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
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
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
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