North Texas Daily

The new Universal Pictures movie “The Forever Purge” was released this past week. The action-horror film starred Ana de la Reguera and Tenoch Huerta in the fifth installment of the “Purge” franchise.

“The Forever Purge” follows Adela (Ana de la Reguerra), a migrant woman and Juan (Tecoh Huerta)’s wife, throughout their experience in their first-ever Purge following their migration to the U.S. from Mexico.

The movie’s plot overall is great and takes place over just a couple of days. The film takes place a few years after the events of “The Purge: Election Year” with the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) winning the presidency and establishing the annual Purge.

The couple then finds themselves in Austin. Both Adela and Juan, along with their friend T. T. (Alejandro Edda) survive their first experience with the Purge. As everyone is going back to their regular jobs and going on about their days, police noticed people are still purging. In one of those events, Adela is found to be a victim of purgers, and her coworker saves her from a near-death experience. Meanwhile, Juan and T. T., who currently work at a ranch, see purgers are apprehending the ranch’s owners, so they go on and kill them and save the family.

Everyone quickly notices people are organizing themselves as the “Purge Purification Force” (PPF) led by white supremacists intending to kill those they consider to be non-American. The group eventually makes their way to Mexico after hearing a radio message stating Mexico opened its borders for those seeking safety. During their travel to Mexico, they face against the PPF and other groups of migrants making their way to Mexico. After traveling a few hours, the group manages to arrive in Mexico with the help of a Native American tribe. At the end of the movie, the Purge continues. It is said people decided to fight back these terrorists to gain control of their neighborhoods and cities.

Both Reguerra and Huerta’s performance is formidable. Their talents portrayed their fear of the Purge throughout the development of the film. The dialogue in the movie was excellent and consistent with the imagery of what the directors wanted to portray. One of my favorite parts of the film was when Juan and the group managed to fight off the PPF at the El Paso and Mexico border. They defeat them with limited weaponry and luckily managed to survive.

The film portrayed a solid foundation and kept its storyline consistent with the previous films. A big takeaway from the film was the trust the characters needed to obtain safety. Although the exaggeration was noticeable, it fit well with the story and wasn’t distracting.

This movie is not perfect and there were a couple of things that could’ve been better, but the general plot and flow of the story were great. Now, there seems to be a sequel coming based on the film’s development, but it’s a great one to watch with friends and family.

Final rating: 4/5

Courtesy Universal Pictures