BKNJ Review: The Purge: Election Year

Caution: Slight Spoilers

The Purge: Election Year is the third installment in the franchise. It provides a very well-rounded, polished and cinematically effective story. I would like to personally thank the editors and sound engineers for their skillful, and very obviously difficult work. The film’s score was able to capture the essence of The Purge, and create the emotion that this storyline was meant to produce.

What is that emotion? Like most films, there are many. The emotions of The Purge are (in no particular order) fear, paranoia, sadness, adrenalin and I think most effectively in The Purge: Election Year, self-realization, because remember, this all would be considered legal behavior.

Good stuff first.

Freakbride and her group were great villains. I found the leader, “Kimmy” played by Brittany Maribilié, very charming, but I am a sucker for a pretty face. She’s actually quite awful, and I disappointed myself with how attractive I found this little sociopath. Anyway, h/t Miley Cyrus, everyone loves “Party in the U.S.A.” it is just a fact of life.

All that being said, “Laney Rucker” played by Betty Gabriel got the “badass of the film” award. Even though I kind of saw it coming, I still said “Damn.” one or two times. So good.

Frank Grillo, who now goes by “Leo Barns” (that name sounds real), is again, a great anchor for the film, and even more jaded. While he did not get to do as much f*cking people up as I would have liked to see, he paid his dues in The Purge: Anarchy, and had an even bigger sh*t-sandwich in front of him. Mainly, guarding the Senator, Charlie Roan, who is running for president against the evil establishment, that has allegedly been cooking the books to make sure the annual Purge is ultra-violent in order to keep the population low and also to make money off it. Since that is probably exactly what would happen, it helps bring it all home just a little more. I am happy to see Elizabeth Mitchell made it off that island, wait till you see her backstory. :)

Masks, costumes, and carnage were all up to snuff, even though we see much less of it compared to the last film. That is because this film draws out the emotions of the scenes. The Purge: Election Year was much artier and cinematic than the first two. The score composer deserves another shoutout for making the audience fully experience this horrifying concept. The film’s music was superb. Big audio team on this, and they delivered.

Now to the stuff I wasn’t so thrilled with.

Did we really have to cast the whitest people on earth to play what basically amounts to the Illuminati, if it existed solely within the United States? Not trying to super sensitive here, but it seems the Christians are getting called out again for behavior that they are not responsible for. The film does go out of its way to not mention Christianity or any specific sect directly, but they could have just cast the 7:00 am mass at my local Catholic church.

Now I get that there are only so many characters you can have, but visually trying to mimic a race war on film is not going to build any bridges. This film basically invites the Neo-Nazis in to squelch any doubt that The Purge is a creation of the white man. Wow, coming full circle. In fact, I was even going to say most white people won’t say boo about it. “Earl Danzinger” was an amazing character though.

“Joe” played by Mykelti Williamson started and ended as a solid character. I felt some of his one-liners were a bit hackney towards the end, but Election Year was another long movie. I did like the whistle part. Also, that guy looks just like “Bubba” from Forest Gump.

To conclude, I believe The Purge: Anarchy delivers on all of the modern genre’s criteria. However, as the United States in real life gets increasingly more heated remember, if you really want to create change and end government corruption, do not rely on a Democrat.

Overall: Must Watch