#25 - The Purge (2013)
The premise for this movie - that for one night a year, all crime is legal - is kind of dumb, as if laws are the only reason people don't randomly murder each other all the time. There's probably some kind of political message here, since the "purge" seems to mostly involve rich people hunting down and killing the poor, but I didn't really understand what the film was trying to say, if anything. The biggest problem I have with the premise, though, is that the film doesn't really do anything interesting with it. This is a fairly standard home invasion-type thriller, and the whole thing about the purge is hardly necessary.
You know that movie trope where a killer is standing over their victim with a gun, about to pull the trigger, and you hear some shots ring out? But then it turns out that it wasn't the killer's gun after all, it was someone else from off-screen who shot the killer at the last moment? That happens more times than I could count in this movie. The plot isn't very interesting, so it's like the filmmakers felt the need to throw in a bunch of twists but couldn't think of any good ones.
This movie isn't all bad, though. The cast is strong, especially Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey, and there are some pretty good action scenes. I think it just takes itself too seriously - it's a silly premise but the film tries to play it straight, and it comes across as lifeless and dull. I've heard good things about the sequel (The Purge: Anarchy), but this one didn't do a whole lot for me.
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