The Purge: Election Year

Summary

“I want my candy bar!”

In 2014, director and writer James DeMonaco successfully followed up The Purge with the action-thriller The Purge: Anarchy. With that film he managed to expand the scope of the mythology of the Purge, while pivoting away from many of the horror elements in the first film. It’s a strong sequel and it managed to gross nearly $112 million dollars at the box office off of a budget of less than twelve million dollars (reports vary from $9 to $11 million.) The film also helped to make an action star of actor Frank Grillo. For his third Purge film, James DeMonaco turned his attention towards what an election year would be like in a society where the Purge takes place. This idea was obviously topical and relevant considering that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were on the road to the White House as the film was released in theaters the week of July 4th. I was really impressed with how DeMonaco had expanded the mythology of the Purge in Anarchy and I was excited to see what DeMonaco had in store for the third installment in the franchise.

The film begins with a flashback to 2022 as a young Charlene “Charlie” Roan and her family are tied up and forced to listen to a playlist on Purge night as a sadistic killer tortures and kills them all except for Charlie. In 2040, Charlie (Elizabeth Mitchell) has become a U.S. Senator. She has rallied against the Purge and the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) in her speeches as she campaigns to become President of the United States. She vows to obliterate the Purge if she is elected. Her opponent, Minister Edwidge Owens, fears that she may win the election. Working with his co-conspirators in his party, the NFFA decide to allow any and all citizens – including government officials – to be eligible for attack during the Purge for the first time. The NFFA will have a twelve hour window to legally assassinate Senator Roan. Sergeant Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) – the unnamed sergeant from Purge: Anarchy – has been elevated to security detail for Roan. Across town, deli owner Joe (Mykelti Williamson) watches the debates with his assistant Marcos (Joseph Julian Soria,) and EMT Laney Rucker (Betty Gabriel.) As the Purge approaches, a group of teenage girls enter the store with plans to shoplift and they are cornered by Joe. The girls are very disrespectful until Laney approaches them. They recognize that Laney used to purge, and leave the store. Just before the Purge begins, Joe finds out that his purge insurance has jumped so high in cost that he will be unable to pay it in time. He knows that he will need to protect his store that night. The Purge has also begun to draw in “murder tourists” from other countries that want to come to America and participate in the festivities. As the Purge begins, an attempt is made on Senator Roan’s life and Leo protects her. A series of events occur that bring Joe, Laney, Senator Roan, Marcos, and Leo together as the NFFA desperately hunt for them.

The Purge: Election Year is by no means bad, but it feels like a bit of a letdown after watching Anarchy. The film starts off pretty promising with a strong opening thirty minutes. The assassination attempt on Senator Roan is well orchestrated, and the sequence involving the crazy schoolgirl (Brittany Mirabile) and her friends that want a piece of candy from Joe’s shop may be my favorite scene of any of the Purge films just because of how insane it is. That scene features cars draped in Christmas lights, girls with bedazzled machine guns, and some crazy looking princess costumes that make it really stand out. The “candy bar scene” is one of the most popular scenes from the series’ fans who have reposted it on YouTube repeatedly. It’s ridiculous, but also super ballsy and out there. I had to give the film props for that. The film also has some of the better hellscape imagery on street corners as the Lincoln Monument is defiled, people dance around lynching trees, and murder tourists dressed as Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty wield machine guns. There is no failure of imagination here in terms of the visuals in the film. In fact, Election Year is a good showcase for the talents of cinematographer Jacques Joufrette in partnership with Jeremy DeMonaco. This was the final Purge film that Demonaco directed, and the final Purge film in which Joufrette served as cinematographer. It is their most visually striking film and shows how much they had learned together over the course of three pictures. Another aspect that I like about Election Year is that the series continues to movie in a more radical direction in terms of the political angle it is portraying. If these films are meant to be a mirror to the political discord in our country, Election Year is pretty effective at talking about our capacity for inhumanity. Politics becomes even more important in The First Purge, but Election Year strikes a pretty good balance.

There are three issues that cause Election Year to register as my least favorite Purge film. After Anarchy, Election Year feels just a little too similar to the prior film. Bringing back Frank Grillo was a great call, and the other actors are well cast. The issue lies in the ways in which the script feels like it doesn’t have as many new ideas as the prior film. Without as many great ideas to work off of, the film feels like it drags a little bit. The runtime of the film feels a little excessive and could have been trimmed by about ten minutes. I like the Election Year angle, and I like how the mythology of the series continues to develop, but the film tries to jam just a little too much plot into the picture. The biggest issue in the film comes down to the dialogue – especially the dialogue given to the black actors in the film. The characters say things that stick out like a sore thumb. An example: “Good night, blue cheese?” – Who the Hell says that expression? I have never heard it. That is just one example, but watch the film and you will see what I mean. With the next film –The First Purge – directing duties were handed to Gerard McMurray who brings out true-to-life slang and dialogue from the primarily black cast. A good dialogue coach could have fixed a lot of the lesser moments in The Purge: Election Year.

Overall – The Purge: Election Year is a little too long and the dialogue has too many flaws for the film to reach the heights of the other films. That said, I still enjoyed watching the movie, and the candy bar scene might be the best sequence out of the entire series.

Video

The Purge: Election Year was nominated by Universal Pictures for Blu-ray release with a very good looking 1080p presentation featuring a MPEG-4 AVC encode in 2.40:1 aspect ratio. Jacques Joufrette once again handled the cinematography with an ARRI Alexa XT Plus camera. With this entry, it is safe to say that Joufrette had the look for the series down. This is the best looking collaboration between director James DeMonaco and Joufrette. The digital cinematography transfers well to the Blu-ray format and fans should be happy with how the film looks.

Audio

The Purge: Election Year features a good loud DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround track. The surrounds are used for the majority of the picture, and immersion is accomplished well. This is an action packed experience that takes full use of the surround speakers with a good amount of LFE involvement. 

 Supplements:

• Deleted Scenes
• Inside The Purge
• Character Spotlight: Leo

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements- 1.5/5

Overall – 3.5/5

The Purge: Election Year is the weakest film in the series, but it is not without worth and memorable moments. The film starts out very promising, but the runtime drags a little long and some of the dialogue feels very artificial. That said, the candy bar scene alone is worth the cost of admission. The film is also the most visually interesting entry from cinematographer Jacques Joufrette, who worked on the first three pictures. I enjoyed the movie even though it was a step down from Anarchy which came directly before it. Fans of the film will enjoy the technical presentation on the Blu-ray, but they may be slightly disappointed by the lack of supplemental features.