The Forever Purge

Starring: Ana de la Reguera, Tenoch Huerta, Josh Lucas, Leven Ramblin, Cassidy Freeman, Alejandro Edda, Will Patton, Will Brittain, Sammi Rotibi, Zahn McClarnon, Gregory Zaragoza
Directed by: Everardo Gout
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Horror
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Across the United States, a secretive group decides that the purge shouldn't be limited to 24 hours, but never stop.

Review:

Tim: I find The Purge franchise fascinating. I wasn't very compelled by the original movie, so the whole thing felt like a nonstarter. Then, with Frank Grillo, Anarchy and Election Year surpassed all expectations and were both entertaining, effective movies. The First Purge was a mess, the worst film of the franchise. The key question became, "Can this franchise only succeed when Grillo is in the lead role?" The Forever Purge falls in between. It's not as good as the 2nd and 3rd movies, but it gets fairly close. For that reason, you have to look at the 5th film as a (mostly) success, even if it's only a decent film.

This movie changes the location, so we go down to the Texas-Mexican border. The Purge movies have always had a strong political bend to them. I love that this one explores issues of immigration. That's really the underlying focus of the story. James DeMonaco has mostly done a nice job writing these movies. I like how he blends political commentary with brutal violence. It's an interesting mix. This movie explores some of the prejudices that Americans (especially in the south) have towards immigrants. It challenges some of those worldviews, which I always believe is a healthy thing to do. The story this one tells might be about immigrants and Americans, but the heart of the story is about people. It doesn't really matter where they were born, they are humans beings fighting for their survival. If we could look at the world more through that lens, this would be a better world.

Outside of this commentary, the movie follows the expected plot (mostly). We are introduced to a small group of people the night before the annual Purge. They are making their Purge preparations. The rest of the movie is going to be about them fighting to survive. Some of them will, some of them won't. That is all expected. The interesting twist here is that around the country, thousands of people decide not to end the Purge after one night, but to continue it indefinitely. This was actually a really clever step forward in the story. While the whole concept is a bit ridiculous, as a thought experiment, this is likely where the Purge was always heading. People can never be happy with what they have, so many want more, more, more. Those who embrace the Purge and love consequence-free crime would undoubtedly grow restless of it being limited to one day a year. That's way too long to wait. What about 48 hours? Or Purge Week? Or, as this film explores, what if we had a Forever Purge? That's interesting to see play out from a big picture, franchise-story perspective. It doesn't really impact the individual stories in this one- it's still people fighting to survive. So, this movie manages to deliver what audiences expect while still driving forward the meta-narrative of the franchise. Interesting.

The cast definitely helps this one be more successful. I really loved what Ana de la Reguera did in this film. She's closest to the protagonist seat, even though the movie is an ensemble film. Her acting is excellent and she brings depth to this character. It's an impressive performance. The only issue I had is that the movie seems to lose interest in her. She gets far less screen time than she deserves. We want to know more about her character and it seems like the story is progressing in that way, before backing off and getting distracted by other characters. Had the movie given more focus to her character and treated her like the true lead, it would have been even better. Losing focus on her hurts the movie.

Now, the supporting cast is really good, too. I was a big fan of what Tenoch Huerta did in this film. This is only the second film of his I've seen, and I left both quite impressed. He has this vulnerability to him, an ability to connect emotionally with the audience. You empathize for him and become invested in what he's doing on screen. That is precisely what you need in a film like this. Huerta absolutely makes this film better. Josh Lucas was a great add, too. He's such a reliable actor. You know exactly what you're going to get. Lucas delivers that here and elevates the film. The same can be said for Will Patton. He's so experienced and knows exactly how to play his character so that he becomes memorable. It was a great joy to see Lucas and Patton in these roles. Leven Ramblin and Cassidy Freeman were less effective. They were fine, but it felt like a major drop off in quality at that level. I loved what de la Reguera, Huerta, Lucas, and Patton did. Ramblin and Freeman felt out of place. Still, looking at the totality of the cast, it's a big reason this movie avoids the fate of the worse entries.

While I mostly enjoyed The Forever Purge, a bit of franchise fatigue has set in. The idea of the Purge not being contained to one day is an interesting one, but this is still just a film about people in the Purge trying to survive. The change of setting breathes some fresh air into the franchise, yes. That's why this 5th film in the franchise was able to reverse the awful drop in quality of the 4th film. This one doesn't get as high as Anarchy or Election Year, but it proves there's still life in this franchise.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6.5


If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Purge, The Purge: Anarchy, The Purge: Election Year, The First Purge, Yellowstone (television)