Gerard McMurray directs Y’lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis and Marisa Tomei in this prequel to the dystopian ‘crime is legal for one night, now survive the night’ The Purge series. 

The weakest entry so far. This is due to daftly unlikeable protagonists and occasionally overly restrained mayhem. If you come to The Purges for pure 100% carnage this feels a little stepped on. There’s still exciting shock imagery; glowing contact lenses typify the early adopters, KKK knights on quad bikes, exploding baby toys and a very disturbing “pussy grabbing motherfucker”. And Y’lan Noel makes the unbelievable but thrilling leap from drug kingpin to projects’ John McClane. He’s not quite Frank Grillo but the movie picks up whenever he’s onscreen rescuing the untrustworthy dogooders from the conspiracy death squads and more enthusiastic locals. Engaging if not revolutionary.

7