Movie Breakdown: The Purge

People are doing traditional-style reviews all over the web, so we decided to try something different.  In each “breakdown” we’ll take a look at what a film’s marketing lead us to believe, how the movie actually played, and then what we learned from it all.  Read on!

The Impression:

Set inside a “reborn” United States where murder is legal one night a year, Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey try to keep their family alive.

The Reality:

The Purge pretty much plays out as you’d expect, which is a bit unfortunate.  Its concept – an annual “free for all” that allows citizens to “release the beast” – should be the perfect vehicle to unleash some real social commentary alongside a frightening level of violence, but instead director James DeMonaco strolls straight down the middle and offers up only brief moments of substance.  The film is far from bad, but don’t we all want more than okay?  Matinee it if you must.

The Lesson:

Pulling punches rarely does a movie any good.