MovieChat Forums > The First Purge (2018) Discussion > these movies are entertaining enough, bu...

these movies are entertaining enough, but...


...the underlying premise just doesn't make any sense. According to the story, the government instituted the purge in order to save money on the prison system (iirc) - well, except that the damage done every year during the purge (especially all the medical care after the fact) would be in the hundreds of BILLIONS - how is that a good outcome for the government?

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Anyone? No one?..

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Hundreds of billions? Nah there wouldn’t be that much damage and medical care wouldn’t be too bad. The total cost would be a fraction of how much it costs to lock up the criminals in this country and keep them there.

I wish that Trump would allow the Purge to happen in real life, our country really needs it right now.

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You seem very naive about medical care in this country, and the destruction of property itself would be in the billions.

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What medical care? Most people would be killed so the only expenses are funeral related hehe☺️

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You need to rewatch the movies, then.

But I don't know why I am arguing with someone who said s/he wishes Trump would institute the purge in real life, so never mind.

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I’ve seen the movies....almost everyone out on the streets ends up dead. I don’t remember seeing a scene where people go limping into the hospital at the end and use their Obamacare card to pay for medical care.

Did you not vote for Trump? Don’t be a damn fool.

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Yeah it´s a bullshit premise, but a fun one also.

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Once we dig into the logic of the actual story we find it's stupid and illogical. lol

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After the first one I wrote a review about the same thing:

I have tons to say about this film.....where to start.....*everything I write upfront can been seen in trailers and clips, without major plot points until I have warned*

The premise is stupid, flat out stupid. The year is 2022, crime is at an all time low, and unemployment is about 1%. Once a year in March, they have a 12 hour 'purge' that lasts from 7pm to 7am. Very quickly in the movie, you get the idea of what is really going on. Mainly, that rich people can afford to protect themselves and buy weapons, and poor people cannot. So basically, the purge, is a night for spoiled rich sociopaths to take out poor people that have no real way of protecting themselves.

There are so many plot holes in this movie, it is actually a little sad. First off, is that really going to make crime drop? It would seem to me, that crime would increase when you have a bunch of pissed of poor people with dead loved ones. After all, most crime, happens BECAUSE of poverty. And it is not like they could kill of ALL the poor people, that would be impossible.

Now, the only person in the main family that seems to have a brain or conscience is Charlie, the youngest child. When a hurt homeless man comes on his street, begging for help, he lets him inside. Which actually begs the question of why he has the codes to do this. Anyway, a group of masked people then show up, telling the family that their target for this years purge has entered their house, and they must either send them out, or be targets themselves.

Other things one wonders about are the obvious.....what about rape? And child molestation? What about looting and mass fires? Would there be ANYTHING left standing after a purge like this? How do you make 100% certain that everything took place during the proper time? What about all the husbands killing their wives? Or the mothers killing their children? The next day we all just act like all is well?

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I also thought of this at one point when I heard the phrase that ANY crime is legal. I was like, "Really? Even something like pedophilia?"

But I suppose in this reality everyone is just a homicidal sociopath. An alarming number of people, in fact, who are even willing to travel to the US from other countries specifically to get their killing spree on.

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What about all the people that are now freaking out and want revenge for something the law will never take care of?

*****MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT*****

These kids at the door, are obviously rich white prep school kids. My question, literally, is where are their parents? I mean, seriously, even if the parents were the crazy type to want to go out and kill someone, most of them still would want their children locked up safe, no?

Secondly, what was up with the boyfriend? It was obvious once he started coming down the stairs that his intent was not to talk to the father. So, did he just think he was going to kill him, and even though it might have not been illegal, the daughter would have been ok with that?

Also, are we to believe the people are so void of emotion and conscience by 2022 that they are willing the throw an innocent man outside to be tortured and murdered. Why not team up with him from the beginning and shot the asshats outside? The family had more than enough weapons. Furthermore, once they went through all the trouble of beating him down and tying him up, not only do they change their minds and decide to fight (only because their children talked them into it), but they just leave him tied up and unable to help? And this is where he goes missing from the movie for a while. Which is odd for several reasons, but mainly, once the kids outside break in, they go after everyone EXCEPT the helpless guy tied to a chair, that was their target to start with?

Now, with the twists at the end, that brings a whole new set of questions. Like, why did said homeless guy even bother helping them, after they shot him, and taped him to a chair to feed to the crazies? Most people, would have just worried about getting out of the situation themselves. And then he sits there with them until the morning, and then everyone just leaves at 7am like nothing happened? They are not just going to live next to these people?

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This also begs the question, if they decided to shot her at 7:05 once she is disarmed and her homeless friend leaves, how would anyone even prove it did not happen during purge time? You would think there would be a lot of this going on. And she does not even give the guy a meal or some clothes or anything? "You gonna be ok", "Yup, Imma just back to my cardboard box". WTF?

In the end, it was entertaining, but just for mindless entertainment, the plot holes were so big, you could not help to look through them.....



*I did not realize until now that there is a limit on how long a post can be* - sorry for the multiple posts.

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I am not seeing anything here about the initial point I made, though.

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Just about if people were setting fires and stuff and looting how there would be nothing left. The country would suffer money wise for a very long time, and each Purge, each year, would make that worse and worse.

I was mostly just sharing my thoughts on the plot.

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The first installment was just a really bad movie all around.
Personally I was really surprised that a movie that weak started a franchise.

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This concept always felt like a John Carpenter or Roger Corman concept straight out of the 70s/80s - Action/Sci-Fi exploitation so over the top that it feels kind of ridiculous to dwell on the details.

There's a part of me that enjoys The Purge movies in the same way that I'd enjoy 'Escape from New York', 'Assault on Precinct 13', 'The Warriors', or 'Death Race 2000' - B-flick violent escapism with a dose of social commentary, and a little bit of a budget.

That being said, I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't love to see The Purge flicks executed more thoughtfully, or by writing/directing talent greater than what currently exists in the series. As it is, it's turn-your-brain-off escapism, but I'd love to see a more heady take on the concept.

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