The Forever Purge (2021)

 

There is something fundamentally wrong with me in that no matter how bad the last few movies in a horror franchise are; I just have to watch them all.  Maybe it comes from knowing what the basic story ingredients are that makes something familiar more appealing.  Even though I know damn well it’s not going to be good I still have got to see this thing through.  If I’m being honest, the first three Purge films I liked, not loved but liked.  The best of them being Election Year with Elizabeth Mitchell IMO.  The First Purge was pretty terrible, but I did like the TV series.  So, all in all the entire Purge franchise I would consider OK or average.  The most recent installment, The Forever Purge was written by the original Purge writer James DeMonaco as is the case with the entire series of films and TV show.  Which is where the biggest fault might be in the franchise.  DeMonaco directed the first three films as well.  I thought all three films built to a higher crescendo in each installment.  Then with The First Purge as well as The Forever Purge someone else was tapped to do the directing.  Here we have Everado Gout (Days of Grace and Kaleidoscope) doing the honors.  The film centers on a wealthy family of ranchers and their ranch hands consisting of local Americans and migrant workers as they prepare for the yearly purge. 

 

Will Patton (Armageddon and the most recent Halloween films) stars as Caleb, the patriarch of the Tucker family.  His son Dylan, who is played by Josh Lucas (American Psycho and Ford Vs. Ferrari) and his pregnant wife Cassie, played by Cassidy Freeman (We Go On and The Righteous Gemstones) live at the ranch with Dylan’s younger sister Harper as portrayed by Leven Rambin (All My Children and Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters).  The year is 2049 and the US is more racially divided than ever before (hard to imagine), the family prepares for the night as they stay inside their ranch home staying vigilant throughout the night.  Meanwhile, Tenoch Huerta Mejia (Wakanda Forever and Blue Demon) plays Juan, a ranch hand.  His wife Adela, portrayed by Anabell de la Reguera (Army of the Dead and Nacho Libre), spend the night in a walled sanctuary for migrant citizens.  The morning after the Purge, Juan and fellow ranch hand T.T., played by Alejandro Edda (American Made and Narcos: Mexico) head back to the ranch for work.  Adela, who works at a restaurant in town, does the same.  When she gets to the restaurant, she is attacked by two people dressed in evil looking rabbit costumes.  That's them in the pic below.

 

 

They call themselves “Forever Purgers” and nearly kill Adela before she is saved by her boss Darius.  Darius, played by Sammi Rotibi (Lord of War and 57 Seconds), and Adela are then arrested for killing their attackers.  When Juan and T.T. get to the ranch they find the Tucker family are being held hostage by other ranch hands who are also calling themselves “Forever Purgers” which is a movement by white supremacists aimed at what they call “taking their country back”.  Sounds a little too familiar to me.  In The Forever Purge you get what you would expect: lots of carnage, gun shots, looting, fires, and death.  You know, the normal things we see today mostly during protests.  With The Forever Purge I have good news, and I have bad news.  The good news is it’s much better than the last film, The First Purge.  The bad news is it’s not as good as any of the other films or the TV series.  Once again, an interesting idea on paper (maybe DeMonaco needs to return to direct the next installment) falls short and The Forever Purge is merely just OK.  Nothing new to add to the franchise, just more of the same.  I almost have a feeling this film was supposed to be the third season of the TV show that wasn’t made.  We give The Forever Purge two and a half miles away from the Mexican border out of five.