Writer: James DeMonaco
Director: James DeMonaco
Senator Charlie Roan (Mitchell) has a very good reason for wanting the annual Purge - 12 hours in which all crime, including murder, is legal - to be stopped for good. Eighteen years previously she was the only survivor of a Purge Night incident which wiped out the rest of her family. Now she's campaigning to be President and it looks as if she might actually win, which is not good news for the current pro-Purge establishment. However, the rules for the Purge are about to change and someone on Roan's own team is about to betray her, leaving her a sitting duck for a group of assassins. Of course, someone is standing in the way of the killers, that someone being Roan's gruff, dour Head of Security Leo Barnes (Grillo)...
It does seem that the Purge movies at least try to bring something new to the table with each incarnation even if, like this one, it's not wholly successful. The political angle is an interesting one but the machinations of those in power (or those who want to be in power) is dealt with in such broad strokes that it's ultimately there to service the action-horror shenanigans. But hey, this isn't All The President's Men we're talking about, this is a film in which shoplifters who feel wronged tool up with automatic weaponry and attack the grocery store of the man who made them put back a candy bar they were about to steal.
Said grocery store owner is Joe Dixon, played by Mykelti Williamson in amusing, charming form. Dixon is there as the everyman who just wants to make a decent living while staying as far away from any of that Purge nonsense as possible - so you know he's going to get dragged into it all. He's also there to crack wise with the rather more uptight Barnes and it has to be said that some of their comedy banter, unsophisticated though it may be, raises a few laughs along the way. Williamson's role is the best-written of the piece and it has to be said he's great. Spin-off Purge movie featuring Joe Dixon? Well, you'll have to see if he makes it through this one.
It could be argued that the political leanings of the plot get in the way of the action which gets in the way of the horror which gets in the way of the politics which gets in the way of...you get what I'm saying. Yes, there were points during this where I felt the movie didn't quite know what it wanted to be and if it was aiming to be all things to all viewers then it doesn't reach its goal. However, there are several excellent sequences along the way, including some genuinely creepy post-kill vignettes.
The Purge: Election Year is a film in which the good guys are generally pretty good (Mitchell's character borders on angelic) and the bad guys are extremely bad. Ooh, they're bad. Punching babies in the face bad. That bad. You only have to view an early sequence in which the assorted bigwigs of the establishment meet to plot Senator Roan's unfortunate Purge-related downfall. Raymond J. Barry, always a fabulous choice for a corporate or government bad guy, shows just what a reprehensible bloke his character is by calling lovely Elizabeth Mitchell the c-word. Twice. In just a few seconds. Disgraceful.
We're on that kind of ground here. It's somewhat cartoony and there's no question who you're going to root for here (and if you are rooting for the bad guys, I think you're just being contrary for the sake of it). That doesn't necessarily make it a terrible evening out. In fact, TP: EA makes for solid, well-made, occasionally inspired thrills and although I'm not crying out for a fourth Purge outing I wouldn't be opposed to it especially if they threw a few new plot elements into the mix.
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