All the rules are broken as a sect of lawless marauders decides that the annual Purge does not stop at daybreak and instead should never end.
We all know the drill…“This is not a test. This is your emergency broadcast system announcing the commencement of the Annual Purge…” and so it goes. I was never a fan of the series early on, it took for me to go back to the original and re-watch all the films in the franchise and while each of them was enjoyable in their own unique way, I have to admit, “The Forever Purge” is my favorite so far.
The premise is just like its previous entries, any and all crime, including murder, will be legal for 12 continuous hours but once it is over, everyone goes back to their normal lives for another year. This time, however, the morning after the Purge, the Tucker family, who own a sprawling ranch in West Texas, open their doors and are getting ready to go back to work when they are attacked by masked vigilantes claiming this is the Forever Purge which will last indefinitely as they exterminate any and all foreigners living in America and return it to its rightful citizens. Being held at gunpoint, they shoot and kill the patriarch of the family, Caleb (Will Patton), but the Mexican ranch hands, Juan (Tenoch Huerta), and T.T. (Alejandro Edda), surprise the men with machine guns and kill them all.
The eldest of the family, Dylan (Josh Lucas), along with his pregnant wife Emma (Cassidy Freeman), and sister Harper (Leven Rambin), leave the ranch in a bobtail truck along with Juan and T.T. and head into town to located Juan’s wife Adela (Ana de la Reguera). After discovering her in the back of a police van, they get word that the Forever Purge is spreading across America and that every city is succumbing to the violence which is spiraling out of control, and that the government has implemented Martial Law. They hear on the radio that both Mexico and Canada have opened their borders to any and all Americans who can make it within the next six hours so the group loads up on weapons and makes the perilous trek south, unaware of the countless dangers that lie ahead.
What I liked most about “The Forever Purge” was its focus on family but also the discordance that is segregating people today because of ethnicity and/or class. Both Juan and Adela have just illegally crossed over into America and are trying to make a new life for themselves, away from the Cartels and violence that has plagued them all their lives in Mexico, only to arrive in the US just as the Purge is about to take place. Talk about bad timing! The film also deals with a lot of what is currently going on in America in regards to illegal immigration and many Americans wanting to take the country back from the government as they feel they are running it into the ground. While Dylan is the oldest family member, he does not like Juan and T.T., simply because they are Mexican and he feels they and their people are slowly taking over the country.
As both men and their families get caught up in the madness that follows, they slowly realize that their nationality and ethnicity are irrelevant and that they must unite if they are to make it safely to the border. In the end, they save one other from numerous life-threatening situations and form a newfound respect for each other, they do not, however, become best friends while holding hands and singing Kum ba yah, and this perspective is more believable than a happily-ever-after Hollywood ending. Like its predecessors, “The Forever Purge” is filled with the traditional violence and action we have become accustomed to but because much emphasis is placed on Dylan and his family and Juan and Adela, when the antagonists threaten or hurt one of them, their bloody retribution feels justified. If you are a fan of the series, I guarantee you will thoroughly enjoy “The Forever Purge.”
In Theaters Friday, July 2nd
