The Forever Purge [Blu-Ray]

Director: Everardo Valerio Gout

Cast: Ana de la Reguera, Tenoch Huerta, Josh Lucas

Release Date: September 28, 2021

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 7/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

Synopsis:

The old rules of the Purge are broken as members of an underground movement, no longer satisfied with the annual night of anarchy and murder, decide to overtake America through an unending campaign of mayhem and massacre. No one is safe. On the morning after the Purge, a masked gang of killers attacks a wealthy Texas ranching family and their workers. Exposed by daylight, the two groups are forced to band together and fight back as the country spirals into chaos and the United States begins to disintegrate around them.

Please Note: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘The Forever Purge’ picks up years after the events of ‘Election Year’ and revolves around the reinstated purge night after the NFFA retakes office and immediately brings the purge night back into law. Unfortunately for those trying to live their lives and get by, many of the purgers have decided that one night is no longer enough. As the morning after the purge goes on, the purge continues to grow out of control across the globe as a new revolution instigates The Forever Purge in an attempt to take back control of their country the way they see fit. In the midst of it all, a wealthy Texas ranching family is assaulted and saved by a pair of their hired workers. As things become increasingly worse and Mexico opens their borders to unarmed Americans, the family and workers band together and make a desperate run for the border and its promise of safety.

Directed this time around by Everardo Valerio Gout (TV’s Snowpiercer, Banshee) who does a pretty great job at the helm of ‘The Forever Purge’ guiding along the exciting chaos from a screenplay once again written by franchise creator James DeMonaco who’s written every film in the series as well as directing a couple. The film also owes some credit to the cast which includes Ana de la Reguera (Army of the Dead), Tenoch Huerta (TV’s Narcos: Mexico), Josh Lucas (Ford v Ferrari), Cassidy Freeman (TV’s The Righteous Gemstones), Will Patton (Halloween 2018), Leven Rambin (TV’s True Detective), Alejandro Edda (American Made) and more, with the majority offering pretty solid if not at least fitting performances for the most part in each of their respective roles.

‘The Forever Purge’ is another bloody, tense and largely enjoyable offering in the franchise that takes the familiar formula and story we all know and sends it to a more uncertain and out of control direction that allows for some fresh ideas and approaches to the material that also never strays from the course and style that fans expect; plus of course offering its share of timely social commentary to our modern world within. Perhaps the most notable new element introduced this time around is the purge continuing into the daylight which results in quite a bit of violence and bloody chaos occurring in the daytime, as well as seeing police and other elements of the normal world in effect and attempting to reign control back in. The journey throughout the insanity and the run for the border element combined with deadline they face also help to keep the tension level at high much of the time. I would strongly urge any fans of the franchise as a whole to make a point of giving ‘The Forever Purge’ a chance whenever convenient if you haven’t already done so. It mostly succeeds in offering a moderately new approach to the story in an attempt to craft a somewhat fresh entry that’s still familiar enough and in line with the others to keep the fans satisfied. For anyone who has followed the series since it began and enjoyed at least some of them, this one should at least be worth taking the time to check out.

Overall, ‘The Forever Purge’ is another fast paced, bloody and largely entertaining outing in James DeMonaco’s horror franchise that brings some fun new elements to the series such as much of the bloodshed occurring in daylight and some unnerving social commentary that perhaps isn’t fully explored, but is nonetheless far more prominent than in some of the previous films. ‘The Forever Purge’ is definitely recommended for fans of the franchise. It’s another fun, violent and intense entry in the series that introduces some new ideas into the mix and even while largely keeping to the elements fans have come to expect from the series, does attempt some at least mildly creative alterations to the familiar formula. If you enjoy the Purge series for the most part, you probably won’t want to miss out on this one and for those understandably hesitant to spend the money on a blind purchase, it should at least be worth the price of a rental.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘The Forever Purge’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks fantastic altogether and serves up a clean, smooth and colorful presentation from start to finish without any unexpected troubles or faults to be found along the way. It holds up impressively even during the darkly lit, fast moving and heavily populated sequences throughout and never allows anything that’s occurring onscreen to become negatively affected or rendered indiscernible at any point. Overall, this is a pretty wonderful high definition video presentation that should easily please the fans as well as first time viewers.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack makes a fantastic compliment to the onscreen excitement and tension and delivers a clean, sharp and hard hitting audio presentation throughout. It repeatedly takes full advantage of all seven available channels in order to send gunshots, explosions, debris and vehicle activity along with a great deal more constantly whipping throughout the various speakers at every logical opportunity, while always still making certain that any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously remain clean and fully audible. Overall, this is a magnificent Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that more than delivers every step of the way and repeatedly contributes its share of extra excitement and fun to the viewing experience.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘The Forever Purge’ includes a few solid extras that fans of the franchise should enjoy. Included on the release is an ‘Alternate Opening – Storyboard Sequence’ (running approximately 2 minutes in length), along with a Deleted Scene’ from the movie (running approximately 90 seconds). The release additionally includes a couple of Behind the Scenes Featurettes: ‘Collapsing the System: Behind The Forever Purge’ (8 minutes) and ‘Creeptastic Wardrobe’ (2 minutes) which include interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. The film’s ‘Theatrical Trailer’ (approximately 2 minutes) is also included.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 7/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

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‘The Forever Purge’ Arrives Home on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray & DVD on September 28, 2021 & is Now Available to Own on Digital from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

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