A dystopian future where all crime is allowed for one day of the year with no repercussions sounds like a terrible world to live in. Having said that, it would be fun to use illegally obtained milk to make a nice bowl of cornflakes…take that society!
For me the first Purge film was absolutely dire, of which I still passionately hate to this day. You may be wondering why I’d start with such a negative statement. As much as I despise the first, I have an intense love for The Purge: Anarchy and as I walked into the picture house my stomach was in knots worrying that the third film in the series would fall back into the vein of the first and not continue in the maniacal violence-fest that drew me in.
Luckily for me my prayers were answered as Election Year follows directly on from Anarchy, even having the same protagonist in Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) who has moved on with his life and become the chief of security to presidential candidate Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell). As predictable as it is, Charlie wants to end the purge if she wins and hi-jinks ensure when people try to kill her and Leo. I’m not complaining because this cliché setup opens the film into classic “we gotta stay alive” mode with the dynamic duo surviving and making friends along the way. I don’t want to spoil the excitement for you by naming and shaming every single one, but get ready for everything from Russian violence tourists to the notorious Crips Gang, and if you’re lucky you might even catch a glimpse of a modern day Nazi task force leader.
As well as familiar faces (there’s one familiar face) the style of storytelling is just how I’d want it to be; a mixture between The Warriors and the original Manhunt game with progression being constant and brutal, and I don’t mean in a sense of just the story moves fast, I mean the people are constantly moving, (because all the other people want to kill them of course!) The speed and veracity of this narrative is boosted by the no frills approach that this action horror style of film specialises in, think Hobo with a Shotgun without the hobo, but still with the shotgun – and now the shotgun fires poison knives and is a bazooka!
The Purge: Election Year isn’t the best film you’ll ever see. I doubt it’ll be the best film you see this year, but its ability to be a ridiculously serious attempt at tackling politics and the notion of violence, whilst at the same time being a stupid stupid stupidly brutal mudertrocity, where something ridiculous happens literally every minute is such an over the top and dumb combination that you can’t help but enjoy it. Yes the film is a not so subtle attempt at demonising the ideas it portrays at the same time as glorifying the violence that it apparently is against but it’s fun and if you like action and you’re willing to jump into a film that won’t be getting rave reviews then you’ll definitely enjoy it… also I can’t guarantee you’ll definitely enjoy it but I did definitely enjoyed it, definitely.
Author – Hal, Plymouth store
