes here seem to be the worst aspects of America – racial hatred, anti-immigration, a frankly morbid love of guns, and the economic divide. Also, the setting is Texas. Purge Night would be scary enough to begin with, but can you imagine being stuck in Texas with all the gun-totin’ yahoos? With the greatest respect to the non gun-totin’ yahoos of Texas, no thank you. The rural setting makes for a nice difference from the first three more urban-set films. For the most part, that setting is the chief difference here as the plot seems to be a combination of the first two films. Instead of an African-American resistance leader, this time we get a Native American one, and the villains are basically white supremacists. Still, original or not, at least it's an interesting plot and not delivered with quite the same ham fist as “Election Year”. There is also one more wrinkle, and it’s a doozy. As the title suggests, the villainous purge enthusiasts in this one aren’t satisfied with merely one night of satiating their lust for violence and chaos. Oh no, they plan on going forever. It was inevitable and it’s kinda terrifying to ponder such violent, sadistic lawlessness. So I really liked that idea.

 

I was on board with this film, but I must admit that killing off one of the most sympathetic characters 30 minutes in was a bit of a disappointment. Still, I liked some of the concepts here and the director gives it a good pulse/energy, so it’s definitely closer in quality to the first films than the uneven “Election Year”. There’s a funny/creepy bit where a crim with a swastika on his face can identify the guns being used by the sounds the guns make. There’s also a great shot of all the flames, smoke and chaos from a bit of an elevated height.

 

I think if you enjoyed “The Purge: Anarchy” you should probably like this one, because there’s some real similarities here, just less urban hell and more rural hell. I think it’s a bit lesser than the first two films, but it’s still interesting enough to warrant at least a (slightly) soft recommendation.

 

Rating: B-