The Purge is a slick, well-executed near-future home-invasion thriller. The preposterous premise - that by 2022, a 'reborn' America allows cathartic free-for-all criminality for a 12-hour period each year in return for virtually crime-free existence - is given some credence by the intimate focus on one family and some good character work by Lena Headey and Ethan Hawke as the parents. Echoes of Assault On Precinct 13 and Funny Games do not hurt the film, which is shot and edited very tightly. Apart from one extraordinary where-the-heck-did-that-come-from? moment involving the daughter's boyfriend, the plot is earnest if somewhat routine, but Idiot Plot (the kids do keep wandering off to serve the story) and some cliched lines are kept to a reasonable level. The film displays its social and political allegories quite unsubtly, but the moral vacuum created by Purge Night offers the characters and indeed the viewers some interesting choices. This is a slight, small-scale but well-made film that definitely achieves beyond its premise.
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