The Purge: Election Year (2016)
Directed by James DeMonaco
The Purge was such a new and great idea, but the first movie fell a little short of the great premise. It focused on one family and not on the overall insane happenings centered around a night where all crime is legal. The second film took it a step further and we got to see a little more into the world that the Purge creates. The third installment was a little more praised, so on black Friday it was only like $7 from Target so I bought it. FINALLY got around to watching it the other night.
The movie revolves around the election of US president and the upcoming Purge night. The candidates are Charlene Roan, a survivor of a previous purge and NFFA (New Founding Fathers of America) member Caleb Warrens. Basically, Roan is against the Purge and Warrens is all for it. Once the annual Purge begins, Roan is held up in a house surrounded by armed guards. The guards are taken out by a militia hired by NFFA and now Roan must run for her life with her bodyguard Leo Barnes. Roan and Barnes make friends with two men that share a distaste for the Purge and with their help they look to keep Roan safe so she can win the election and put an end to the barbaric “holiday”.
This movie has a lot of action and suspense. It really keeps you at the edge of your seat, and that’s what these movies should be all about honestly. The acting is solid, Elizabeth Mitchell does a great job as Roan. She’s gorgeous and she plays the character with heart. Frank Grillo plays Leo Barnes the former LAPD Sergeant, he’s gritty and a badass for sure. All the other characters are great and no one really gives a bad performance. The group of high maintenance girls that try to get into the building and kill the main characters are kind of annoying, but I guess that’s the point isn’t it?
Special Effects are solid in this. It isn’t over the top but it is bloody for sure. Lots of headshots, stabs, blood squirts and dismemberments galore. The kills are believable and mostly done by knife and gun. It really helps set the atmosphere and suspense without distracting me as a viewer. The camera work is a series of quick shots at times that helps keep with the frantic action in parts. It really just works with the film, it isn’t disorienting like Michael Bay movies at all.
For a third installment The Purge: Election Year is my favorite of the bunch, which is rare. It takes the great idea that the series is based on and puts it in a way that we wanted to see. We want to see the bat shit crazy nature of humanity when murder and crime is legal. You know some sick fucks out there that would have a field day with a Purge, and this movie is great at showing that. Our culture here in America is jacked up, especially lately. With a polarizing figure in the White House, our country is slowly starting to meltdown and the world that the Purge movies take place in isn’t as crazy as you might have originally thought. These movies are just fun, turn your brain off, enjoy the action and suspense. I give this a B+. It is fun, could be a little better and just examine the Purge a little more but I hear that’s what the prequel “The First Purge” has done, I guess I need to see that one now!
