A first trailer for James DeMonaco's thriller The Purge showed up online today and I have some mixed feelings about it. Take a look:
Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey star in this thriller about a world where crime is almost non-existent thanks to one special "purge" day where it becomes legal.
Initially, the concept made me roll my eyes. It's hard for me to care about a film when the basic premise is so ridiculous and unrealistic (see also, Upside Down). However, as the trailer goes on, it strongly reminded me of Battle Royale, which of course I love. I do really like the idea of this idyllic world made possible by one horrible reality - and then a family having to choose between saving a man's life to handing him over to certain death.
So during the course of watching this trailer, I went from, "Oh this sounds stupid" to "Oh, how interesting..." My other reservation with the film is the masked killers at the door - a cliche we've seen countless times already, most notably in The Strangers, which these people strongly remind me of. Hell, even You're Next has masked intruders, but they still look more interesting than these.
That aside, I'll definitely check this one out. If the whole "One night of legal crime" thing is not too ridiculous, this could be one hell of a morality tale and hopefully a tense thriller.
What do you think? Will you see this one?