When The First Purge lumbered onto screens in 2018, it represented something of a nadir for the franchise. So comprehensively misjudged was that fourth instalment—an unnecessary prequel that managed to sap the series of whatever tension and intrigue remained—that the laws of probability, even accounting for Hollywood's seemingly inexhaustible capacity for fouling perfectly good concepts, suggested the next entry could scarcely fare worse. Yet franchises have defied probability before, usually in the wrong direction. As it transpires, The Forever Purge, the fifth and ostensibly final chapter released in 2021, confounded expectations entirely. Directed by Everardo Valerio Gout and again written and produced by franchise creator James DeMonaco, this instalment not only improves upon its immediate predecessor but arguably stands as the finest entry the series has produced.
To appreciate how The Forever Purge achieves this, one must first understand the narrative contortions the franchise had performed. The Purge: Election Year (2016) concluded with Senator Charlene Roan's victory over the New Founding Fathers of America (NFAA), and with it, the abolition of the Purge—that dystopian practice of an annual twelve-hour period during which all crimes, including murder, are temporarily legalised. The fourth film, therefore, served as a prequel, depicting the origins of this barbaric tradition. The Forever Purge returns us to sequel territory, resuming the timeline in 2048, eight years after the Purge's supposed abolition.
The NFAA has clawed its way back to power, capitalising upon economic woes that have fuelled extremism across the American political spectrum, though predominantly of the white supremacist and nativist varieties. Against this grim backdrop, the United States nevertheless appears a promised land for impoverished Mexicans Juan (Tenoch Huerta) and his wife Adela (Ana de la Reguera), who illegally cross the border in desperate search of work. They find employment in a small Texas town: Juan, alongside fellow migrant T.T. (Alejandro Edda), works as a farmhand on the ranch owned by the Tuckers, a well-to-do white family. Shortly before the first reinstated Purge commences, family patriarch Caleb Tucker (Will Patton) demonstrates unexpected generosity, paying Juan and his fellow workers a bonus to help them survive the dangerous night. Juan and Adela seek refuge in a walled sanctuary, whilst the Tuckers barricade themselves within their ranch house.
The Purge itself proceeds without incident for our protagonists; both the migrants and the Tucker family survive the twelve hours unscathed. However, when the sirens signal the period's conclusion, something unprecedented occurs. Rather than dispersing, certain Purgers continue their violence, declaring that a new, "true" Forever Purge has commenced. Among these are the Tuckers' own farmhands, who take the family prisoner and murder Caleb. Juan and T.T., realising the danger, arm themselves and rescue the surviving Tuckers—Caleb's son Dylan (Josh Lucas), his pregnant wife Cassie (Cassidy Freeman), and his sister Harper (Leven Rambin). As the chaos spreads and authorities prove hopelessly unprepared, the survivors recognise that their only hope lies in reaching the Mexican border. Yet Mexico's decision to admit American refugees has precipitated a different crisis: the border has become a flashpoint, blocked by organised factions of bloodthirsty Purgers and US military forces employing extreme measures to restore order.
Gout's direction represents a refreshing departure for the franchise. The Texas rural setting, with its particular racial, ethnic and class dynamics, provides fertile ground for variations on the familiar Purge formula. The film functions partly as a Western—evident in the opening ranch sequences featuring horseback riding and in the climactic mountain showdown—whilst maintaining the series' horror-action hybrid identity. This geographical and tonal shift reinvigorates material that had grown stale through repetition.
More significantly, DeMonaco has refined his political messaging. Whilst the villains remain uniformly white and explicitly racist, the NFAA itself is relegated to the background. The Purge, originally conceived as an instrument of social manipulation and population control, has metastasised into a Frankenstein's monster beyond its creators' command; participants have grown so enamoured with sanctioned violence that they refuse to observe temporal limitations or rules. DeMonaco's left-wing sympathies manifest in the solution: evil is ultimately confronted by a coalition comprising Latino immigrants, Black Americans, and Native Americans—the latter represented by Chiago Harjo (Zahn McClarnon), whose community provides sanctuary.
Yet the film's most compelling element is DeMonaco's thesis regarding human transformation. Initially, the relationship between Dylan Tucker and Juan is defined by palpable tension, with the narrative seemingly positioning Dylan as a potential antagonist whose latent racism will surface. Instead, through shared adversity, the two men forge a genuine bond, becoming brothers-in-arms. This character development provides emotional stakes that previous instalments largely neglected.
The film is not without flaws. Beyond the occasionally heavy-handed allegory commenting upon contemporary American political divisions—par for the course with this franchise—there is a clumsily executed sequence set in Purge-plagued El Paso. Whilst certain chaotic moments are effectively staged, others appear overly stylised and self-consciously "clever," particularly a scene in which characters seek refuge in a cinema screening classic horror films, only to be attacked by Purgers cosplaying as vampires.
Nevertheless, The Forever Purge emerges as a solid piece of action cinema. As the franchise's concluding chapter—at least for the present—it demonstrates that there are considerably worse ways to end a series than with a film that rediscovers its purpose, refines its message, and treats its audience with something approaching respect. For a franchise that appeared destined for the cinematic scrapheap, that constitutes no small achievement.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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