5.8 | / 10 |
Users | 3.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.1 |
In a crime-ridden future when overtaxed cops let murder and other crimes rule the streets one night a year, someone's knocking at James Sandin's door. Tormented by an unknown thrill-killer, Sandin makes a desperate stand to save his wife and family.
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane, Edwin HodgeHorror | 100% |
Thriller | 74% |
Sci-Fi | 24% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The Purge is yet another underdeveloped, overwrought high-concept thriller with bigger ideas and aspirations than it knows what to do with. Writer/director James DeMonaco presents us with a false future utopia in which the citizens of the United States are given one night every year to exorcise their demons without fear of consequence or criminal prosecution; a "purge" meant to cleanse the cultural soul of 364 days of pent up hate, rage and aggression. Rape, murder, mutilation... all completely legal for twelve unhinged hours before the minutia of civilized life resumes and the authorities arrive to tote away the bodies, wipe away the blood, pat the country's "patriots" on the back, and honor those who "sacrificed" themselves for the greater good. We're told crime has been virtually eliminated -- never mind the fact that the overwhelming majority of murders today are impulsive acts or crimes of passion -- and we're even asked to accept that the entire country has fallen in line with the New Founding Fathers' vision of moral reorientation. And in which far-off nightmare of a year does all this occur? 2070? 2150? 2230? Don't be silly. 2022. Let that sink in. Less than nine years in the future. And that's just the first of many, many problems with The Purge, an otherwise intense and suspenseful home invasion thriller that attempts to accomplish too much with too little, take shots at far too many targets in one pass, and engage in densely packed social and political commentary that's obvious, messy and convoluted.
Daylight is scarce in The Purge. Between nightfall, the Sandins' severed power, night vision cams, outdoor security feeds and cinematographer Jacques Jouffret's impenetrable shadows, the film is as dark as its horrors are grisly. Fortunately, Universal's 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation is both proficient and faithful to Jouffret and Demonaco's every intention. Color is in short supply, with deathly blues, neutral tones and sinister blacks dominating the palette, and yet skintones are striking, reds ooze convincingly and contrast is consistently satisfying. Detail is excellent too -- surprisingly so actually -- with revealing closeups, razor sharp edge definition and well-resolved textures. Of course, security monitors, Charlie's toy-mounted camera and other low-fi sources make for spotty clarity at times, but none of it proves distracting. If anything, it enhances the atmosphere of the film. Artifacting, banding and aliasing are nowhere to be found as well, and intermittent (and presumably inherent) crush and noise spikes are the only eyesores of note. It's safe to say The Purge couldn't look much better.
Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track delivers the genre goods, taking full advantage of each channel to create the sort of horror soundscape that lures you in -- closer and closer -- before lunging for the kill. Voices boast an air of grounded, convincing realism without sacrificing intelligibility. Prioritization is dead on from start to finish, carefully balancing the atmospheric with the chaotic without incident. LFE output is downright vicious too, latching onto the film's ultraviolence, shotgun blasts and fist fights and lending power and presence to any and every low-end effect. The rear speakers, meanwhile, almost delight in directional devilry, forging an immerssive, all too eerie soundfield that employs silence as well as it does more aggressive assaults on the senses. It's only a shame such a riveting experience isn't paired with an equally riveting thriller.
The only extra available is "Surviving the Night: The Making of The Purge" (HD, 9 minutes), an informative-for-its-length behind-the-scenes featurette that focuses on the genesis of the story and the film's themes, characters, commentary and, much too briefly, DeMonaco's New American landscape.
The Purge paints with broad strokes and big ideas but remains too small, too implausible, too obvious and too narrow in its focus to do much good. It even fails as a home invasion pic, which is saying something since its genre bits are its best. Thankfully, Universal's Blu-ray release at least makes the most of the film's high definition presentation. Though short on supplements, the disc boasts terrific video and pulse-pounding audio, injecting some much-needed oomph into an otherwise scattershot horror film.
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