Synopsis:
Expanding the universe introduced in the hit franchise that electrified the culture and earned $200 million at the worldwide box office, Universal Pictures’ The Purge: Election Year reveals the next terrifying chapter that occurs over 12 hours of annual lawlessness sanctioned by the New Founders of America to keep this country great.
It’s been two years since Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) stopped himself from a regrettable act of revenge on Purge Night. Now serving as head of security for Senator Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell), his mission is to protect her in a run for president and survive the annual ritual that targets the poor and innocent. But when a betrayal forces them onto the streets of D.C. on the one night when no help is available, they must stay alive until dawn…or both be sacrificed for their sins against the state.
What We Thought:
I hated The Purge. I could not stand the message of the story and just plain didn’t like the film. I quite liked The Purge: Anarchy though. It had a similar message of the poor overtaking the rich and being rich is evil, but it had more action and wasn’t just a straight up home invasion movie like the first one. Because I liked the second one, I was looking forward to the third film, The Purge: Election Year.
This third movie isn’t quite as good as the second, but it’s still a lot better than the original. Frank Grillo returns for the third movie and although I wanted more one on one fighting from him, he still does his thing quite well. Grillo is a beast of a man so I would have loved to have seen more hand to hand fighting, but I did get one pretty solid scene that way.
This time around he’s protecting a senator running for president. Elizabeth Mitchell of Lost fame plays that senator. She is running on an anti-Purge platform and the powers that be, The New Founding Fathers, don’t like that. They try to kill her on Purge night, but of course Grillo is there to stop that.
There’s also a story about a convenience store owner trying to protect his store after the insurance company raised his rate the day before the Purge. He of course meets up with Grillo and the Senator along with a couple of his employees. There’s also side stories about anti-Purge rebels trying to go after the powers that be and although it could have all been too much, all the stories tie in and work to tell one solid story.
What stops me from really liking the film are a couple of female characters. They are supposed to be tough and brash, but they come across annoying and I instantly wanted them dead. They swear to be all tough and what not, but dropping an F-bomb and using non-stop swearing doesn’t make you tough. It makes you sound foolish. I will say when they come back during the Purge, the cinematography in their scenes is pretty awesome. They have cool costumes and the lighting works extremely well.
The lighting, costuming, score and direction all lead up to a pretty tense film. The Purge: Election Year isn’t the best in the series, but it’s still a solid flick. I’m totally over rich people being bad guys in movies at this point though and I’m poor! There’s some pretty good kills, good action and I sat there overall entertained. If it wasn’t for the annoying girls that really bothered me, it would get a Highly Recommended, but it still gets a…
RECOMMENDED!
Cast & Crew:
- Frank Grillo
- Elizabeth Mitchell
- Mykelti Williamson
Recommended If You Like:
- The Purge
- The Purge: Anarchy
- Frank Grillo
The Nerds Templar 