Theatrical Review: The Purge: Election Year (2016)

"Election Year is almost as good as Anarchy."

(aka America Death Night 3.)

Release Date: July 1st.

Country: USA.

Rating: R.

Written by: James DeMonaco.

Directed by: James DeMonaco.

Starring: Frank Grillo, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mykelti Williamson, and Betty Gabriel.



As much as we didn't like the first Purge movie (review HERE), we absolutely loved the hell out of The Purge Anarchy (review HERE). It was Frank Grillo's presence (and a way better story) that made us like the sequel so much, and so when it was announced that Grillo would be returning to the world of The Purge for Election Year, we were immediately on-board.



Since it's release, The Purge: Election Year has made around $72 million on a $10 million budget, making it the most financially successful entry in the series, at least domestically... so it appears that we weren't alone in our love for the 2nd movie, and, as it turns out, the 3rd.

Set two years after the events of The Purge: Anarchy, we find that Leo Barnes is now head of security for a radical Senator, Charlie Roan, who is running for President. We say radical because she's campaigning on the idea that The Purge is an abomination, and the promise that the first thing she'll do when elected, is end it. She watched her family being executed on Purge Night 18-years earlier, so her hate is understandable.

SHE'S GOING TO PURGE THE PURGE!

Needless to say, the New Founding Fathers of America don't take kindly to this, and decide to have her killed. With Leo Barnes watching over her though, the NFFA is going to have a hard time getting to her, because he's a bad-ass. Of course there's also a nation full of bloodthirsty Purgers out there who want to kill them too, so a little help would be nice. Luckily for them both that they run into another bad-ass named Laney Rucker (the girl can ball), and a couple of other dudes from around the way, so the odds, while still hopeless, are at least a little better.



Blood and mayhem ensue.

THE CREW.

Some people took issue with the direction that the Purge series took with this 3rd installment, but even though we would have liked to have seen a prequel that focused on Frank Grillo's pre-Purge 2, or even a story that focused on Bishop's gang, we found Election Year to be a fun ride, and liked it almost as much as we did the 2nd movie.



In a year where Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are turning the race for President into a farce, The Purge: Election Year also feels timely and relevant. It also feels like a cheap cash-in on the political bullshit that we have to see on the news every night, but it does make a statement. On a more serious note, the way that things are going in the U.S. right now with so many shootings of both citizens and Police, it feels even more relevant, and in a genuinely scary way; sometimes it really feels like we're heading for a Purge-like situation, where people indiscriminately gun each other down in the street because they're angry, feel alienated, or are just plain crazy. It won't come to that, not really, but it sure does feel more possible than ever now, and this movie is a grim reminder of what that world just might look like.



The cast is strong in this one, with Frank Grillo (who is always awesome), Mykelti Williamson (he was our fave), and Betty Gabriel (whose Laney Rucker was all kinds of bad-ass) giving us real characters that we cared about, and wanted to see survive Purge Night. Elizabeth Mitchell was solid here too, although her character didn't do as much for us as we expected.  

THAT MAN IS INTENSE.

The main issue that we had with this movie is that it focused way too much on Elizabeth Mitchell's character. I'm a huge fan of Mitchell's, but her character felt more like a caricature here than a person who evoked emotion from me; I cared far more about Frank Grillo's character keeping her alive because of what it meant to him, than about her surviving.



It's not the biggest gripe in the world, but the story in the 2nd movie just felt more dire to us, and less like some sort of political statement like it does here.



It also really sucked how they built Dante Bishop up throughout the first two movies, and then kind of gave him a disposable storyline.

LIBERAL PROPAGANDA!

Sticking with the point above, this sequel didn't give us enough of the crazy, creepy, street-sweeping murderers that made the 2nd one so much fun. They were there, but they just didn't seem like as much of a threat as the Government did in this one, which I suppose was the point, but it made the movie a little less fun.



The "I want my candy bar" gang was too over-the-top and cheesy for our tastes, and they barely showed the awesome masked purgers from the posters at all. Gah!

THIS MASK DESERVED MORE SCREEN TIME.

There's plenty of bloody violence in this one, because it's Purge Night! Guns, knives, baseball bats, vehicles, fire, hanging... the kill methods are varied.

AMERICA WAS BUILT ON BLOOD BY MEN WHO WORE MASKS!

Nope.

THAT MASK IS SEXY THOUGH.

"Good night, blue cheese" or "There are a whole bunch of Negros coming this way, and we're looking like a big ol' bucket of fried chicken."



Mykelti Williamson owned this movie, character and dialogue-wise.

BEAR OR PIG? YOU DECIDE.

A solid sequel, The Purge: Election Year may not have been quite as good as the 2nd movie was, but it was close. Great characters, all kinds of bloody Purge action, and plenty of Political commentary, this was a perfect ending to the series... until of course The Purge 4 is announced, which it definitely will be.



See it.



B+



The Purge: Election Year is in theaters now.

Elizabeth Mitchell will always be Juliet from LOST to us. Sigh.