THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The Purge has shown to have interesting lore of a setting where all crime is legal for one night a year. The big question is how did it become possible. The First Purge had an answer that many expected but wish it weren’t true.
PLOT
The 2018 prequel shows the origin of the inaugural event, starting in 2014 where inflation and unemployment are rising. This inspires NFFA to find a solution with the economic ordeal once one member interviews multiple US citizens on the idea of releasing their inner demons without repercussions. Two years later, NFFA chief of staff Arlo Sabian & sociologist May Updale announce the experiment to take place on Staten Island for 12 hours where all crime will be legal which will allow citizens to release whatever inhibitions they have. Residents will be compensated by staying on the island as well as bonuses should they participate; Tracker implants are also implanted on those who stay to prove commitment. Participants are also given contact lens to monitor their activity. The story follows an activist named Nya who waits out the night at a church. That changes when she has to go out and protect her younger brother Isaiah who gets chased by a crazed drug addict he wanted to get even with for attacking him, Skeletor. On the other hand, Nya’s ex boyfriend, drug kingpin Dimitri tells his dealers to not leave the island and lay low as moving his money or product will draw too much attention. The only one of his group that doesn’t listen is Capital A (Christian Robinson) who chooses to participate. As a distraction, he sends two prostitutes, Anna & Elsa (Maria Rivera & Chyna Layne), to keep Dimitri company. Little did he know they were sent to kill him, promised to be paid off well enough to retire from their line of work. After he defends himself from both ladies, he arranges Capital A to be killed before killing the duo that tried to take his life. With Skeletor being the only one committing murder while others commit minor crimes like theft and outlandish block parties, Sabin does the irrational by sending mercenaries to stack up the body count. May deduces what he did, which only leads to him confessing he’s doing it as an attempt to balance the wealth disequilibrium between the rich & poor. Knowing damn well he’s wiping out the poor to save the expense of social programs, she gets taken to Staten Island to be legally killed but Sabin erases the footage to keep his connection to her severed. As Nya & Isaiah head to the church, they find out mercenaries have slaughtered the place. The only survivors were Dolores (Mugga), Luisa (Luna Lauren Vélez) & her daughter Selina (Kristen Solis). Dimitri realizes what’s going on when he gets attacked by other mercenaries. Deducing the NFFA sent them, he and his crew vow to protect the neighborhood for the remainder of the night. Nya and her group head to her apartment hoping to be safe, but the trackers help other mercs find them. Just when Dimitri gets there with his group, he survives a drone attack that forces him to go to the complex alone. By the time he reaches the level Nya’s at, Skeletor interferes and gets himself killed confronting the mercs as he wanted to kill her and Isaiah for himself. Before the sirens blare, Dimitri kills the rest of the oppressors by setting off a plastic explosive. When walking out of the apartment, he is praised by the neighborhood for his efforts and vows to keep fighting back in the future. The film ends with Sabian declaring the experiment a big enough success to plan a nationwide purge as soon as the following year.
THOUGHTS
There’s not to expect from a prequel when you know the outcome, yet Writer James DeMonaco and director Gerard McMurray knew there were some crumbs left to explore which we get and then some. We get another emphasis on how governments will be the classist & racist to the point of not helping until those in need call them out. That’s honestly part of the horror because of how true it is. The fact this plot still moved forward due to how rigged it got made overnight also proves the trademark in which governments can convince citizens that bad is good as long as the propaganda is right. It couldn’t be any more obvious of a statement until seeing the mercs don klansman outfits and rubber masks inspired by blackface. Just knowing this can happen if the US does go through an economic collapse which would allow openly evil people like this is where the horror kicks in. Then you got sadistic people like Skeletor, well played by Rotimi Paul, who have surrendered to insanity and are willing to do whatever to please themselves. With actor Patch Darragh representing all the corruption that Sabian uses, you can almost feel hopeless for everyone who went through 25 years of chaos. Even though the purge went on for that long, there are still people who give an appropriate approach on saying to keep sticking up for yourself when feeling very vulnerable. Lex Scott Davis is great as Nya who has a high political consciousness to the point where she’ll rather keep financially struggling than take money from a drug dealing ex. You honestly can’t blame her doing so because she’s seen the cycle of violence that is in the world of crime and wants to be cut from that as severe as possible so that her brother can have a better future. Enter Jovian Wade who has a chip on his shoulder, tired of being in a poor environment and wanting to do better for him and his sister. Even though he bails on killing Skeletor, it shows he’s tired of being scared of everything. He knows they don’t have much options in thriving just as much as she does, but she won’t stop being in his ears telling him to do better which he’ll always take in consideration. With such an usual predicament, it can get hard to find people strong enough to fight for everyone, that is until Dimitri steps up to the plate. Y’lan Noel is awesome as this character who only chooses to be ruthless when he has to be. Despite his line of work, he still cares about people and is willing to do the absolute to protect them. Nya may not condone what he does, but she’ll always love him for his heart which he embraced when protecting her. I mean it’s hard to not call him a badass when he shoots up remaining mercs on his own in the best edited fight scene of the franchise to date. Even though his decision to take a stand doesn’t prevent the purge from going forward, you can’t deny it inspired generations to do the same. Considering that many political characters are known to be selfish, it’s a relief to know there was at least one other figure before Roan won the election. Marisa Tomei was indeed an interesting addition to the cast because as May Updale, she’s the only one who saw the purge as a way to study people’s psychology. She ignored the politics behind it which became her grand mistake. Had she known exactly who she was working with, the purge would’ve not even come to light and many lives would’ve not been taken so soon. Her death was sadly anticlimactic since it implied she never had a chance to fight for her life the way everyone else would. At least she proved to have sanity by expressing regret on what would unfold. While I can respect a lot of what was done before, there were still so many things that held the movie back from being better due to moments that didn’t make the most sense. From the top, I highly doubt Skeletor had that razor blade in his mouth while he was talking to Isaiah before slashing him. I’m sure dangerous people have their ways to hide something like that before ever using it, but I feel like he should’ve swallowed it or it should’ve fell out of his mouth to prove his insanity. He then gets less intimidating when he basically vanishes after encountering Nya and doesn’t return to the scenery until the climax. That trips me out more than knowing where she and Isaiah live because I really doubt he did. And why were the contact lenses different colors for those wearing them? Some are blue and some are green. Like I don’t see the point of it if they all have the same functions. If it was based off someone’s eye color, we should’ve color schemes like brown or black. I don’t even blame Nya hashing out her trust issues with Isaiah on the way to the church, but it’s so risky of a moment since anyone can get the jump on them and it’d be on them not having their guard up. May had the right to be suspicious about more purging happening so later after Skeletor’s body count, but in an average, does that exactly matter? Even if you’re setting up the whammy for the NFFA’s scheme, she should’ve thought about the idea of people changing their minds midway. It’s more surprising she didn’t try to be subtle when looking at the purge feed. She honestly could’ve confronted Sabian about if after the event with whatever confidence she had on her. Other than that, this movie still works overall. In short, The First Purge is a solid prequel for being another creative spin on going back to familiar roots, reminding us why certain elements worked before. If you’re a still a fan of this Blumhouse produced franchise, I don’t see a reason to skip it.
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