The Purge

It's a rare night that Cameron is home and available to do something with Doug and I.  Tonight was one of those evenings.  As he didn't have much homework, I suggested that we all watch a movie together.  Cameron's favorites have always been horror movies or thrillers, but I had wanted him to watch Last of the Mohicans with us before he left for college.  He wasn't ready for one of my favorites, but did agree to The Purge.  It was an intense thriller that came out in 2013.  We had never seen it, but Cal had been talking about it lately, so we thought that we would try it.  Needless to say, none of us were disappointed.

The movie starred Ethan Hawke and had a very interesting plot.  Once a year all Americans were allowed to "purge" themselves of their inner anger by running the streets and committing any crime that they wanted to including murder.  According to the movie, the idea had helped drop the crime rate in the United States to almost nothing.  Ethan Hawke's character had made a fortune selling security systems to his neighbors that supported the purge, but didn't want to participate.  He even had the most secure system installed in his own home.  All seemed to be going well until his children made other plans for the night leaving them all vulnerable and scaring Doug, Cameron and I for the next hour and a half.  

The three of us were completely surprised by the ending.  It was so intense that it took me awhile to calm down afterward.  It reminded me a lot of a Jordan Peele movie, like Get Out, as it really made us think about societal issues.  Overall, we were really glad that we watched the film tonight.  There's nothing better than finding out that a movie that you have never seen actually lives up to the hype.