August Keller
Moments of high thrills sprinkled between agonizing stretches of bumbling filler, The First Purge brings punches while milking tired tropes. Though the film does show flashes of interesting ideas (both the opening sequence & climax are presented with crisp intention), too much of The First Purge is downright tacky (blatant green-screens, a disjointed script, and numbing acting). Audiences may appreciate that this movie attempts to develop its characters before throwing them into their difficult situations yet those development portions are handled with clumsy negligence.
There are about 20 to 30 minutes of genuinely fun & frightening action in The First Purge. Unfortunately, that is offset by a majority of it coming off as padding. Often, the film seems like it doesn’t know what it should be doing as it aimlessly bobs between uninteresting b-stories, delaying the excitement as much as it possibly can. Maybe the movie could have used more action, more memorable characters or consistent creative flavor to help it feel less lacking. Bottom line, The First Purge simply stalls too much and will leave many viewers dissatisfied.
Writing: 3/10
Direction: 4/10
Cinematography: 7/10
Acting: 3/10
Editing: 4/10
Sound: 6/10
Score/Soundtrack: 6/10
Production Design: 5/10
Casting: 5/10
Effects: 3/10
Overall Score: 4.6/10
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