Warning: There is a spoiler for the film The Purge in this post so if you intend watching it you might not want to read the whole post.....
Last week I agreed to go to the cinema with Beautiful B and her boyfriend, Ry to see The Purge. Having already got excited about the release of Man of Steel and canvassed for interest only to find there was none I concluded I must go alone.
So instead of working until stupid o'clock and meeting BB and Ry to see The Purge I took myself off to the cinema early to watch Man of Steel first.
We will skip over how incredibly sad I am for sitting in the cinema with a pad and pen jotting down ideas for the works intranet page or the fact that I managed to munch my way through numerous satsumas - shut up, they are the one type of orange I can eat and that I like.
Instead, the film. Some people, including Hubby, do not see the point of a remake of the original films and that you cannot make a film as good as the original. This makes me giggle because Hubby has never seen all of the original or any other Superman film. I'm going to be magnanimous and say that the youth of today (ooooh, get me sounding old) would watch the original and ignore the concept of the simpleness of the story line and instead comment on how rubbish the special effects are. So I think that a remake that sticks to the original story line but brings it into today's world introduces our children to some great classics with a modern twist.
Having said that, although his chest and arms are very nice it did feel strange for Superman not to be Christopher Reeve and for his suit to look completely different. The special effects were amazing and the level of destruction in Metropolis huge. The destruction all done for effect obviously because it added nothing to the film.
All told I really enjoyed the film but then I was always going to because mum and dad (mostly dad) brought me up on the classics; superman, ET, spiderman, star trek, star wars etc.
After the film, I sat in the foyer waiting for BB and Ry making more work related notes (again, incredibly sad) until they arrived. While watching the film BB munched her way through a family size bag of Doritos and I did not eat one - helped by the fact that I didn't like the flavour and probably because I wasn't hungry after eating 6 satsumas.
Let's turn now to The Purge......
I am tempering my first comment with the fact that I know I watch all sorts of horror and thrillers and films about serial killers and murder and read more books in those genres than any other but in my own twisted little way there is a sort of 'happy' or 'satisfying' ending of the film/book because the baddy always gets caught. Therefore, the world is righted slightly. A's hubby is a policeman and when I said this last night he said "A happy ending where numerous people have been killed....." translating to 'how is that a happy ending' and he is right but you get what I mean.
My first comment: The Purge is disturbing and trust me I don't get disturbed by much in a film or book. I have read one book up to Chapter 3 and thrown it away because it disturbed me so much so it takes a lot. The Purge was strange. The whole context of the film is about a law being passed in the US in the 2020's that allows a 'purge' once a year where any crime, including murder, to be committed without any repercussions for a 12 hour period. This law has apparently resulted in no crime at all for the rest of the time and the US is affluent, zero crime and life is great.
Ignore the fact that zero crime for 364 and a half days a year just would not happen or that the country would just eventually have more and more murderous crime year on year and lets go to the fact that the film is about a family who have to survive the night in their home....from people who think it is their constitutional right to murder whomever they want for 12 hours a year and that those who are not as affluent cannot afford the security required and therefore are on the earth for people murderous entertainment once a year. What?! Yes, of course the less affluent are enjoying the rest of the year and not trying to work out how they can secure their home and lives during the next 'purge.'
Then lets jump to how, having their home invaded and trying desperately to survive from strangers who want to murder them for entertainment, the family are rescued by neighbours who kill the strangers but not to rescue their neighbours but because they want to kill them instead. The reason they want to murder them: because the families husband sells the security equipment used on their houses and he has made a lot of money (some of it from them) that year as yes, you guessed it crime increases each 'purge'. So essentially they are murdering his family because they are jealous that they were able to build a lovely extension on the house. A legitimate reason to murder a family I am sure you will agree....
They are rescued by someone the youngest child had let in the house earlier in the evening having seen him on security running from people who wanted to murder him for fun and the neighbours are forced to wait out the 'purge' in the families house where the husband now lies dead. At 7am a siren signifies the end of the purge and the film ends showing the neighbours being told to f*** off back to their houses and so they walk across the street to their houses while radio and TV broadcasts are heard stating how it has been the best 'purge' ever.
So no 'happy' or satisfactory ending for me which left me thinking I had spent 2 hours of my life watching people be scared half to death and murdered for entertainment and for there to be no change to society or way of life as a resolution to the film.
Firstly, I'm sorry but that is not the way films are supposed to end and secondly what was the point of the film exactly. Unless it was to prompt blogs, comments and conversations such as this one I don't see the point of a film with such a premise being classed as entertainment.
Yes, that sounds hypocrytical because I love programmes such as Criminal Minds and that is all about the most depraved of society but they are always caught. I know in reality this does not happen and that it can take years to catch a killer even with the help of the FBI but there is a resolution and even if there weren't there is a concept of good at least trying to triumph over evil and I just did not get this with The Purge.
Have you noticed how my rant about The Purge is so much longer than the comments about Man of Steel which I enjoyed immensely? Maybe that was their aim.
Oh and have I mentioned that a Wolverine film is due for release and Hugh Jackman seems to have his shirt off quite a bit in that film? Yes, oh well, I am likely to mention it again.
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| Phwoor! |
Just in case you are thinking he uses a body double, he clearly doesn't!
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