The Purge
June 2013
1
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Synopsis
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Reviews
3.9
2,366 total
5 1,138
4 470
3 361
2 158
1 239
Michael Sragow
Writer-director James DeMonaco's The Purge fritters away its promise in lurid, frenzied violence.
Rex Reed
DeMonaco clearly hopes to make a significant moral statement on the level of Shirley Jackson's literary masterpiece The Lottery. Alas, his aim at political conservatives who support the gun lobby falls flat before he can pull the trigger.
David Thomson
If The Purge is as far-sighted as Network proved to be, we are in for very ugly times.
Leslie Felperin
That old horror-movie standard, a homestead besieged by psychos, gets remixed with a bit of Occupy-era class-conflict satire in the disappointing future-set thriller The Purge.
Neil Young
Gimmicky chiller lacks the robustness and distinction needed to support its social-commentary ambitions.
Peter Hartlaub
The blunt instrument plot allows for a few sneaky moments of satire and social commentary lite.
Critic reviews
Michael Sragow
Writer-director James DeMonaco's The Purge fritters away its promise in lurid, frenzied violence.
Rex Reed
DeMonaco clearly hopes to make a significant moral statement on the level of Shirley Jackson's literary masterpiece The Lottery. Alas, his aim at political conservatives who support the gun lobby falls flat before he can pull the trigger.
David Thomson
If The Purge is as far-sighted as Network proved to be, we are in for very ugly times.
Leslie Felperin
That old horror-movie standard, a homestead besieged by psychos, gets remixed with a bit of Occupy-era class-conflict satire in the disappointing future-set thriller The Purge.
Neil Young
Gimmicky chiller lacks the robustness and distinction needed to support its social-commentary ambitions.
Peter Hartlaub
The blunt instrument plot allows for a few sneaky moments of satire and social commentary lite.
James Berardinelli
When critics bemoan the dumbing down of movies, they're talking about stuff like The Purge.
User reviews
Good idea, but portrayed horribly. I thought the idea for the movie was a great one but I think the movie downright sucked. Too much killing and not enough time for the viewer to connect with the character. I think the beginning was okay but once the action started, it just went downhill from there. It wasn't even scary. My 11 year old cousin watched this movie as well and was not scared. Lighting was bad. Acting was bad. Too cliche. A poor job was done. I would not waste my money and I do NOT recommend this movie, it's down-right horrible!

Good movie I love it I really do buti just think they could have done much better at the ending I know that they didn't kill those people because now there's a 2 movie and im soooo looking forward for that one this shows what happens when ur inside ur house at purge and someone breaks in the other movie shows when ur outside the purge and they capture u anyway this was a good movie alot of killing NOT scary for my family a little weird but after all is a good movie

unlikeable characters. i want them all dead. i'm guessing the intent was to see a weak leading male character develop some backbone. i dunno. this thing was a waste. if you like mindless slashers, go for it. otherwise, the title of the movie, "purge" lends itself to what you want to do after seeing it - watch another flick to purge this crap out of your system. not worth 99 cents, much less $15

The Purge Is Not Too Shabby The Purge is a thought provoking, farfetched idea to truly depict, but the film decently delivered. They can't show all the crimes that would potentially happen obviously and also went with a one location setting. Main characters aren't fleshed out too well and are mostly unlikable till midway through. I did like the entertainment offered once things got going and felt the villains were quite creepy. Dark setting helped capture the dread too. Not too shabby at all but I prefer The Purge 2 over this one.

Some Incredible Images But... The group of home invaders who feel entitled to purge are one of the best things about the film...they are probably half inspired by the Manson family, and half inspired by 1960s European horror films, but they are an exquisite aesthetic tribute in a flawed film. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the cultural statements in the plot i.e. is this where right wing libertarian American people would end up in a hypothetical near future, but sadly much of the tone of the film is bland big budget blah blah blah.

Could of been better Movie was decent but way to predictable any true fan of the horror genre will be able to tell what's going to happen before it happens kinda defeats the purpose of the movie I mean what's a horror movie without the fright or thrill, the characters are unnecessarly stuborn and do things that make you wish they would just die for being incredibly stupid the movie does do one thing we'll though it builds off of the viewers frustration with its main characters watch the movie and see what I mean
Wasted potential A night free from consequences would see a lot of theft and vandalism. The murders and violence taking place would be against, abusers, killers, and child rapists.The idea that the world is full of psycho killers just waiting for the chance to hack random people is a bit much for my view of reality. I had to assume a lot to make the movie plausible . I would like to see the idea done right. Its an interesting premise. Also, the family made too many stupid choices to be believable.
Good idea, lazy plot writing They didnt really cover all the things people would do on a night like that, making it unrealistic. I mean really you can kill someone and get away with it without the purge. In reality you'd have child molesters and rapists breaking into homes and having a good time with no consequences. Bank robbers, Theft of all kinds of ridiculous things, so on.

It's worth seeing. People love to hate on this movie. It actually did really well in sales, hence the sequel. It had an interesting premise but gets more and more far fetched as the movie ensues. The actor that plays the main bad guy really *wants* to come off as creepy and menacing but he never quite sells it. He just seems like a punk kid with delusions of grandeur. This movie is worth watching simply for the premise - what if we as a country had 1 day out of the year where crime was totally legal.

Terrible film.... This movie is a complete waste of time, featuring the most annoying characters I've had the displeasure of viewing in a long while. Everyone should have been killed off in the film. This atrocity deserves no survivors. Avoid this dog at all costs. If I could rate this at -5 stars, I would. Shame on Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey for agreeing to act in this abomination of a film.

Couldn't exist in Arizona.. Any average citizen in Arizona would be able to repel the "scary" invaders portrayed in this movie. The idiot family is only outshined by the idiocy of the murderers. I kept thinking to myself while watching this movie, "wow... It must be horrible to live in CA and feel so castrated by the government so that you can't even defend yourself." This movie is for sheep and the oblivious...which I guess are one in the same.

Pretty sharty This movie was pretty terrible for all the same reasons everyone else has mentioned - no suspense, no development, and no sense. The pacing is pretty terrible and the dialogue... Wow. Seriously laughable. Not scary, just violent. Silly, but not intentionally so. Unredeemable. Like serious, plz don't spend money on this heaping pile of shart.

Stupid Movie Was hoping for everyone to die. There is absolutely no character development. As all the people are exactly the same in the end, except the dead people who are dead. As for suspense there is none. Its too dark to see anything and the actors kind of fall into the scene and act like they are terrifying. Ending was predictible. Was a complete waste of $5.00.

The purge was good but The Purge:Anarchy is better because its outside the city and it has more blood,violence,language,stabbing,setting things on fire and more people joining in I'm only ten and I watch movie like this and the purge anarchy is more interesting ya know and the purge some boy just let's a guy in acting retarded and purgers just come to there house and they want the guy and they just break in and the family kills all of them and the leader purger kills the dad (Ethan Hawke) blah blah blah
Cast and credits
Actors | Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Rhys Wakefield, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane |
Producers | Sebastien Kurt Lemercier, Jason Blum, Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller |
Director | James DeMonaco |
Writers | James DeMonaco |
Additional information
Rotten tomatoes® score
Audio language
Subtitles
English
Info cards
Run time
85 minutes
Rating
R
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