The First Purge (2018) Review

"Your government thanks you for your participation."

-Announcer

Soon after winning the office of President, the new political party, the New Founding Fathers of America devise an experiment of one night where all crime is legal.  They decide to test it on Staten Island in New York.  But when the participation in the Purge is not high enough, the New Founding Fathers set loose gangs of mercenaries on the island to make the experiment seem more successful.  Drug lord, Dmitri (Y'lan Noel), originally intended to sit out on the Purge, but when he realizes what is actually happening, he organizes his crew to protect the island and rescue his childhood friend, Nya (Lex Scott Davis), and her little brother, Isaiah (Joivan Wade), from the mercenaries and an insane drug addict, Skeletor (Rotimi Paul), who quickly takes a liking to the Purge.

The First Purge is not a good movie.  It's not as bad as the original film, but it's nowhere near as good as Anarchy and Election Year.  It's nothing special and nothing we haven't seen done better.  You don't need to waste your time with it.  I'll get more detailed below, so there will by SPOILERS AHEAD.

What Works:

Dmitri is a solid protagonist as a drug lord who hasn't completely lost his soul.  He has an interesting character arc and although he sits on the sidelines for a good chunk of the movie, when he does get in on the action he kicks ass.  He's a likable guy and one of the only memorable characters in the movie.  He's no Leo Barnes, but he does a solid job.

The 3rd act of the movie is pretty awesome and easily the most memorable sequence of the film.  Dmitri's stairwell fight is really excellent and the group's last stand in the apartment is well done.  I really expected them all to die there, since this film is a prequel, so the tension was really ramped up.  I don't love the fact that they all survived and I'll get into that later, but the scene itself was effective.

Skeletor was certainly a memorable and haunting villain.  He didn't get enough to do, but I loved his look and his performance.  He is probably the single scariest character in the franchise.

Finally, I liked the colorful contact lenses.  They gave us a really cool image and made it easy to identify who wanted to participate in the Purge.  It's an awesome creative choice and gave us some really memorable visuals, particularly with Skeletor.

What Sucks:

Apart from Dmitri and Skeletor, none of the characters in this movie are interesting or memorable in any way.  They all pretty much suck and are just kinda there.  I didn't care about any of their lives and it's a shame that more of them didn't die.  Some more cool deaths would have been much more interesting that their ultimate roles in the film.

The writing is pretty terrible too, particular from Nya and Isaiah.  The dialogue they say just doesn't sound like words people would actually speak.  It definitely took me out of the movie at parts and was very distracting.

Like I said above, Skeletor doesn't get nearly enough to do.  He disappears for a good chunk of the film and when he finally shows back up again, he instantly dies.  For such a creepy character, it's a shame he wasn't utilized more.

Finally, this movie doesn't make a whole lot of sense as a prequel.  Typically, in horror movie prequels, the protagonists all die at the end, otherwise they would get word out about the monster or killer.  Our core group of characters in The First Purge all know that the government sent in mercenaries to drive up the results of the Purge.  I expected them all to be killed so they couldn't get the word out and stop the Purge from continuing, but that doesn't happen.  Instead they all live and are resolved to fight against the Purge, but we know it will continue for decades.  It really doesn't make sense that the Purges keep going.  This would be a huge story and we see during the film that there are reporters who are against the Purge, so it wouldn't get buried by the media.  A hopeful ending here doesn't make sense and it seriously brings down the movie.

Verdict:

The First Purge has a solid protagonist, a tense 3rd act, some cool visuals, and a creepy supporting villain, but it doesn't do anything that Anarchy and Election Year didn't do better.  The characters aren't interesting, the writing is bad, and the ending doesn't make sense.  It's not as bad as the original movie, but it isn't worthy of a recommendation from me.

 4/10: Nothing Special