The Purge (2013)

"One Night , All Crime Is Legal"





MY THOUGHTS

I finally got around to watching The Purge after not really being to interested in seeing it when it was first released last year, for awhile there was nothing but a lot of The Purge this, and The Purge that talk and a lot of people went to see it hence why we are getting a sequel The Purge:Anarchy.

So I decided to put aside my preconceived feelings towards the movie give it a watch for myself and see if maybe I had unfairly judged the movie, which I will admit a few times in the past I have done and have no problem admitting when I'm wrong about a movie being better or worst then my expectations.

Let's get to the movie so The Purge takes place in the not to distance future 2022, where society seems to have found a way to have a stable economy and also keep the crime rate down, what the law makers decided to do some time between current day and 2022 is have their annual Purge where one night every year all crime is legal (Could you imagine if this actually happened).

So it is an hour before its time for the purge as most people are either locking themselves in for the night or they are gearing up to go out and purge. James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) a security salesman arrives home and is in a very good mood not because he wants to go on a purge but because he has sold the most home security at his company and is getting a big bonus for doing so. the large numbers are thanks to him selling to all of his neighbors.

we meet the rest of Sandin's family, his wife Mary(Lena Headley) has a talk with one of their neighbors Grace (Arija Barekis) who throws a party every year during the purge, but decides to not have a party this year, son Charlie( Max Burkholder) is some what of a tech geek who has a little robot that he uses to watch everyone and everything. daughter Zoey (Adelaide Kane) is in her bedroom with her boyfriend Henry (Tony Oller) who has decided to stay at the house so that he can talk to James about his and Zoey's relationship.

As James locks down for the night with what his company has dubbed as the best home security, the family decides to got about their normal routine to pass the time, while Charlie seems to be the only one paying attention to what's going on outside he sees a man (Edwin Hodge) who looks to have been either shot or stabbed yelling for help.

Charlie disarms the security and allows him inside, at the same time as James comes down to confront the man , Henry follows him downstairs and instead of wanting to talk to James he pulls out a gun and the two have an old fashion duel, the stranger seemingly disappears and Henry is shot and dies a little while later.

The family is confused as to what is going on as to who the stranger is and where exactly did he go and also why did Henry try to kill James, but a bigger threat comes from outside when a Purge Gang shows up wearing mask, The Gang Leader (Rhys Wakefield) tells the family that the man they have taken in is homeless and the main reason for the purge and that if they return him to them the family will be spared any harm.

OK one thing about The Purge that really stands out to me and kinda pissed me off is that Charlie seemed to be the only one in the family that actually was paying attention to what was going on around them which when looked at has a message that a lot of times people seems to get to complacent when it comes to home security.

The other huge issue I had was that for the most part all of the characters in the movie are white and the outsider of the group the stranger was black, I guess they were trying to say something about prejudice and racial issues but why make him black and homeless????

I didn't want to read to much into those things but I felt watching those two things were really heavy handed but I guess since the less is more approach in films seems not to happen anymore, so I won't dwell on it to much here (Maybe)

As I watched the movies I noticed that there were a few similarities to a few other movies mainly Straw Dogs (1971) in regards to James Sandin who starts out one way but changes and becomes just as violent as his family's attackers, didn't have a problem with that, because what would you do in the same situation?

The other movie that it really reminded me of was John Carpenter's Assault On Precinct 13 (Ethan Hawke starred in the remake) where the family takes in a stranger not knowing what is going on outside or why the gang wants the stranger but finds themselves fighting to save him and themselves.

The ending almost seems to come out of left field but at the same time not really I thought the explanation as to what happens in the finale was stupid because it was their own fault that they allowed it to happen, would've been nice if one character was apart of it so they could have been more debate but it is what it is I guess.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS

The Purge isn't the greatest movie or really turns anything on its side which I think the filmmakers were trying to do, does it have social commentary? Yes. Is it presented in a heavy handed way? Yes I think so, I've seen the themes in this movie done in other movies much better. Is The Purge worth a watch? Yes it entertaining enough and could be looked at as a reflection of where we could go as a society because of how we are right now.

I didn't hate the movie but I didn't truly like it either, if that makes sense. anyway I am looking more forward to seeing the sequel just because that one looks to be taking it to the streets and showing more of what actually goes on out there instead of just in the nice quiet neighborhood.

So if you like movies like this then I saw check it out.


MY RATING 6/10





CAST

Ethan Hawke-James Sandin
Lena Headley- Mary Sandin
Max Bunkholder- Charlie Sandin
Adelaine Kane- Zoey Sandin
Edwin Hodge- The Stranger
Rhys Wakefield-Polite Leader
Arija Bareikis- Grace Ferrin

Dredd (2012)

"Judgement Is Coming"




PLOT:
In A Violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a rookie to take down a gang that deals the reality altering drug SLO-MO.


MY THOUGHTS

Dredd begins with Judge Dredd giving a backstory of Mega City and how things are in this futuristic city and how crime is at an all time how, which is normally typical in these type of movies, the opening chase scene with Dredd  chasing down some gangsters and killing one of them while the others run into a nearby high rise called Peach Trees before Dredd can purse he is called back to base "The Chief Justice wants to see you".

Dredd returns and has a meeting with The Chief Justice about a trainee Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) where she hasn't passed the test to be a judge but because she is a powerful psychic the Chief Justice wants Dredd to take her out and see how she does in the field and give her an field evaluation.

One their way out for Anderson's training day, they get a call about three bodies that were skinned and dropped from higher levels of a high rise building, which leads Dredd back to Peach Trees, as Dredd and Anderson look over the crime scene they are told about the gang and gang leader Madeline Madrigal aka Ma Ma (Lena Headey) she and her gang are very ruthless and are also behind the SLO- Mo drug.

Dredd and Anderson come across a drug deal in an apartment where a few people are killed and one of Ma Ma drug dealers Kay (Wood Harris) is arrested, as they are leaving to take him to jail and interrogate him, Ma Ma has a computer geek junkie hack into the system and put the place on lock down and tells all off the gangs and residents that she wants the two judges dead and that if anybody is seen helping them she will kill them.

Ok I quite enjoy some aspects of this Dredd movie, for one they didn't hold back on the violence since that's what this movie was all about, with ruthless gangs, criminals and junkies, some of the slo mo scenes even though were obviously made for 3D didn't look to bad in regular 2D and actually added to my enjoyment of the movie.

When watching Dredd it feels like an hour and a half video game because of the way its presented which isn't a good thing nor a bad thing either.

I thought Karl Urban did good job playing Judge Dredd I mean his Dredd and Stallone's Dredd are very different, I know some people seemed to like this Dredd more just because he never takes off the helmet just like in the comic book, and I say to anybody If that's your sole reason for liking this movie over the original Judge Dredd movie Is crazy because the stories are completely different hence their was no need for Urban's Dredd to take off his helmet unlike Stallone but I don't want to get to much into that so I'll movie on.


The acting overall was good, my only problem was that Lena Headey wasn't given enough to do here even though she was the main villain she didn't get to really show just how bad she was and maybe have a better final scene between her and Dredd, because I liked her character in the fact that its rare to see a female as the main villain in these type of movies and I think the filmmakers should've went that extra mile and giving us that but all in all like I said she was very good nonetheless.

Olivia Thirlby was actually good too going from the young unsure of themself rookie to the hardened veteran by the end, maybe even a showdown between her and Ma-Ma would've been good because of the fact that her character was born in a similar project like Peach Trees, and could've giving a good different sides of the same coin type of rivalry between the women.

The video game aspect of the movie kinda makes it more of a fun time then if it was done differently but my only real problem with the movie was that it only took place in the Peach Trees building when there is alot of talk about Mega City and how violent it is I felt that they kinda dropped the ball there but maybe if a sequel is made then we'll get to see more of the city itself kinda like in the original Judge Dredd.


I must admit my feelings on this movie is completely different to what it was before I watched into, because I'm not really big on the whole remake thing but at the same time when its done like this where the filmmakers are playing with what made the original film great or good in its on right, I have no problem with that but at the same time if this movie had a different name and main character with the same plot would it be better received and not already have somewhat of a negative reaction from fans of the original movie(yes some folks like the original) instead of a cash in on the Judge Dredd name?

One final thing it would've been cool if they actually played La Roux song In For The Kill in the actual movie and not just in the trailer, I really hate when they do that, because that song works perfectly with this movie which is shown by it being used in the trailer


CAST

Karl Urban- Dredd



Olivia Thirlby-Anderson


Lena Headey- Ma Ma


Wood Harris- Kay


Warrick Grier- Caleb


Rakie Ayola-Chief Judge


Dromhall Gleeson- Clan Techie






My Rating 7/10