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Just because the Fourth of July is an American holiday, doesn’t mean people worldwide can’t celebrate with us, especially with a series of films as politically charged as those in The Purge franchise. While some of these films are better than others, they all have patriotic appeal whether you agree with their social commentary or not.
My personal favorite is The Forever Purge because of its diverse cast and issues that feel like “this could really happen.” In Forever, racial superiority and xenophobia initiate a reboot of the annual legal murder event which leaves one Mexican family crossing the border to fight for their lives. It’s a political hot topic that director Elverado Valerio Gout isn’t afraid to explore and moves you no matter your political affiliation. In my opinion it’s the perfect 4th of July watch.
But my opinion aside, let’s explore the series through critical eyes. The franchise contains five movies (we won’t count the TV series here) with varying degrees of professional opinions. We let Meta Critic do the ranking and it yielded surprising results.
We placed the Metacritic average critical scores in order from worst to best. The respective user scores are different; there is a separate list for that at the end of this article.
Let us know your ranking in the comments!
Summary: In a future America devastated by crime and overcrowded prisons, the government provides a 12-hour period once a year when all criminal activity (including murder) is legal. A man attempts to protect his family from an intruder during one such period.
The Good: “DeMonaco shows a sure hand at building tension. Too bad the film devolves into a series of home-invasion clichés. The Purge was almost on to something,” Peter Travers — Rolling Stone.
The Bad: “The Purge is one of those unimaginative horror flicks that depend on skreeky music and sudden appearances to startle, but never actually frighten, the audience. The characters are undeveloped, the twists clumsily telegraphed and unsurprising,” Kerry Lengel — The Arizona Republic
Summary: On the night of the annual Purge, five citizens find out just how far they will go to protect themselves and, ultimately, each other, as they fight to survive a night fraught with impossible decisions.
The Good: “It’s also breathtaking to watch a throwaway studio sequel break its corporate chains before your very eyes and become something thrilling and dangerous and alive,” Bilge Ebiri — New York Magazine
The Bad: “The film’s “What if?” scenario takes the germ of an interesting social-science idea and lets it rot in a nasty, ethically questionable cesspool of junk cinema,” Jordan Hoffman — New York Daily Times
Summary: Adela (Ana de la Reguera) and her husband Juan (Tenoch Huerta) live in Texas, where Juan is working as a ranch hand for the wealthy Tucker family. Juan impresses the Tucker patriarch, Caleb (Will Patton), but that fuels the jealous anger of Caleb’s son, Dylan (Josh Lucas). On the morning after The Purge, a masked gang of killers attacks the Tucker family—including Dylan’s wife (Cassidy Freeman), and his sister (Leven Ram-bin), forcing both families to band together and fight back as the country spirals into chaos and the United States begins to disintegrate around them.
The Good: “With Native American activists (Zahn McClarnon), anti-Mexican cartel women vigilantes, and the eye-opening power of white guilt when indebted to someone for your life, The Forever Purge is erasing the line separating its high-concept fiction from the nation outside our window. This franchise has never looked quite so familiar,” Jared Mobarak — The Film Stage
The Bad: “In The Forever Purge, we’re told a story that a battered nation has heard a lot—a sermon of immigration and class warfare that’s too heavy-handed to say anything its prospective audience hasn’t been told on countless social media feeds over the last few years,” Anya Stanley — The A.V. Club
Summary: To push the crime rate below one percent for the rest of the year, the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) test a sociological theory that vents aggression for one night in one isolated community. But when the violence of oppressors meets the rage of the marginalized, the contagion will explode from the trial-city borders and spread across the nation.
The Good: “The result is an unabashedly violent B-movie throwback, the sort director John Carpenter used to make, with moments that resonate with real life,” Alan Zilberman — Washington Post
The Bad: “First Purge further lessens the drama by offering a hero and villains too mercenary to care about,” Carla Meyer — The San Francisco Chronicle
Summary: It’s been two years since Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) stopped himself from a regrettable act of revenge on Purge Night. Now serving as head of security for Senator Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell), his mission is to protect her in a run for president and survive the annual ritual that targets the poor and innocent. But when a betrayal forces them onto the streets of D.C. on the one night when no help is available, they must stay alive until dawn…or both be sacrificed for their sins against the state.
The Good: “You can be a pissed-off Tea Partier or an Occupy advocate and find something here to stoke your fat cat hatred; either way, catharsis is doled out not in a dusk-til-dawn homicidal free-for all but two harmless hours in a theater,” David Fear — The Rolling Stone
The Bad: “There’s nothing specific, thoughtful or emotionally involving about Election Night beyond a basic need to push buttons, and get a rise out of viewers. The good guys are actually bad, and the bad guys are too indistinct to be hateful. Vote with your wallets, and go see something else,” Simon Abrams — RogerEbert.com
The Worst to Best Ranking According to User Scores
#1 and #2 are tied: The Forever Purge & The First Purge
#3 The Purge
#2 The Purge Election Year
#1 The Purge: Anarchy