The Forever Purge
Universal Pictures | Release Date: July 2, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
13
Negative:
5
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
The Film StageJared MobarakJul 1, 2021
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. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonJun 30, 2021
Directed by Everardo Gout, The Forever Purge is non-stop action, which is fine because the script by series creator James DeMonaco, who directed the first three films, never plumbs the depths of its clever concept. The intense, appealing performances by the lead actors get us through. Read full review
75
The Associated PressMark KennedyJun 30, 2021
Here DeMonaco finds richness in flipping the script on traditional right-wing notions of the border and immigration. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 30, 2021
Thanks to the stylish directing by Everardo Valerio Gout, a tight screenplay from series creator James DeMonaco and a terrific ensemble cast that elevates the material, The Forever Purge is a fast-paced jam that would play well on a drive-in movie screen. Take the whole thing with a big tub of popcorn and many grains of salt. Read full review
73
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiJun 30, 2021
The Forever Purge sometimes loses its focus, but at its best, it’s still a riveting, violent, disturbing projection of how far America could backslide into the nation’s worst impulses. Read full review
71
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpJul 2, 2021
Consider The Forever Purge as the “well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions” meme as a horror film. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJul 1, 2021
The Forever Purge jumps through a variety of styles and subgenres as it proceeds; some extended sequences will remind you of a Mad Max flick. The hodgepodge is weirdly appropriate. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshJun 30, 2021
DeMonaco and Gout cook up such delicious comeuppance that you can’t help but indulge in the pleasure of revenge, even if the terrors and pleasures are incredibly fraught. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanJun 30, 2021
As a satirical demagogic action movie, The Forever Purge is blatant, bare-bones, and entertainingly brutal. Read full review
70
IGNMatt FowlerJun 30, 2021
The dystopian fantasy elements of the saga are now at their thinnest, painting a cinematic world that may hit too close to home for some. Ultimately, it's a solid entry that can either act as an ending or a new beginning. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJun 30, 2021
A satisfying action pic that finally realizes the potential of its pulp-meets-sociopolitics conceit. Read full review
67
IndieWireJude DryJun 30, 2021
The violence, while pervasive, does not feel gratuitous. Each kill is quick and to the point, and the camera never lingers too long on the flesh-torn wreckage. Read full review
65
PolygonJoshua RiveraJun 30, 2021
An overwhelming chunk of The Forever Purge’s brisk 103 minutes is devoted to the film’s Mexican immigrants saving the Tuckers’ lives, helping them survive, and furthering their moral development. It is, frankly, an insulting running thread that sours an otherwise deft horror-thriller. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 2, 2021
With Mexican-born director Everardo Gout at the helm (DeMonaco having stepped away from directorial duties following Election Year), the Forever Purge is adept at providing the violence and gore fans expect from an exploitation flick. And, despite its pretense of offering political commentary, that’s really all this movie is. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 30, 2021
In every “Purge,” it’s always darkest before the dawn. But with The Forever Purge, we have to consider what we do after the sun comes up and the goons among us haven’t stopped, and haven’t been brought to justice. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Simran HansJul 19, 2021
The cartoonish tone of the relentless violence feels at odds with the otherwise sombre, apocalyptic mood. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 30, 2021
Eventually, the film morphs from a horror movie to a border shootout. It’s not a seamless transition. Read full review
50
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiJul 10, 2021
Filled with a lot of action, The Forever Purge is at times thrilling, but it remains at surface-level rather than delving further into its themes. Read full review
50
Film ThreatRob RectorJul 7, 2021
Like all of its predecessors, its overtly political message can’t decide whether its violence is justified or glorified. This means it sits right at average. Read full review
50
Original-CinThom ErnstJul 2, 2021
And though you can sense the influences of Mad Max, Escape from New York, and even a few influential forces from Walter Hill’s The Warriors, The Forever Purge remains an uncinematic thriller unworthy of breaking a lengthy stay away from the theatre. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJul 2, 2021
The performances are better than the material deserves—particularly those of De la Reguera and Huerta, whose reactive closeups have a silent-movie expressiveness; and Lucas, who once again proves that he's willing to play deeply unlikable characters without signaling to the audience that he's a nice guy offscreen, actually. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJul 1, 2021
That idea was fun once, maybe even twice, but by the fifth outing the formula has given way to preachiness and predictability. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleJun 30, 2021
The Forever Purge does have its finger on the pulse of America at a particularly violent moment in time, but for a series defined by glorious chaos, this one paints pretty much by the numbers. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 30, 2021
There’s a nugget of . . . maybe not wisdom, but something gristly worth chewing on here, if you have the stomach to stick your hand into gaping intestines, pull it out and wipe off the blood. I wouldn’t call it food for thought, but it gives “Forever” a slightly higher nutritional value than some of its predecessors. Read full review
50
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaJun 30, 2021
The Forever Purge is at its best when it’s attempting to subvert the standard formula. Read full review
42
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJun 30, 2021
Sound the alarm, hide the children and lock the doors: another Purge movie is here. And it’s deadlier, and dumber, than ever. Read full review
40
EmpireIan FreerJul 14, 2021
The fifth Purge outing goes for broke and comes out wanting, working neither as political commentary nor horror-action-thriller. In this case, bigger is definitely not better. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJul 1, 2021
It’s hard to know how seriously we’re supposed to take any of this when it’s so unclear what the makers’ intention is and so the film’s deeper cuts fail to truly wound because so much of it is mired in silliness. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDerek SmithJun 30, 2021
As it strives for a grander metaphor of life in America, The Forever Purge resorts to sweeping generalizations that make the prior films in the series feel like pinnacles of subtlety. Read full review
33
The PlaylistNick AllenJun 30, 2021
Gout’s entry should be a victory lap for this relatively often dumb and dirty treatise on all that’s wrong with America, especially one that has become so powerful with multiple box office hits. Instead, it displays all that makes these movies a failed experiment in blockbuster exploitation. Read full review
30
CNNBrian LowryJul 2, 2021
The Forever Purge's once-over-lightly politics don't merit much of a fuss, playing like a cynical exploitation of real-world issues. Read full review
30
The New York TimesLena WilsonJul 1, 2021
Words like “colonialism” and “the American dream” are thrown around, to little avail. This movie ultimately cares more about monotonous shootouts than making points about border relations Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubAnya StanleyJun 30, 2021
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. Read full review
More From This Movie

53 Critic Reviews

4.5 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL