The aspect I had loved about the sequel is that it took
the story out in the world, giving the audience a glimpse as to what occurs
when this event—a national day where any crime, including murder, is legal for
12 hours—takes place. Where the original movie was more of a home
invasion type of flick, the sequel took it further, as well as giving us a
vigilante to get behind.
The Purge: Election Year continues the story of that
vigilante, rather than making up a whole new story for this sequel, and I’m
glad they’d done just that. But before going into a full discussion of
the film, let me first give you the synopsis…
Years after sparing the man who killed his son, former
police sergeant Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) has become head of security for
Senator Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell), a Presidential candidate targeted
for death on Purge Night due to her vow to eliminate The Purge.
The Purge: Election Year has been on my radar for quite
some time now, probably since the release of the first sequel. I’d known
that Frank Grillo was to return and I was interested at what capacity they were
going to bring him back. Seeing as he played a “Punisher” type of
character in Anarchy, I thought we were to see more of that, perhaps see him
become a hero where he goes out to save innocent people from getting
slaughtered. I had no idea they were going to go in the direction they
had, but it was a nice surprise and an intriguing story nonetheless.
Grillo had definitely made a splash and I believe he deserves the recognition
he’s receiving. With his standout performance in The Grey to his
recurring character of “Crossbones” in the Captain America films, Grillo
certainly has a presence when he’s featured on the screen and I’m always eager
to see him.
So, yes, writer and director James DeMonaco made a nice
choice to move this series from a simple home invasion tale to opening it up
for us to see what’s really out there during this crazy 12-hour period that
goes on once a year. From the first film, that’s really been the
highlight in promoting each film, as we see the mysterious and creepy
characters who don masks for the annual purge. In the first film, that
was the one aspect that worked so well in selling it and it continued to work
through these last two outings too.
Within these films there are certainly some symbolism at
play, showing us, in extreme harsh light, what the world has always faced—the
divide of the wealthy and the impoverished. DeMonaco is undoubtedly
trying to convey this throughout this series of films and it worked so
brilliantly in Anarchy. Here, it’s pushed a little too in-your-face, but with
the addition of the government side of it—especially giving us an up-close look
at the “New Founding Fathers of America”—it gives us a fresh take in the
series.
As in the film before, we cut back and forth from certain
groups of characters and what they’re all about.
First off, we get a flashback scene of Senator Charlie
Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell) and what had happened to her family during an annual
Purge Night long ago, which is what drives her into the career path that she’s
chosen. After witnessing what she had gone through and having the story
return to the present (or the year 2025, I believe), we understand why the
senator is campaigning for the Presidency of the United States, as one of her
stances is to end Purge Night if she’s elected. Of course, this sets in
motion the main crux of the story, leading us to meet the members of the New
Founding Fathers of America and to see that they are determined to see that
Roan does not win the election by any means necessary.
Frank Grillo returning as Leo Barnes was a breath of
fresh air and his character is more cut-and-dry in this film. In the
previous film, we see him as a man set out for revenge, purposely going out
into the city as he’s got his mind set on killing the man who had killed his son
and had gotten off easy. Here, Leo is shown as a good guy, standing with
the senator as head of her security, making sure she’s safe during her campaign
appearances or remaining in her home during Purge Night (at her insistence, not
wanting to be holed up in some elaborate fort as she doesn’t want to appear to
be better than the people who vote for her).
To even out the scenes of the wealthy, we meet deli store
owner, Joe Dixon (Mykelti Williamson, of Forrest Gump fame), and his employee,
Marcos (Joseph Julian Soria). We’re also introduced to a friend of Joe’s,
Laney (Betty Gabriel), who is a frequent patron of the store and is hinted at
early on that she’s some sort of well-known badass during past Purge
Nights. They all play a close-knit group of friends and end up being a
pivotal ensemble throughout the story. Just to add to their
representation of the humble part of the populace, an idea is presented here as
Joe gets a call from his insurance company to inform him that his Purge Policy
has been raised to an unaffordable price. This, of course, sets Joe’s
subplot into motion as he has to keep watch on his place of business during
Purge Night.
One interesting plot thread that we see in this film is
that the event is so widespread that it appears to be well known in other
countries. I felt this was a nice touch that DeMonaco added, showing a
little subversion to the story to introduce foreigners actually making the trek
to America so that they may take part in the annual event. Not only that,
but the characters we see come back later in the film for an interesting and
exciting scene.
Now, the horrific scenes in this outing are not so bad and
seems as if it were purposefully tamed down a bit. But don’t get me
wrong...the scenes that do feature people making use of Purge Night is pretty
cringe-worthy and might make you turn your head at times. However, it
seems as if we get more character development in this sequel rather than
focusing on the acts of violence. Which is a good thing, in my opinion,
because at this point, we know what will happen to the characters who
make themselves vulnerable out in the city and realize the dangers they
face. It’s better to focus on how the group bands together and figures
out how to get themselves out of a mess.
To be fair and to point out some manufactured facets of
the story, this brings me to the amount of conveniences, and inconveniences,
I’d noticed—which can be very conspicuous to anyone watching this—throughout
the film. During many times in the course of the story, when the main
characters find themselves in a safe location where they can wait out the event
and get through the night unscathed, there always seems to be a dumb reason—or
at least contrived—to get them back out into the open to risk the dangers.
There are also a few times where they find themselves in a no-win situation and
a just-in-the-nick-of-time act gets them saved. Many times it turns out
to be Joe who makes these scenes turn out the way they do—whether it’s him
wanting to head back to his store or how he happens to know the Crips’ gang
whistle that gets them out of a bind. Other times, it’s the clichéd
“cavalry” that shows up to save the day (or night).
A little fun fact before I get into my final words of the
review—the actor who plays the anarchist-against-the-purge character, Dante
Bishop (Edwin Hodge), is the only actor in this film who has had a role in
each of the three films in this series.
So without further ado, here is my final “bit” on The
Purge: Election Year...
I had been worried as I’d gone into this movie, thinking
that the first sequel had gotten lucky with the success it had gained and that
this sequel was going to be as boring as the first one had been. It
probably would have if not for Frank Grillo returning to his character of Leo
Barnes. Additionally, the other characters hold their own and are more
developed than the side characters of Anarchy, where they appeared to be
one-dimensional caricatures of people in danger. Elizabeth Mitchell (of
“Lost” fame) does a fine job as a Senator/Presidential hopeful and it sort of
mirrors how the U.S. currently has a female candidate in the running as we
speak, albeit one who isn’t as trustworthy as Senator Roan (let’s face it, if
she were in this film, she’d be more on the N.F.F.A. side and probably would
not put a stop to Purge Night). Anyway, here, in Election Year, we get
more emotionally attached to the protagonists and care about them a lot more
than we’ve done in the first two films. Though the violence is few and
far between, the world is opened up more for us here and shows us that there is
light at the end of the tunnel. Overall, it’s a fun movie to go through
and there are plenty of tense moments to boot. See it while it’s still in
theaters if you can...and to let you know how I really feel about it, I'll say that I’m
definitely going to add this to my Blu-Ray collection once it’s released onto
home media.
Universal Studios really has a winner here and I hope
they take good care of it, especially the writer and director of all three films—James
DeMonaco. He doesn’t have much experience in the director’s chair, but
what he’s done so far speaks volumes. I’m not sure if he’ll be attached
to the next sequel when/if it happens, but I’d be interested to see where he’ll
go next with this series.
As a side note, there is a bit of an implication that
we’ll see another sequel and although we’ve had it ingrained into our DNA by
now, do not wait through the credits because you won’t see anything there—no
after-credits stinger.
Thanks for reading!
