It’s that time of year again: the 4th of July has passed, meaning Universal and Blumhouse have risen from the shadows to throw another Purge movie out into the world. Besides being a series made up of senseless violence and ugly straight white men thinking they’re the centre point of humanity, The Purge turned what had started as a one-off home invasion movie into a film series that showcases people from all walks of life going up against a night every American citizen in this fictional interpretation of America has to face.
The main premise behind The Purge is for one night each year across the country, all crime, including murder, becomes legal. The film justifies the night as being an experiment to keep crime rates lower throughout the rest of the year by relying on one sole night for participants to blow off steam in a way that bears no consequences. With that being recapped, let’s get into this. Of course, being a newly released film, I’ll keep this spoiler-free.
The fifth—and what was intended to be the final—film in the franchise, The Forever Purge, made its way to Video on Demand services last week following its 20-day run in theaters, grossing over $50 million at the box office against an $18 million budget. This marked the lowest income for a Purge movie to date but, given the circumstances with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the film to be delayed an entire year, as well as the early On Demand release—this was very much expected and taken into account by the studio ahead of its release.
The events of The Forever Purge take place after the events of 2016’s The Purge: Election Year, despite a film that took place between the two being released. The Elizabeth Mitchell-led film, set in the year 2040, depicted the night of horrors being brought to an end as Senator Charlene Roan got elected as President of the United States, officially closing out the annual night of purging by delivering on her soul promise throughout her electoral campaign.
Fast forward eight years to 2048: the peace doesn’t seem to have lasted long as the New Founding Fathers of America have regained control of the country, reinstating Annual Purge night across America.
in ‘The Forever Purge,’
directed by Everardo Valerio Gout.
The movie introduces us to Juan and Adela, a married couple who illegally gain entrance to the country while being on the run from a Mexican drug cartel with hopes of starting a new life in Austin, Texas. For the night of the Purge, the couple arranges to hide out inside a guarded sanctuary built to protect people who are more susceptible to being targeted by white supremacist groups throughout the Purge.
Craving a breath of fresh air, Adela goes up to the compound’s roof, which is being patrolled by armed guards to protect the building’s residents from any threats that’ll attempt to compromise the property throughout the night. Adela watches as a group of white supremacists who label themselves the “Purge Purification Force” drive past. The encounter is only short-lived as the ‘PPF,’ as the group abbreviates themselves as, had driven by with no true attempts to infiltrate the safe haven. Meanwhile, on the other side of Texas, we meet the Tucker family, who owns the farm that Juan works on. The family is having a peaceful night at home behind the walls of their steel-enforced security shields, in comparison to Juan and Adela.
Purge Night ends only 20 minutes into the film, where our centric couple—Juan and Adela—make their way back to their respective jobs. The film’s main night ending not even halfway into the storyline can’t mean anything good, seeing as every other Purge film has spent its entire duration—besides the opening act and closing scene—set over the course of the Purge night as its primary plotline. The film goes in a direction we’ve never seen before in the series: the commencement of the Forever Purge, a Purge in which civilians are continuing to purge despite government disapproval and the attempts of reinstatement of law enforcement and first responders across the country.
The events of the film begin to go off the rails from that point onwards. Juan and Adela become the heroic driving forces of the film, teaming up with the Tucker family to find shelter across the Mexico border due to the United States becoming a living Hell-mouth. But, as promised, this is a spoiler-free review, so I won’t comment on what occurs from this point on.
Something I’ve always loved about The Purge franchise is the fact that it takes people of all races and from all walks of life and shows you the differences in how they face off and rise up against the terrors of the night. Juan and Adela are the driving forces behind this installment of the franchise and just maybe the greatest dynamic we’ve witnessed throughout any Purge movie to date; Juan is a fearless leader who goes up against the events of the film in a way that’s completely selfless, putting himself in danger to save people who wouldn’t do the same for him, whereas Adela is a badass fighter—and might I add a #GIRLBOSS—who doesn’t rely on anyone to get her through the night. Adela knows her way around firearms due to her experience with the cartel, and her fighting skills go above and beyond anything we’ve ever seen before. Juan and Adela’s skills and characteristics don’t cancel each other out but, instead, they complement each other, with both of them getting out of rough situations by simply working together. The two characters were definitely one of the biggest highlights of the film, and I would happily watch another movie with Juan and Adela as the leads. Given The Purge’s revolving door of characters, the possibility of seeing the two pop up in the future seems bleak—but not impossible.
The film goes in a direction that fulfills the franchise’s need to change things up. The main characters were beyond likable; the villains were easy to hate, and, of course, the costume design for the purgers was once again on point for the horror franchise that continues to drench itself in colourful attributes. It hit the mark and exceeded expectations for everything you’d expect from a Purge movie with an ending that closes out the franchise in a way you wouldn’t expect.
directed by Everardo Valerio Gout.
Now, despite The Forever Purge being introduced as the final film in the franchise, Blumhouse has confirmed a sixth film is officially in the works based upon a worldwide purge, with Frank Grillo set to return as his fan-favorite character, Leo Barnes. When I heard years ago that The Forever Purge would be the final installment in the film series, I immediately knew the series wasn’t going to stop there. The Purge has easily become one of Blumhouse’s greatest successes since they signed a first-look deal with Universal Pictures in 2014; it’s a franchise that can be stretched in many ways, with the night of terror being the film’s main driving force, mixed with a constant revolving door of characters changing with almost every film. The possibilities for Purge films are basically endless.
Going forward, I’m excited to see where these movies go from here. They have a lot of potential and continue to shine a spotlight on realistic, everyday characters who quickly become heroes amongst the dark and twisted madness of this fictional world.
The Forever Purge is now available on Video on Demand and showing in select theaters.
