"The First Purge" Review: It's Just a Movie...But
They say that practice makes perfect. While the fourth installment in the Purge franchise is far from perfection, there is something to it that is undeniably breaking through to speak to real world issues. Yes, The First Purge is more refined and closer to B-movie, survive the night status like some of the classic John Carpenter films. However, the real magic is in how much its’ premise feels a lot more tangible and believable in our present day political climate.
This film takes it back to the beginning when The Purge became The Purge. At this point, it’s called an experiment, created by Dr. Updale (Marisa Tomei). Rather than being nationwide, its’ first at bat is localized to Staten Island. In an effort to get members of the community to participate, the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) offers $5,000 for wearing contacts that double as cameras with bonuses for committing violence. Potential candidates that range from psychotic and mentally ill to people trying to feed their family are analyzed by NFFA staff.
The formula here is no different. We’re introduced to the main characters early. Dmitri (Y’lan Noel) is the drug king of the borough. Nya (Lex Scott Davis) and Isaiah (Joivan Wade) are siblings who have each other’s back in a world without parents. Nya is an activist who believes the experiment is not good, while Isaiah is caught in the middle ground, seeing an illegal way to provide for him and his sister he starts dealing on the corner. Dolores (Mugga) is their hilarious neighbor and aunt figure in their lives.
In the midst of main character development, the NFFA is setting up cameras and surveillance around the island to broadcast to the world. Right before and once The Purge commences, so do the one-liners that strike a nerve. The Founding Father president states “We’re all Staten Islanders tonight”. Nya tells her old flame, Dmitri, “we have to make choices to heal or to hurt” after approaching him due to a setback Isaiah had on the street corner.
Since there is little ruckus outside of people robbing and looting when things start, Dr. Updale notes that in order for people to truly embrace The Purge “morality and religious dogma must be dropped”. It’s easy to gloss over that line, but it truly is the key to why The Purge works and why our current real life political climate is as it is. Even if you’re not religious, we all have a moral compass. Whether that compass has been pointed south by life, we all start out with the purity of knowing right from wrong. The statement is truly has Last Action Hero, off of the screen and into the real world impact.
With our morality in question, Arlo Sabien (Patch Darragh) the NFFA Chief of Staff, makes a call to spice things up. Simultaneously, director Gerard McMurray and writer James DeMonaco (who wrote all Purge films) do the same cinematically. Suddenly, white men wearing Ku Klux Klan hoods and throwback Nazi-like regalia show up on the island, forcing Dmitri and friends to fight back. There are particularly harrowing moments of racism and violence that come straight from our history’s headlines as klansmen shoot up a church with predominately black community members. One man is dragged through the street by his leg attached to a vehicle by chain. Tiki torches light the night. These images seem vaguely familiar. While the formula of the film calls for the main characters to get some payback on their oppressors, the joy that one feels for those kills is worth questioning. Sure, it’s just a movie, but why use Klan hoods as masks? That hadn’t been done before. It’s just a movie, but why are the clean cut white men in power positions to experiment in low-income neighborhoods that are comprised of people of color? It’s just a movie, but why does Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” close it out? The song is the rallying cry of this generation’s people of color. Again, see my opening statement, practice makes perfect and DeMonaco’s pen is getting closer to making powerful statements on the state of our union and lack their of.
Ultimately, the final act of the film is tense and suspenseful as Dmitri must “old school video game” his way up to the 14th floor of Nya’s project apartment building, taking out the bad guys along the way. McMurray’s direction is controlled and his frame is claustrophobic at times, allowing us to see what he wants us to see. He leads the audience to the end like a Carpenter throwback.
Some of the performances in this film are worth noting. Mainly, Y’lan Noel, who has an enormous presence on screen and natural charisma that forces you to root for him, even when he’s murdering people. Mugga provides plenty of laugh out loud moments in the film. In one scene she tells Nya that she left the church to look for her, then got the bubble guts and had to purge another way! Joivan Wade truly portrays a scared teenager trying to do what he thinks will help his family. Perhaps one character that will be a fan favorite is Skeletor, played by Rotimi Paul. He’s a giant psycho who wants to Purge from the opening scene. Rather than playing crazy, Paul truly makes Skeletor feel like the neighborhood fiend who finally gets to reek havoc on the world that looks down on him.
The First Purge certainly shows us how everything started. It’s the right length, and an authentic installment in the thesis of what all Purge films rest on in answering the question “what if all crime was legal for 12 hours?”. However, it low key shows us ourselves as well. That’s worth a deeper conversation after the lights come up.
Rating: B
"Traffik" Review
Refuse to become a victim. That’s the tagline of Deon Taylor’s new film Traffik. You ever feel like you’ve been okey doked? There’s a lot of weight in that tagline. It screams survival, defiance, fight. Yet, the film is the definition of a slow burn thriller. Once the film takes off, it’s a fun ride, but it takes far too long to get there.
