Another “purge,” 12 hours of sanctioned murder, debauchery and mayhem that only lasts until the morning, right? Not in the latest addition to the “The Purge” saga. THE FOREVER PURGE – from a screenplay by franchise and narrative creator James DeMonac – pushes the boundaries of the film franchise even further by posing the question, “What happens if the purgers decided to never stop purging?” It also focuses on the agenda – which hits really close to home – of white supremacy and those who believe that America needs an ethnic “cleansing” especially where immigrants are concerned.
Here’s the official synopsis: Adela (Ana de la Reguera, Army of the Dead) and her husband Juan (Tenoch Huerta, Days of Grace) live in Texas, where Juan is working as a ranch hand for the wealthy Tucker family. Juan impresses the Tucker patriarch, Caleb (Will Patton, Halloween), but that fuels the jealous anger of Caleb’s son, Dylan (Josh Lucas, Ford v Ferrari). On the morning after The Purge, a masked gang of killers attacks the Tucker family—including Dylan’s wife (Cassidy Freeman, HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones), and his sister (Leven Rambin, The Hunger Games), forcing both families to band together and fight back as the country spirals into chaos and the United States begins to disintegrate around them.
Still more speculative thriller than horror, like the very first, the film is not for the squeamish, as it contains plenty of gore. But it is really clever in making the audience ponder the what ifs of today’s social climate and what could happen with lawlessness mixed with unruliness mixed with hate – or did we already see that in real time on January 6th…?
What I also enjoyed is the strong female lead character Adela, portrayed with on-point fierceness by de la Reguera, who is no shrinking violet and fights tooth and nail to get her husband and herself to a safe destination (non-spoiler site so I’ll leave it there).
Overall, my final thought on “The Forever Purge” is mildly similar to commentary I gave on F9: FAST SAGA, which is it definitely has a built-in audience and if you are a fan of the previous films, you are more than likely to enjoy this.
However, the movie definitely isn’t limited to a specific audience, and I think many people who enjoy thrillers, or horror, especially with a social theme will find this entertaining as well.
I think “The Forever Purge” is closer to the thrill and excitement level of “The Purge,” and it’s no coincidence audiences are loving it more than the critics (current Rotten Tomatoes critic’s Tomatometer is 46% rotten versus a 79% fresh popcorn audience score).
I rate the film 3 out of 5 on the MMTrometer.
THE FOREVER PURGE opened in theaters last Friday, July 2.
Until next thought, Thomasena
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