THE FOREVER PURGE (REVIEW)

Dir. Everardo Gout

Reviewer. Martyn Wakefield

At the end of THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR the corrupt nature of the annual holiday and founding fathers was unleashed to the world and the NCAA was broken down to nothing putting an end to the legalisation of all crime for the 24 hour period. 8 years later and nothing's really changed. The NCCA are back in power and the annual purge has returned, cue the alarm and warnings and it's like the events of the third film have been unwritten.

THE FOREVER PURGE sees another entry in the series and primarily focuses on the Tucker family and their hired immigrant employees to survive the night except this time, a group of mercenaries believe the night is over and it's time for the dawn of the purge, literally. Taking responsibility for cleansing of America beyond the framework of the Purge, their mission is to rid America of "foreigners" who go against the American values.

There's violence as you would expect from THE PURGE series but James DeMarco (while remaining on writing duties) is absent from the tension. This is by the numbers purging and somehow vacating the action to the day takes away the dramatic horror the series has always garnered. For fans of the series you are going to get what you expect and nothing more, for those jumping in near the end, make sure you catch up. This is the weaker film in the series however by those standards, still is an exciting action film that never quite has you rooting for the protagonists to be killed, but only barely.

It's clear that THE FOREVER PURGE is taking further insight into an America that is opening it's scars. The topic of immigration and race have never been more prevalent and no series has carried that message more than THE PURGE. While the film has a very clever take on the whole emigration/immigration discussion, it makes for further real world conversations that the series has always put to it's audience. The series is so grounded in reality that the events unfolding on screen, after each iteration, get one step closer to reality. Previous entries have always centred on POC fighting against the system, there's nothing unique about this entry however while the message still needs to be heard, there's a platform to share it. In a fictional world where the truths of the far right white are allowed let loose their inhibitions one day a year, in the real world they're currently on show everyday and perhaps now more than ever, it's time for the world to come together and heal rather than open up a firefight where innocent lives are lost.

For that reason, while THE PURGE has had a very satisfying run, THE FOREVER PURGE should probably abdicate before it outstays it's welcome. With 4 films and a fantastic double TV series, it's hard to see where the series can now go after the open warfare left behind on all sides. Along with the abandonment of the films previous trajectory, literally purging ELECTION YEAR from memory, is too hard a hit to put this into one the top entries of the series.