The Purge (2018)

The Purge works, but it works only if you take its warped commentary at face value.

The series isn’t exactly a thrill ride, at least so far, and isn’t likely to scare many viewers. Instead, it settles into a creepy, occasionally absurdly funny dystopian drama with some chase scenes and twists, which is a pretty smart way for the franchise to evolve.

In the early going the competent presentation (the pilot was directed by Anthony Hemingway) doesn’t mask the pedestrian plotting and canned characters. ... However the series is paced, the surreal imagery and moments of dark humor that enlivened the films will be further apart. (There are still good jokes here and there. Ride-sharing is more expensive because of Purge surge fares.)

DeMonaco's conceptual interest in this world kept me watching over the three episodes sent to critics even as the execution made me fatigued.

Miguel is a good person, on a mission to rescue his sister, a good person suffering through the trauma the family suffered in an early Purge. They’re white-hat heroes, and as flatly uninteresting as the title implies. Other elements of the story bring in enough ambiguity for core fans to stick with this series to its conclusion.

The USA series brings an anthological element to the concept -- think "Tales From the Purge" -- that has its moments, without quite making this "Purge" binge-worthy.

At best, The Purge is a generic, broadly appealing thriller with enough obvious socio-political commentary to act as a welcome guide to the better, more incisive movies. At worst, it’s yet another example of filmmakers treating TV like a garbage dump for rejected movie ideas unworthy of fleshing out for the big screen.

In a generous mood one might take all this state-encouraged violence as a metaphor for the way the poor have been systemically kept down by government inaction. But such occasional resonances feel more accidental and inconsistent, or at least beside the sanguinary point. The series rarely rises above the level of cliché. The production is nothing to speak of.

It feels too much like an afterthought, like subplots deleted from the films. There are times when it works--which is something that could be said about most of the movies too--but it’s hard to imagine people getting excited to tune in week after week.

USA and DeMonaco have somehow found a way to stretch out these tales over 10 episodes, which is about six more than feels sustainable. ... Left in its place is a shallow festival of violence and bloodshed, and not very artful demonstrations of either.

The Purge comes to television at exactly the wrong time. Not that there’s really a right time. The fact that it’s also clumsily made and rife with mediocre performances seems almost beside the point in the context of how pointless this thing is in the first place.