I was expecting something exciting, given how interesting of a concept this film holds; rather, all I got was an annoying, irritatingly irritating... I'll say it again, irritatingly irritating and unnecessary story that tries to combat morals and fails so dismally you can't even enjoy this infuriating muck.

The Daughter - Zoey (With her persistent schoolgirl outfit): She deserves to be purged. Why? She has this anger towards her father, that we later realize is because her father, James, has forbidden her to be with her boyfriend because he is older. Nowhere in this film are we given the opportunity to care about Zoey or her dumb relationship. Sure, it's not her fault that her boyfriend snuck in, but it is her fault that he (the boyfriend) got introduced into the life of the character we actually cared about, being James.

The Son - Charlie: Oh my goodness! I hated him from the minute he was introduced. Spying on your mother with a creepy doll on a day such as The Purge. That automatically starts him off on a bad footing, then he goes and does what he did. EVERYTHING was his fault, but not once was he even ever blamed. I hate the character so much, I actually don't want to see Max Burkholder in any other movie, otherwise I may just "release the beast".

Charlie was NOT a hero in any way, shape or form. He is an idiotic, useless piece of anything coward, that actively endangered the lives of ALL his family members and kept restricting the endangerment of his own... And for what??! This wasn't a moral conundrum. This brainless fool of a kid let his own sister make her way into the very danger he orchestrated. Even turning the homeless man into a hero does not save this half-wit little punk, because ALL that happened, could've been avoided had he just played his part... And if he wanted to be a hero, then, he should've endangered his life, and his life alone.

Then we have the community trying to kill the very family that's providing them with all the security they need to stay alive, because the Sandins made money from it??! What the hell motivation is that??? OK, we kill them, then what happens next year? Will they be exposed, or will somebody else make money off their unprotected behinds???

From there, James Sandin earned the viewers favour, and Mary Sandin did her bit to not be too annoying, and I appreciate that. The cinematography was polished, however, because of how senseless the story is, any attempt at startling and terrifying, fell on its own blade.

2.4/10 for this squandered opportunity and unnecessary mess.

Saw 'The Purge' due to being really intrigued by the concept, having seen home invasions being handled well on visual media and finding Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey dependable actors. Saw it without seeing reviews beforehand in order to see it with an open mind, as is always my intention.

Count me in as another person who found 'The Purge' poorly executed in almost every way. Can completely understand the mildly mixed to very negative reception and find the criticisms very similar to mine, just for the record what will be covered in this review is my personal opinion and nobody else's with the flaws being so obvious you don't need someone else's opinion to base yours on. The concept was handled in such a dumb and dull way, to near intelligence-insulting degrees, and 'The Purge' is in no way a good example of how to do a film about a home invasion.

There are a few strengths. 'The Purge' doesn't look too bad, it has a gritty and slick look that doesn't look cheap and there is a little atmosphere.

Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey and Rhys Wakefield give reasonable performances which is better than what their characters deserved.

However, nothing else worked. The rest of the acting is weak, with the two young actors Adelaide Kane and especially Max Burkholder being terribly irritating as characters that are impossible to get behind in a film full of shallow and unrelatable characters that behave so stupidly and illogically.

No tension or suspense at any point and nothing scary or thought-provoking, got nothing enlightening about the social allegory aspect. The pace dragged badly, which undermined the suspense, likewise with the excessive predictability and clichés that were tired well before the film was made. The scary aspect is cheap and never surprising, creative or scary, the violence being gratuitous, the situations so ridiculously dumb that it insults the audience and the villains are goofy and flat caricatures, nothing menacing about them. The direction is generally indifferent.

In summary, lame and not recommended if not without redeeming merits, namely the leads. 3/10 Bethany Cox

As some other reviewers have mentioned, the concept behind THE PURGE is great: a futuristic America, where society is peaceful except for one night a year where all crime is made legal. Sadly, instead of exploring the moral concept behind that premise, THE PURGE turns out to be nothing more than a middle-of-the-road home invasion flick.

Now, I like home invasion flicks, and director James DeMonaco is obviously a fan of siege-based movies having previously helmed the ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 remake (also with Ethan Hawke). Sadly, this one misses the mark by quite a wide berth, despite obvious nods to the likes of STRAW DOGS. The first hour is particularly dull, consisting of characters wandering about with torches and not doing much. I also chuckled at the way it takes the characters a full hour to come to their moral senses.

Hawke and Lena Headey aren't bad actors but they play a pair of very unlikeable characters here, so the viewer can never empathise with their plight. The villains are more effective, but under-utilised, and other than some well-handled action and violence in the last half hour this really isn't much to write home about. The weak writing kills it unfortunately, which is a pity because this could have been so much better in so many respects.