To expand upon my quick thoughts in the video, The Forever Purge is an action thriller film that is the tentative final film of The Purge franchise. It is directed by Everardo Valerio Gout, written by series creator James DeMonaco and stars Ana de la Reguera, Tenoch Huerta, Josh Lucas, Cassidy Freeman, Leven Rambin, Alejandro Edda, and Will Patton. Following the events of The Purge: Election Year, this entry follows a group of Mexican immigrants and the wealthy ranchers they work for as they go on the run after numerous people continue committing crime after the ending of the annual Purge.
The Purge was a good film with a decent premise. What would happen if all crime was legal in one night? Of course, what we got was a low-budget film with only a couple of big-name stars that was a breath of fresh air. The film went on to make tons of money and when that happens it’s obvious the studio would want to continue the success with sequels. And while each sequel continued to have financial success the story became stale and recycled. Every film was about murdering someone whether it be for revenge or political gain. If all crime is legal, it would have been refreshing if a Purge film focused on a heist or smuggling.
First, the continuity of this film doesn’t make sense and I’m going to get into a few spoilers as to why. Unless I missed something, at the end of The Purge: Election Year, Senator Charlie Roan won the presidency and ended the Purge for good. That felt like a good ending for the franchise and this dystopian version of the United States. With The Forever Purge, I was expecting that the Purge would be illegal. While this is true, the film starts out with another annual Purge before the illegal nationwide “Forever Purge” begins. Then there’s also the impossibility of how this was coordinated without the government knowing. If this was limited to a small Texas town it’d be more believable.
More so on the plot, it feels as if this film underwent some changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The marketing made it seem as if this film would cover an illegal Purge targeting immigrants and minorities, but the film is slightly different. It was originally set to come out July 10, 2020, before the election and the film clearly targets racists and gun enthusiasts as the bad guys. Also, the defacto heroes are Mexican immigrants who end up helping their obviously prejudiced boss. There are purgers shown specifically targeting minorities and blasting a manifesto about purifying the country over their loudspeakers. This is definitely a slight towards Alt-Right political groups. But then the message gets muddled as there are also forever purgers targeting the rich. Blaming them for the poor having to live through the Purge while the rich get to hide out with their fancy security systems.
The film is also very boring as it doesn’t bring anything new to the franchise. The acting is fine with Ana de la Reguera and Tenoch Huerta turning in the best performances. Other actors however feel as if they are just there to cash a check. The one silver lining is the symmetry of the main characters immigrating to the United States from Mexico for a better life and ending up escaping back to Mexico as the United States falls into lawless chaos.
It’d be best if this is indeed the final film of The Purge franchise. I give The Forever Purge a Horrible 1/10. If they do decide to make more hopefully they branch out beyond surviving a murder spree.