Forever Purge

The Purge franchise has never held any appeal to me; so it came as a surprise to even myself when I chose to finally give it a go and review Forever Purge. As an entry point into the lawless world of these often hyped movies, Forever Purge played the part of a perfect welcoming party. As the body count inevitably rose and new groups of undesirables were met, I wondered to myself, for the first time, why I hadn’t yet seen one of the movies.

Forever After – The Premise of Forever Purge

As I guess all of the ‘The Purge‘ movies start, Forever Purge opens with the build-up of America’s national ‘Purge’ day. A period of 12-hours, once a year where the law becomes forgotten. The idea behind this outlandish lack of law is to allow the people of America half a day every year to release pent-up anger. The result is, as you can probably guess, absolute carnage. However, in Forever Purge we see an uprising of vigilante groups that feel 12-hours a year just isn’t enough. Rather than laying down their arms when The Purge is announced to be over; these continue on with the tradition and commence with their killing sprees in their anarchic ways.

Furthermore, Forever Purge focuses on an issue we see around us all too often, racial hatred and white supremacy. With the story following a group of Mexican immigrants, we are met with an abundance of scenes; riddled with racial slurs and xenophobia. Forever Purge bravely tackles the taboo subject with a later turning of the tables that opens one of the lead characters up for one hell of a cheesy-action-movie-quote in a late mic-drop moment.

What let Forever Purge Down

As much as I enjoyed the movie, I would still label Forever Purge an Emmental production – in that it’s cheesy and full of holes. Without having had any previous experience in the franchise, I can still say it felt like more of a spin-off, as opposed to the A* standard of writing and performance I had come to expect. The characters, while likable on the whole part, at times felt a little wooden and lackluster; further adding to the B-movie vibes as earlier mentioned.

The story follows a similar track. While the base premise is interesting, I think it will begin to tire as I progress through the earlier titles. For the action fans, on the other hand, the movie is unashamedly gung-ho; featuring more than its fair share of fire-fights, violence, and suspense.

The Saving Grace of Forever Purge

Contrary to the previous sub-section, I did really enjoy Forever Purge, from start to finish. In terms of tempo, the latest movie in the Purge franchise starts fast and keeps its pace until around the 60-minute mark; where holes start to appear and you realize the characters don’t seem to make logical decisions – you’ll see.

As cheesy as they are at times, the characters in the story are mostly enjoyable and well-cast. From the borderline racist to the gun-toting Latino Rambo; each character has their moments that make Forever Purge so confusingly enjoyable. I never recognized any of the actors from the cast, which somehow adds to the charm.

Summary

If not taken too seriously, Forever Purge is choc-full of some brilliant action movie moments. As a horror movie, however, it is disappointing as a horror. There are very few moments throughout the entirety of the 104-minute installment that could even be considered remotely scary. Instead, the focus is laid heavily on the action element and the consequences of a life where The Purge is a very real thing. Bodies pile up in the streets; homes are razed to the ground; groups of armed militants looking to ‘purify America’ stalk the streets. The chaos ensues as the issues of today are brought into the spotlight.

If you want an above-average action movie, this is ideal. For a good horror, however, I would look elsewhere. I still found a lot of enjoyment in Forever Purge, however, and will be undoubtedly going back to catch up on the earlier titles.