The Purge
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Adelaide Kane, Max Burkholder
Unemployment is at at 1 percent. Crime is at an all-time low. And that’s because for one night a year, all crimes are legal, not forgiven, legal. Emergency services are suspended and citizens can wreak all manner of havoc for 12 hours. The premise of The Purge is that some people have hatred inside them, boiling like a pressure cooker. So the state sanctions a release for that malevolence. As James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) explains, it’s “a release for all the hatred and violence that they keep up inside them.” Say what? When Sandin’s son suggests that his parents should kill someone during the purge, you just know the night’s going to end badly for someone. The family becomes a target when the daughter lets a hunted stranger into the house. Both kids need an old-fashioned spanking. –p.d. lee
