The Forever Purge (2021), Dir Everardo Gout, Universal Pictures: 4****: Matthew Alicoon

The Forever Purge (2021), 4****

Universal Studios

Running Time: 103 Minutes

Review: Matthew Alicoon, Saturday 24th July 2021

The Forever Purge is the fifth entry into the crime free franchise. This film follows a group of people and their attempt to escape the chaos as the purge is now constantly ongoing. It focuses more on the wider phenomenon of the purge itself.  With recent political events that have occurred, from when the credits roll it makes you think of how harrowing this is, as a franchise that is supposed to be fictional is now not too far from portraying events that could have recently occurred.

Director Everardo Gout brings a visual and action-packed style to the film. A majority of the action feels riveting making you think you are part of the film. Cinematographer Luis Sansans brought such an immersive and edge of the seat experience to the purge. An aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is used compared to the previous instalments of 2.39:1, just having a wider frame made the film more intense.

Bringing in a new director to this franchise was successful allowing for a fresh take on the film. The narrative was more compelling than previous instalments, as the story was fast-paced and consistently moving, therefore up-tempo.

I found the performances were sympathetic to the storyline. The characters were engaging as they were an embodiment for issues such as discrimination and migration with both Josh Lucas and Tenoch Huerta’s characters. There was a diverse number of conversations raised making The Forever Purge extremely relevant.

However, with a strong concept the purge films do not always need to be set in America. It would have been great to see this film exploring the purges phenomenon from a different countries perspective.

Cast

Ana de la Reguera as Adela

Tenoch Huerta as Juan

Josh Lucas as Dylan Tucker

Cassidy Freeman as Cassie Tucker

Leven Rambin as Harper Tucker

Alejandro Edda as T.T.