The First Purge (Film Review)

2018 Universal Pictures
Directed by: Gerard McMurray; Written by: James DeMonaco
Starring: Y'lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, and Steve Harris
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 97 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10

In a time of societal unrest, a new political party comes to power. They're overwhelmingly white, and their language awakens hope in their followers hearts for a past time of peace and prosperity that may never actually have existed. Sound familiar?
In The First Purge, this party is called the New Founding Father's of America, and they've got a new, behavioral scientist-approved experiment to help carry out their new vision. For one night on Staten Island, all crimes will become legal. The idea is that the residents will blow off their steam on this night, and be better citizens for every other day of the year. This seems like a silly idea to me, in that I do not believe the majority of people, even with the knowledge that they would never be prosecuted, would commit major crimes, particularly murder, in cold blood. An actual Purge would likely turn into a wild night of jaywalking and double-parking...and in The First Purge, that's exactly what happens.
The government has paid everyone who's decided to stay on Staten Island for the Purge $5,000 (everyone is free to leave before the Purge begins), and given them special contact lenses to document the night, along with the promise of monetary incentives for increased "participation." Given the fact that most of the citizens on the island live in poverty, the majority elect to stay and take the $5,000. After all, thery'e not gonna all just start killing each other, right?
Well, I already answered that. Of course they're not. So, outside of what's captured on the lenses of one psycho who was gonna snap anyway, the NFFA's cameras capture little more than raunchy "Purge Parties," and people holding up in churches or their apartments until the night ends. That just won't do.
Apparently, the NFFA has everything riding on this night...and they want to take the Purge national. After all, how else are they going to clear out the urban population centers?
After several relatively peaceful hours, machine gun fire starts to ring out through the night. The news starts spreading stories inciting fear. Dmitri, a drug lord who's decided to stay on the island to protect his warehouses, comes upon a marauding, well-armed gang...of white men with mercenary tattoos. Something's up.
Yes, The First Purge isn't subtle about its politics. However, there's more to the film than its commentary on the marginalization of the lower classes, which frankly, but for one exception, it does quite well, even with the heavy-handedness. When the film is set on the ground, and the audience is discovering things at the same rate as Staten's film-featured citizens, the events are both shocking and feel earned. However, there are some "control center" scenes featuring discussion between an NFFA official and The Purge's scientific creator, played by Marisa Tomei, that are over-the-top, and insult viewers' intelligence--we get what we need, and at the right pace when we're on the ground. These control center scenes are gratuitous and completely unnecessary.
However, there's a deeper commentary here that's surprisingly optimistic about human nature, and it's one I wouldn't have expected after seeing the trailers for the original The Purge film that was released five years before this one--most people don't want to do harm to others. In fact, The First Purge is actually able to interlock these themes and make the statement that perhaps those who have the most to lose *COUGH*THEWEALTHY*COUGH* might be more prone to systemic violation than those who don't have enough.
Also, the back half of this film is one bitchin action movie. Director, Gerard McMurray, deftly balances multiple tones (the film somehow stuffs in some good, if bizarre laughs), and some gorgeous, hypnotic imagery around the brutality. James DeMonaco's script is blunt, but as I said, he creates enough space for further depth. Once that that blunt force has kicked down the door, there's room for subtlety to come inside.