Edwin
Hodge is one of those many black actors who’s been working
steadily in the business for years (in his case the last 16 years) in films and television, racking up an
impressive resume of some 50 roles, though he has yet to break out in a stand
out part. But it’s not for lack of trying.

Maybe his latest role in Universal Pictures’ suspense
thriller The Purge, starring Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey, could be that role. Can’t really tell from the trailer
since he only appears briefly in it, though he plays the catalyst for what happens
in the film.

The premise is a rip-off of those intruders-in-the-house
films that you’ve seen before such as Sam
Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs, Last House on the Left (both versions) and The
Strangers but with a unique twist.

Set sometime in the near future when America has become an utopia
with practically no unemployment or crime…almost.
The catch is that once a year, crime is allowed without any punishment as a way
of people “purging” themselves of their
baser instincts hence the title. (Though the film was originally entitled Vigilandia)

Those who are fortunate and financially well off can afford
to seal themselves off from the rest of the world until one day, for one family,
the outside world breaks in.

Judging from the trailer it looks all very intense and
very nasty which means, of course,  I can’t
wait to see this.

The film opens on May
31st