The Purge: Election Year couldn't be timelier, arriving in the
middle of one of the most contentious, violent, and racist Presidential
campaign seasons ever. As one particular candidate with really bad hair and a
disturbing attraction to his own daughter continues to spout hateful rhetoric
appealing to America's worst nature, the third film in James DeMonaco's gory
and brilliant franchise explores the natural result of that hatred given
unchecked political power. Call it a dystopian vision of Trump's America if you
want, but The Purge: Election
Year is terrifying because
it's not as far-fetched as we may want to believe.
What's been most impressive about these
movies is how narratively nimble it has been since the very beginning.
Beginning as a simple home invasion flick with politics deep in the background,
the sequel brought the rich vs. poor dynamic into the forefront, making for a
gruesome allegory of the economic disparity in our country. DeMonaco seems to
be trying to play it both ways this time, setting much of the political
discussion aside to get back to the bloodbath much of the audience probably
showed up for.
Picking up a two years after the last
film's events, the Presidential campaign season is in full swing. The shadowy
cabal of nativists known as the Founding Fathers (Republicans, let's keep it
real) are still in power, pushing their rhetoric that our founders would have
approved of the annual Purge, in which all crimes, including rape and murder,
are legal for a 12-hour period. They've been using the Purge to wipe out much
of the poor and minority communities as a means of saving money on social
welfare programs, with all of that extra money going to the top 1%. This time,
however, the Founding Fathers have an opponent to contend with in Senator
Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell) who vows to end the Purge once and for all.
The President (played by Homicide's
Kyle Secor) is a total nutjob who sees the Purge as a religious experience,
leading an actual congregation of killers who will do anything to maintain
their bloodthirsty way of life.
With the Purge on the way, Charlie is an
obvious target for assassination. Fortunately her head of security is Leo
Barnes (the returning Frank Grillo), who has channeled his rage and grief over
his family's death during the Purge into a need to see the event abolished.
Frank is the ultimate badass and the guy you want on your side night falls and
the Purge commences. Armed with only his wits and a single revolver he takes on
whole groups of costumed freaks, most dressed like twisted versions of
patriotic figures such as Uncle Sam, who are armed to the teeth with rocket
launchers, bazookas, drones, every manner of death machine. There’s also the
roving pack of Nazi skinheads employed by the Founding Fathers to capture
Charlie so she can be executed in a weird religious ritual.
The Purge: Election Year isn't just about Leo's attempts to keep Charlie free from
harm. As usual the film catches us up with those on the ground who don't have
the benefit of armed security guards. Mykelti Williamson plays Joe, a deli
owner who could lose everything after pissing off an afro-puffed hoodrat who
tried to steal a candy bar. When she returns later on, dressed like a carnival
reject from the day of the dead, she comes with a whole crew ready to burn the
shop down and kill anyone inside. Fortunately Joe has some help from a former
gangster and an optimistic immigrant, exactly the kind of people the Purge was
designed to eliminate.
The little details DeMonaco includes are
always a nice touch, such as the "Murder Tourists", foreigners who
fly in just to take part in the Purge. "It's the American way" one
says before he's mowed down in a hail of gunfire. The violence is over-the-top
but the imagery is frequently disturbing for the casual way it’s depicted; a
woman in a rocking chair by the road watching a man burn...or an actual
guillotine in an alley chopping heads off. There hasn't been this much red in
DC streets since the last time the Redskins won the Super Bowl. The action is
brutal but also pretty comical, sped up for maximum video game effect. Sorry
(not sorry) but it's funny to watch a chainsaw-wielding maniac in a teddy bear
costume get blown away by a shotgun blast.
What's not at all humorous is how The Purge: Election Year echoes much of the ugly,
dehumanizing rhetoric we hear, always from those who have everything, about the
less fortunate. Last year there was a story that two Trump supporters beat up a
homeless man, shouting the Presidential candidate's name as they did it. He
denounced it later on but continued to spout the same rhetoric that inspired
their actions. Is that really so far off from anything seen in The Purge?
Fans of the previous films will be happy
to know that other key characters return, and there's a tease for even more
purging in the future. There's a very clear direction these movies can go next
but to give it away would spoil a surprisingly bittersweet finale. Wherever the
story goes next our own screwed up system of government will likely remain an
inspiration, which should scare you enough to want to spark a revolution.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
