‘First Purge’ is depressingly prescient
Print Edition
THIS Fourth of July gave us a chance to celebrate America’s birth in a very American way — watching internecine warfare, spasms of savage violence and a dark government conspiracy pulling the strings. That’s right, it’s time for a new Purge.
“The First Purge,” the fourth film in the franchise, is an origin story set in modern day New York that allows creator James DeMonaco to do what he does best — mix social satire with doses of heart-pounding horror. It’s a worthy addition to the B-movie “Purge” cannon, even as it’s depressingly prescient.
For those unfamiliar with the low-budget-but-high-earning “Purge” series, here’s how it works: In a dystopian near-future, the government, led by a nefarious party called the New Founding Fathers of America, allows an annual 12-hour period of lawlessness without recriminations. Over the course of a single night, rape, murder, robbery and everything else is permitted across the nation as a way to release anger but also a way to cull from an overpopulated nation and lower crime.
Over the past three films, DeMonaco has explored all kinds of different facets to this rich and complex notion, from gun control to the behavior of predatory corporations, to government brutality against people of color and class wars.
DeMonaco sets “The First Purge” on Staten Island, where the first beta test was launched. He has bafflingly attracted Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei to play the behavioral scientist who has designed the purge for the NRA-backed New Founding Fathers of America. She’s not on any side here; she’s just a data-driven gal unwittingly about to unleash holy hell on a sealed-off island.
On the ground, we meet our main players — Y’lan Noel, who makes a charismatic drug kingpin; Lex Scott Davis, as his old girlfriend who has become a community activist; and Joivan Wade as her younger brother, torn between the lure of quick drug money and his sister’s unwavering morality. Rotimi Paul makes a frightening psycho.
DeMonaco has handed over directorial duties this time to Gerard McMurray. But there’s no denying DeMonaco’s ability to conceive a film that seems ripped from the headlines — neo-Nazis marching in US streets, immigration policies denounced as inhumane and a Congress awash in NRA donations.
One thing DeMonaco can’t do is avoid his own timeline. We know that the purges are still raging in 2039, so whatever happens on Staten Island can’t end them. That’s a truly depressing thought: There will be more blood in the streets, not less.
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