The Forever Purge is a 2021 American action-horror film directed by Everardo Valerio Gout and written by series creator James DeMonaco, who also produced along with Jason Blum and Michael Bay.
The film stars Ana de la Reguera, Tenoch Huerta, Josh Lucas, Cassidy Freeman, Leven Rambin, Alejandro Edda, and Will Patton, and follows a group of people who attempt to escape the United States after an insurrectionist movement continues committing crime and murder nationwide after the 2049 Purge's ending.
[6] In 2048, eight years after Charlene Roan's presidential election, the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) has been re-elected and have re-instituted the annual Purge with its original rules.
Racial supremacy and nativism have surged nationwide following their re-election, and many outside the ruling party are concerned that the upcoming Purge will inflict more damage on the country than the NFFA realizes.
Ten months later, on the eve of the 2049 Purge, Juan and Adela join a migrant community behind a walled sanctuary with armed security to protect them.
As they drive off to search for Adela, the news confirms that civilians nationwide, connecting via social media, have declared a Forever Purge, opposing NFFA orders to stand down.
By the time the group arrives in a chaotic El Paso, the NFFA has invoked martial law across the United States to contain the violence.
Downtown, Adela protects Cassie from other Purgers, revealing that she and Juan had once been members of a self-defense group who trained them to fight against Mexican drug cartels.
News reports indicate that the NFFA has dispatched troops but is effectively being destroyed by the violence it no longer controls; more than two million Americans had crossed the Canadian and Mexican borders as refugees, and civilians in America are rallying to fight back against the Purgers.
Jason Blum also produced through Blumhouse Productions, along with Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form through Platinum Dunes.
[24][25] On November 10 and 11, filming took place in downtown Pomona, on a block of storefronts transformed into fictional businesses, including a tavern and a gun store.
[27] Cinematographer Luis Sansans shot the film with Arri Alexa Mini LF cameras and Camtec Falcon large format lenses.
[41] On July 26, 2021, during a midnight showing of The Forever Purge at the Regal Edwards movie theater in Corona, California, a gunman opened fire inside the cinema, killing two people.
[4][5] In the United States and Canada, The Forever Purge was released alongside The Boss Baby: Family Business, as well as the expansion of Summer of Soul, and was projected to gross around $10 million from 3,051 theaters in its opening weekend.
With the top three films at the box office, F9, Family Business, and The Forever Purge, all having been released by Universal, it marked the first time a single studio had done so since February 2005.
The site's critics consensus reads: "The Forever Purge fails to fully engage with its most frighteningly timely themes, but the franchise remains largely—albeit bluntly—effective.
"[59] Rick Bentley's review in Tribune News Service complained of "a thinly veiled attempt to capitalize on the tensions currently gripping this country.
"[61] Writing in The Detroit News, Adam Gram stated: "The fifth Purge talks a big game, employing all sorts of charged political words and theories, but doesn't do anything interesting with them.
"[62] Peter Vonder Haar's review in The Houston Press analyzed: "The biggest problem with The Forever Purge is how it abandons the central conceit of the series.
"[64] Benjamin Lee's review in The Guardian reads, "It’s more of the same in the latest Purge horror, with more murderous mayhem and more half-baked attempts at social commentary.
There's no emotional heft attached to anything happening here; we barely even care about the main characters...None of this is that thrilling, and The Forever Purge often plays like a film cobbled together from reshoots and studio notes.