Like its predecessors, The Forever Purge is accidentally pro-Second Amendment as well as a blistering condemnation of left-wing ideology. Too bad it’s so boring.
One of my ongoing delights is watching Purge auteur James DeMonaco tie himself into ideological knots in a futile attempt to turn his franchise into something it can never be: a campaign ad for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s vision for America.
DeMonaco is obviously a woketard leftist, but the very premise of his exhausted franchise is, without question, one of the most pro-Donald Trump things to ever come out of modern-day Hollywood.
For those who don’t know, the premise is this…
America’s Founding Fathers weren’t good enough for voters, so the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) were voted into power, and every year the NFFA stages The Purge, a 12-hour period where all crime, including murder, is legal and the police are ordered to stand down. The movie’s Purgers, as they’re called, worship the government with a bizarre prayer about Blessed be the New Founding Fathers… and in chapter two, 2014’s Purge: Anarchy, we discover the NFFA uses Purge Night to wage war against its less desirable citizens to decrease the tax burden.
For the politically illiterate (like DeMonaco), allow me to walk you through this….
Is it the right or left out toppling statues of the Founding Fathers and eager to replace them with an overbearing centralized federal government headed by old, white guys who look just like Joe Biden?
Is it the right or left creating de facto Forever Purges by emptying the prisons and defunding the police?
Is it the right or left who worship the government like a god?
Is it the right or left looking to Death Panel undesirables who are a drain on the treasury?
And now we come to my personal favorite…
What we have here is a major Hollywood franchise where the government not only doesn’t protect you but wages war against you. So I ask you… In the history of entertainment, has there ever been a stronger or more persuasive case for the importance of the Second Amendment? The Purge franchise is an NRA fever dream come to life, and to pretend it’s not, DeMonaco, especially in the last few installments, can’t stop making a fool of himself.
In the third chapter, 2016’s The Purge: Election Year (my favorite), DeMonaco comes right out and attacks the NRA, which is laughable in a franchise where everything the NRA warns about comes true: the government won’t protect you, the government’s waging war on you.
Gee, you think maybe I should run out and buy some firearms?
DeMonaco’s frustration really got the best of him in part four, the openly racist First Purge, which demeans black people more than any movie in recent memory. In a laughable effort to embrace the Black Lives Matter movement, white DeMonaco crafted a movie where black Americans, who are not starving, not homeless, but who do have iPhones and flat-screen TVs, greedily accept $5,000 from the government to voluntarily allow the “First Purge” to be staged in their own neighborhood. Other than a condescending left-wing racist, who would exploit and portray black people in such a hideous and mercenary way?
And now we come to the newest installment, The Forever Purge, where DeMonaco throws in the towel. Because his premise is The Most Conservative Thing In The World, he just chucks it. So all of a sudden, this isn’t a movie about the Purge. Instead, it’s about one group of people hunting down another. But again, DeMonaco is such a woketard, it’s another accidental piece of insanely pro-Trump filmmaking.
First off, everything that happened in The Purge: Election Year is erased with a clumsy line of exposition. Something like, Yeah, and, uhm, America voted the NFFA back into office or something, so tonight’s Purge Night!
Oh, okay…
But now, instead of an urban setting, we’re in Texas, and Purge Night passes without incident. Then, finally, morning arrives, birds chirp, coffee gurgles, and all’s right with the world, until … a bunch of white supremacists (who spout Occupy Wall Street talking points lol) decides to stage something called the Forever Purge, which is meaningless. Without the time limit, government approval, and the withdrawal of law enforcement, there is no Purge. So instead, what we’re burdened with is a movie about a bunch of racist yahoos running around shooting brown people.
But once again, and as hard as DeMonaco tries, all he ends up doing is 1) making a case for why the Democrat’s push to de-fund the police is insane, 2) once again crafts a pro-NRA ad about the necessity of owning a shitload of guns, and 3) tells a story about the vital importance of border security.
You see, in this movie, Mexico is the haven our heroes (including two illegal aliens) are desperate to get to.
But get this…
Because of all the violence and chaos in America, Mexico uses rigorous BORDER ENFORCEMENT to ensure no bad hombres are allowed into Mexico.
Wait, wait, wait, it gets better….
After only opening up for a few hours, Mexico CLOSES ITS BORDER ENTIRELY to protect its country from being flooded with migrants.
DeMonaco’s script (he didn’t direct parts four and five) takes shots at Trump’s border wall, but– LOL — it’s Trump’s border wall that allows Mexico to remain a haven. Were it not for that big, beautiful wall, the closing of the Southern border, and strict border enforcement, DeMonaco’s precious Mexico would look like our Southern border today — pure chaos.
In other words, DeMonaco portrays Mexico as idyllic, but just like Wakanda, it’s only idyllic because it adapted Donald Trump’s border policies and is protected by Donald Trump’s “racist” wall.
Oh, and DeMonaco has so twisted himself into ideological knots, the fascist, left-wing NFFA is portrayed as the good guys, as the cavalry that might put an end to the Forever Purge.
Listen, when it comes to grindhouse movies, part of the fun is the ham-handed political dialogue. Unfortunately, Forever Purge is so ham-handed that even great actors like Will Patton and Zahn McClaron look embarrassed, spouting their talking points. But the real problem is that it’s dull and episodic. This is supposed to be a horror movie, but with the concept gone, it’s basically a chase movie, most of it set under a bright Texas sun.
This has never been a good franchise (I haven’t watched the canceled TV series). Part one was okay enough I wanted to see more. Parts two and three were pretty good. Unfortunately, part four is so racist it’s uncomfortable to watch.
Nevertheless, part five sits at the bottom of the pile.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
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