Review of The Purge: Election Year (2016) by Jack F — 14 Jun 2017

It seems incredibly fitting that "The Purge: Election Year" would come out during an actual election year, and one of the most contentious and controversial election years in recent memory at that. And given how everything played out, it's hard not to see some uncomfortable parallels between the movie and real life, giving it an oddly prescient feel seeing as it came out around four months before the election.

As has already been established in writer/director James DeMonaco's previous two films in the series, the films are set in an America run by those known only as the New Founding Fathers, and this organization pioneered an annual event known as the The Purge, a 12 hour period in which all crimes (including murder) are legal. This allows people to "purge" their system of all their dark impulses, and presumably they'll therefore be better law-abiding citizens for the rest of the year.

However, as has been well-established at this point in the series, it's also a convenient and legal excuse for the wealthy and powerful to rid society of those they deem worthless (the homeless, drug addicts, or in some instances, just those who are indigent or struggling financially). And it's surely no coincidence that, more often than not, these people are minorities, while most of the New Founding Fathers are white (and male, for that matter).

So here we've got the rulers of the United States imposing a law that ensures that a certain group of minorities, a group that they're afraid of, is effectively removed from the country. Starting to sound a little familiar? It's not quite a "travel ban," but make a few tweaks here and there, and?

Maybe it's due to these similarities with our current political climate, but DeMonaco finally won me over with this, the (seemingly) final installment in this series, and that's despite the fact that many of the issues I had with the prior films are here as well. "The Purge: Election Year" is still a little too blunt in areas in which subtlety would be better suited. Characterization is still pretty thin. And DeMonaco surely still loves the "saved-at-the-last-second" trope.

But you know what? This time around, I didn't care. I was engaged enough that I was able to overlook those nagging other things. The action scenes are done well enough and I actually found the story to be the most interesting one yet. It seems that, even in this version of America, there are still elections to determine who holds the office of President. Up until now, it's always been a puppet of the New Founding Fathers. (The politics here are admittedly a little murky to me, as I'm not quite certain as to whether the New Founding Fathers are a form of political party (i.e., Democrat or Republican) or how they fit into the power scheme. Oh well.).

But this time it appears they have a legitimate challenge to their hold on the country, as a firm, righteous-minded senator (Elizabeth Mitchell) has based her entire campaign around putting a stop to the annual Purge should she get elected. And based on the poll numbers, it appears that many people in the country are on board with this idea (again, not coincidentally, I'm sure, many of whom are lower in the class structure and/or minorities).

So then it's no surprise that the sinister New Founding Fathers decide to eliminate this competition and do so on Purge Night...when it's nice and legal. They place a hit on the senator, she's betrayed by people in her organization, and she soon finds herself out on the mean streets of Washington D.C. during the Purge with only the head of her security detail (Frank Grillo, reprising his role from "The Purge: Anarchy," the previous film) around to protect her. Let the games begin?

Part of the reason why I think this entry works better than "Anarchy" is that it has more focus. "Anarchy" had a vibe of just throwing everything to the wall and seeing what sticks. (Appropriate name then, I guess.) But here the focus is limited mostly to Grillo trying to keep Mitchell safe through the night, along with a few allies they meet along the way.

There are a couple interesting detours. We get a better look at the underground anti-Purge rebel group we only got a brief glimpse of in the previous film. There's also another group of doctors, nurses, and EMTs that are operating as rebels in their own way too. All emergency services are supposed to be suspended during the Purge, but these brave souls venture out into the night and help whom they can, taking the injured people they encounter back to a hidden parking garage to try and treat their wounds. The touches like these are nice, adding depth and color to the proceedings, and it's nice to know that not everybody out on Purge Night is a bloodthirsty maniac.

Look, obviously this whole series is built upon creating a social allegory out of a preposterous idea. And who knows, after an additional viewing, maybe I'll see that "The Purge: Election Year" is really no better or worse than its predecessors, particularly once I'm able to put some distance between the current real-life political situation the country finds itself in. But I've also always felt that the series was just on the verge of being recommendable; it wasn't quite there, but it just needed a little nudge. And maybe "Election Year" was that nudge (for me, anyway). It may have been in the moment, but I went along with it, and that's something, if for no other reason than the other two never got me to fully do so.