Wednesday, July 11, 2018

With The First Purge, the Purge series finally says something daring

On a short making-of documentary included on the Blu-ray release of the 2013 film The Purge, writer-director James DeMonaco says, “If it sparks any kind of discourse about violence in society, I think that’s a good thing. If people just enjoy it, great. But if they want to talk about violence, guns in our society, that’s great, too.” That kind of half-commitment to the film’s political elements defined the series until now, with the audacious 2018 prequel The First Purge. The Purge and its sequels — The Purge: Anarchy in 2014 and The Purge: Election Year in 2016, both written and directed by DeMonaco — all tiptoed up the line of delivering a loud, clear political message, but both films retreated before their subtext became explicit. The...

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