The Only Director Who Could Make "The Purge" Sequel Amazing

This Friday comes the release of the sequel to the surprise success The Purge. In Anarchy, poor people are back to their old shenanigans killing rich white males (because any other race would be offensive and distasteful) and giving us reason to fear the government. It is an unlikely franchise that once again takes a massive turn into bizarre territories. However, there are bigger questions regarding the franchise's future. Where it started as a dull, home invasion story, this one amps up the volume and gets rid of the premiere cast that gave some edge to the first. To say the least, The Purge is in need of some, ahem, anarchy. It needs to look at this whole carpe diem aspect from a different light. What it needs is a different direction.
An artist's biggest fear is growing redundant. With The Purge: Anarchy being essentially the same thing, it does raise the question on what these characters could have done differently. Is there anything more illegal than killing? Well, you could do something more productive like rob millions digitally and urinate in public (two things that I don't feel will ever be addressed). Killing is just one of the primordial sins. What about infidelity or buying cigarettes for an underage minor? You have limitless options. Don't waste it on yuppies.
This is why that I think we should go in a different direction for the inevitable The Purge 3. If these two films are focuses on how the poor overthrow the rich class system, then the third one should give us a reason to care about these people behind the masks. Imagine a film in which the protagonists die and there is no horror because we don't care. That is what The Purge is on the verge of doing, which may be a bigger cardinal sin that its killing sprees. With that in mind, I figured that the best call would be to call in a new director. One with indie cred who is going to make us care.
The bank is full of limitless options. However, there is one currently on the tip of my mind which shares a lot of familiarity to the first Purge. He has worked with Ethan Hawke multiple times, done some bad studio films, lived with a murderer, and made a film featuring the line "I touched your kids." It seems abhorrent at the moment, but consider if you will Richard Linklater, who may be one of the best directors currently working. 
More than current director James DeMonaco, Linklater understands community. He based his whole career on making films like Slacker that delved into a social structure. He knows the conspiracy theorists and the renegades alike. He has spent time filming characters talk as they make it through long, lonesome nights. He is a master of film that feels ripe for this subject matter not because of how contrite it actually is, but because he can elevate mediocre source material. Simply look at Boyhood, which would be an atypical coming of age film had it not been for the gimmickry of filming it over 12 years. He reinvents film by forcing things to age.
If there is one issue that The Purge franchise has, it is aging. We get the immediacy of the moment, but never the impact. Society feels like a dull neighbor that we don't visit for a reason. The film takes place over 12 hours and barely feels like 30 minutes. There needs to be a better understanding of time. No director understands that better than Linklater, whose film Before Sunrise dived into effectively portraying a single night in deep, memorable ways. It was so personable that the film spawned two sequels and a brief appearance in another. It ranks among the best trilogies in existence.
What is the hypothetical Linklater version of The Purge? For starters, it will be more of a human drama. Realizing that society isn't just made up of hyper-violent mask wearers, he chooses to focus on a couple who decide to bond while touring a crumbling society. Occasionally breaking off to focus on these supporting characters, we get a full picture of what The Purge is supposed to be like. It is anarchy, but it is also a longing for something more tangible and satisfying. By the end, the couple have walked across the landscape of humanity, painting a perfect picture of society's insecurities.
To me, this summarizes how The Purge can fix itself. Basically, turn it into a human drama that explores structure. Sure, there can be fleeting examples of violence, but it really is about insecurities over an evening. Maybe the couple break-up. Maybe there's teens partying in the woods. Maybe Flea has an unannounced cameo. This needs to feel like an organic portrait of a city in turmoil, not just a series of violent attacks. The real horror is in undermining what can be done in these situations. With Linklater, we at least get great dialogue, discussion of politics mixed in with romance and the absurdity of violence. It will be the ultimate film.
The only issue, and I realized this in advance, is that Linklater has become a slow director. It took him eight years between Before Sunset and Before Midnight. It took him 12 years to do Boyhood. He is a little slow. With Hollywood churning these out, it doesn't make sense to cast him unless you mean business. He may take his time, but he will blow away the competition. It will be mature and unexpected in all of the most satisfying ways. Most of all, it is the most logical way to get Ethan Hawke back into the mix.

Either that, or get Gareth Evans. Either one works.

Comments

  1. The First Purge hardly has a single redeeming quality, aside from maybe a visual choice of giving glowing contact lenses to the people who choose to purge. That element was cool visually, but that had no effect on the overall movie. When your film fails to have your audience care about who lives and who dies, there's something seriously wrong. I truly felt that one of the most unlikeable characters was one that you're meant to be rooting for, which gave me a very uncomfortable viewing experience. In the end, this movie fails on more levels than its predecessors, so even if you're a slight fan of the franchise, I still don't know if this one warrants a recommendation. The First Purge is garbage entertainment. > The First Purge 2018
    Now, this franchise has gone n for far too long and we have arrived at a prequel in The First Purge. The idea of going back to the very first purge has potential, but this film lives up to nothing of the sort. Anything good to speak of this franchise has now been killed in my eyes. This is easily the worst film in the franchise and one of the worst films I've seen in 2018, period.
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