The First Purge (Review)

The Purge series was created in 2013 by American Screenwriter, Producer, and Director, James DeMonaco. The first film received outstanding reviews and has earned over $200 Million at the Box Office with its unique concept of Nationwide killing. The first film was created in 2013, starring Ethan Hawke and Lena Heady. The Purge became a popular franchise that showed how the world could become if all crimes were deemed legal for 12 hours with Government approval. In the film, they believed that the experiment would effectively cut down on crimes, and other problems, if everyone was given an actual day to release their anger. Following the first film, two more installments were created; The Purge: Anarchy (2014) & The Purge: Election Year (2016). During these films, we see the process of what we think is the first purge ever, and the extreme cases people will go to, in order to participate in this Government approved event but, in the latest installment, titled 'The First Purge', we get to see the process that actually led up to the creation of ‘The Purge’. Directed by, Gerard McMurray, The First Purge first hit theaters on July 4th , starring Y’lan Noel who plays Dmitri a local drug dealer and Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, and “Mugga” who play locals in Staten Island who are fighting to make it through the night. In this film, we learn that a test was created on Staten Island, a low income area, to see how the effect of poverty in their hometown and the built up anger stemming from their situation, would drive them to participate in the deadly experiment for a cash prize at the end of the 12 hours. Viewers get to see the success of the first experience that would eventually lead to the events seen in the previous Purge films. I personally thought The First Purge was a great movie; from how they backtracked the narrative to showing the viewers how (and why), the concept of having an annual Purge even became a thing. With the positive feedback that the franchise has received, the producers of the movies have decided to create a scripted series which will air on USA and SYFY on September 4th,2018. I'm sure this isn't the last we will see from The Purge series. I would recommend this film to anyone who is interested in a thriller that will keep you on your feet and who has a open mind to what the movie may be given us insight on.