The First Purge

The First Purge, as the title suggests, is a prequel to all the previous Purge films to hit the theaters. It takes place on Staten Island as an experiment in which anyone that stays and takes part in the 12 hour law-free zone will receive $5,000 from the New Founding Fathers. Will they fight? Will they survive?

I've seen every single Purge film. The First Purge was not one of my favorites. I found a lot of flaws in it, and I don't feel like it added anything to the series. I understand why they made this film, to explain how it all began, but after seeing the previous films I pretty much had it all figured out. The experiment had two aspects: sociological, and economical. Marisa Tomei plays Dr. Updale who is responsible for this whole experiment. She wants to see what would happen if a group of people are set free for 12 hours to commit any crimes, and having this in a controlled setting is exactly what she needs. Patch Darragh, who plays Arlo Sabian, the Chief of Staff of the New Founding Fathers, wants to see this experiment from the economical side, and he won't see this experiment fail.

If you've seen the other Purge films and enjoyed them, you can probably skip this one. If you live on Staten Island and have seen the Purge films and enjoyed them, definitely skip this one. My major complaint is how this film portrayed Staten Island, and I'd be surprised if natives of the island don't agree. I've been there once or twice and it has always been a very upscale area, with beautiful houses and landscaping like you've never seen before. I didn't see any of that in The First Purge. They made it look dirty and very much lower class. Honestly, the only white people in the entire movie were the people that were running this experiment. How is that supposed to look? Like the white upper class is killing the lower black population? I'm pretty sure this movie didn't do anything to help with discrimination these days.

The decision making of major characters in this movie are very stupid, and that's putting it lightly. "Let's all group together in this unguarded church! We'll totally be safe here!" Are you serious? I understand it's a church and that's sacred land, but this is the Purge and those killers don't care. You think murderers go to church? Maybe if they're playing you for a fool, but they aren't going because they're a believer.

The best character in this film was Dmitri, played by Y'lan Noel, but even he can't make up for the stupidity in this film. He's cool, but not worth sitting through this movie more than once. IMDb reviewers have rated this film a 5.3/10 and Rotten Tomatoes give it a 38% audience score. Ratings like that are painful to see, but sadly I must agree. Save your money. Wait for Netflix.