Brea (Paula Patton) and John (Omar Epps) decide to get away for the weekend by going to John’s buddy Darren’s (Laz Alonso) vacation home in the secluded northern California mountains. On the way up, the couple has an unpleasant interaction with a racist biker gang when they stop at the local gas station. While John has a verbal and physical exchange with one of the bikers outside, Brea unbeknownst to her, receives a phone from Cara (Dawn Olivieri), a woman who appears to be in danger with her biker boyfriend, in the restroom.
While the exchange in the restroom didn’t send off a red flag in Brea’s mind. It finally goes off once the phone starts ringing later that night. Now joined by Darren and his girlfriend Malia (Roselyn Sanchez) at the house, the foursome unlock the phone to discover a secret that could cost them their lives. Especially, when the bikers come looking for their phone.
The biggest issue with the film is that it takes almost half of its running time to get started. There is a lot of exposition in the beginning. Characters establish how wonderful another character is or isn’t through lengthy dialogue. Brea and John stop randomly on the ride up the mountain to make love in the car John built from the ground up as a birthday present for Brea. Brea debates and compares notes with Malia whether she wants to take the next step with a man who seems to be proving himself at every turn. It’s these random pit stops in the script’s attempt to verbally over-talk us into caring along the way to the big event that detract from the story.
However, once the biker gang comes to retrieve their phone, the film really takes off. Cinematographer Dante Spinotti paints the first half of the film with a glamorous hue, and switches to limited, natural lighting when it’s time for the characters to survive. Scenes are lit by headlights, or lamps in a home. The lighting really pulls you in to the intensity and solitude being exhibited in the film. Taylor has a way of building the suspense in the film visually by establishing the space of locations and then using the frame as a peak into what’s happening.
The performances in the film are serviceable but certainly not memorable. While the film’s title alludes to human trafficking, it touches on it, but feels more like it’s using it as a background plot device within the film. Which leads me to my opening point in that the film doesn’t really give what it’s selling.
I ultimately enjoyed the survival portion of the film. This is the type of film that you want to see with someone else so that you can yell at the screen and tell Brea and John what to do. It’s the type of film that you lean over to your spouse and say “make sure you shoot to kill if we’re ever in a situation like this.” It’s the type of film that will give you 96 minutes of escapism while viewing, and you’ll forget about it next week. Know what you’re getting into when you enter and you’ll have a good time at the movies.
Rating: C+
"Run All Night" Review
In his third collaboration with Liam Neeson (“Non-Stop”, “Unknown”), director Jaume Collete-Serra gives us another suspenseful action film. While there is nothing very original about the story, “Run All Night” is a buddy movie masquerading as a survive the night film. It’s the gravity of the relationships in the film that give it stakes that work for the genre.
Jimmy Conlon (Liam Neeson) is a washed up hitman, plagued by the faces of those he’s killed. Local mob boss, Sean Maguire (Ed Harris) keeps Jimmy’s basic needs met out of a twisted guilt for making him an abandoned, shell of a man due to deeds done under his leadership. Sean’s son Danny (Boyd Holbrook) tries to bring Albanian heroine into the family business but is rejected in a meeting before a Christmas party.
The rejection sends the Albanians after Danny to recoup the money they paid him to get his father’s blessing. In an ironic twist of fate, Mike (Joel Kinnaman), Jimmy’s estranged son and a limo driver, drives the Albanians to meet Danny. When Danny botches killing both Albanians, Mike witnesses Danny finish the job, and thus becomes Danny’s target. Before Danny can kill Mike, Jimmy puts a bullet in Danny’s neck.
From there, “Run All Night” becomes a master class in acting brought to you by Neeson and Harris. As the two old friends become instant enemies, Sean sends everyone on his payroll to find and kill the Conlon duo. This includes Price (Common) a hired assassin with a score to settle with Jimmy. Writer Brad Inglesby does a significant job in keeping the dialogue out of campy one liners, and uses subtext in such a way to build the tension and suspense. In one scene, Jimmy meets with Sean in a public restaurant to ask Sean to spare Michael’s life. They go from sharing a drink and fond memories together to laying out the rules of engagement in such a smooth way that could only be done after decades of friendship.
New York, New York in the hands of cinematographer Martin Ruhe is a very different New York than we’re used to. The bright lights can become scary when you have someone hunting you down, and Ruhe capitalizes on that in the film. Whether using the lights of Times Square, Madison Square Garden, or the grid patterns from an aerial shot, Ruhe is able to create something special that really adds to the tension of film.
The great thing about survival films is that there is usually a built in clock that keeps the pace moving and suspense thick. As Jimmy and Mike try to survive the night there are plenty of scenes from other films that get “Frakensteined” into this one. Yet, for what it is, this film succeeds in keeping your attention and will have you on the edge of your seat. After all, it is Liam Neeson with a gun!
Rating: B