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The Purge

2013

James DeMonaco

Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane ...

5.1

36,092

Thriller. Horror Year 2022. In a dystopian future society, a political regime called the New Founding Fathers of America tries to clamp down on rampant violence and crime by imposing strict laws. As an experiment, they try something called The Purge, in which for 12 hours, once a year, all crime, including murder, is completely legal. That is, given the country's overcrowded prisons, the U.S. government begins to allow this 12-hour periods of time in ... [+]

	Author	Review
United Kingdom	Mike McCahill The Guardian	"The film doesn't develop its one good idea so much as stumble around in the dark with it for 85 minutes, crashing noisily into the furniture"	NEG
United Kingdom	Matthew Turner View London	"Engaging, nail-bitingly tense thriller with an intriguing premise, a strong script and terrific performances from a superb cast (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of five)"	POS
United Kingdom	Philip French The Guardian	"The tension is well sustained and the film is an effective, predictable cross between 'Assault on Precinct 13' (...) and 'Funny Games'"	POS
United States	Leslie Felperin Variety	"The film’s thudding shocks and predictability dull its edge (...) At its best, the film has moments that recall higher-toned dystopian fiction"	NEU
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"DeMonaco shows a sure hand at building tension. Too bad the film devolves into a series of home-invasion clichés (...) rating. ★★ (out of four)"	NEU
United States	Neil Young The Hollywood Reporter	"What should be a clammy exercise in claustrophobic, queasy tension becomes, in the hands of writer/director James DeMonaco, an underpowered compendium of over-familiar scare tactics"	NEU
United States	Manohla Dargis The New York Times	"The message just gets louder and louder, cruder and cruder, which is too bad because Mr. DeMonaco knows how to set a stage"	NEU

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