If there's one thing that the makers of The Purge deserve credit for it's capitalizing on the current trend in movies to explore the manner in which a cruel, dystopian society might function. Whether it's the Hunger Games series or Blomkamp's Elysium, films about a future earth where things have gone horribly wrong for all but the super rich are incredibly popular. With The Purge, writer-director James DeMonaco posits a world in which an annual event is held where every citizen is absolved from any crime they might commit within a twelve hour period. Used as a method of population control, the "purge" in question is essentially a bloodthirsty free-for-all in which everyone is encouraged to unleash their inner psychopath. While The Purge is far from a disaster - the cast, including Ethan Hawke and Game Of Thrones's Lena Headey are great - utlimately the film devolved into more of a generic home invasion thriller. The sequel improved matters when it came to expanding the concept to show how the rich carry out their purge but sadly lacked the polish to make it a truly effective film.
