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The Purge: Election Year

The Purge: Election Year (2016)

July. 01,2016
|
6
|
R
| Horror Action Thriller

Two years after choosing not to kill the man who killed his son, former police sergeant Leo Barnes has become head of security for Senator Charlene Roan, the front runner in the next Presidential election due to her vow to eliminate the Purge. On the night of what should be the final Purge, a betrayal from within the government forces Barnes and Roan out onto the street where they must fight to survive the night.

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Reviews

Mjeteconer
2016/07/01

Just perfect...

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Limerculer
2016/07/02

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

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Calum Hutton
2016/07/03

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

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Guillelmina
2016/07/04

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

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SuccessAkpojotor
2016/07/05

I didn't like this movie. i can't forgive its many technical goofs and laziness - capitalizing on the 2016 election, and stealing the mantra of Donald J. Trump . Sorry.

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a_chinn
2016/07/06

I have real mixed feelings about The Purge films. I've greatly enjoyed each one and am always excited for the next one to come out (I can't wait for the TV series!), but at the same time I've also always found each film a huge disappointment. This third installment does a better job than the previous films of delving more into the social-political context and ramifications of The Purge (an annual 12-hour period where the US government declares all crimes, even murder, legal). The story here is connected to the prior films in that the excellent Frank Grillo is now head of security for a US Senator fighting to end The Purge, who finds herself the night of The Purge being hunted down by The New Founding Fathers of America, the proponents of annual event. Another interesting story element is a former Purger, Betty Gabriel, who now drives a militarized Red Cross ambulance of sorts around the streets during The Purge to help innocent victims, who ends up helping Grillo and the senator. There's also Dwayne "Dante" Bishop returning again as a resistance moment leader fighting a Black Panther-like overthrow of The New Founding Fathers. Thematically, the second film did address issues of class and economics, which was lacking in the first film, including storylines about wealthy folks having poor folks pulled off the street to be murdered in the safety of their mansions, with poor folks starting to push back. Election Year continues those class warfare themes, but also brings in politics and how wealthy powerbroker and politicians collude to use The Purge for their own financial benefit, scheming to kill off wide swaths of the poor (really disappointed they didn't use The Dead Kennedys on the soundtrack). Also better than the previous films, writer/director James DeMonaco fills the screen with more memorable images of chaos in the streets. Some of the best are the Lincoln Memorial on fire and vandalized, a group of teen girls cruising around in masks, with guns, in a car covered in Christmas lights, and a then there's a enjoyably throwaway scene of an alleyway pit and the pendulum-like guillotine. DeMonaco also continues to worldbuild, besides introducing politicians debating merits of The Purge, there's "murder tourists" coming from other countries to the US to participate in the anarchy. The downside to this third installment is that it felt nowhere as lawless and frightening as the earlier installments. The first film was a more traditional of home invasion horror film, which lent itself to making The Purge something very scary on a small scale, but the two subsequent sequels felt more like action films, which somewhat muted the film's terrifying premiss. Also, these worldbulding elements, although interesting, felt more like throwaway ideas that were just tossed in and never fully explored. It's not bad that they were included in the the film and they certainly add to the world of The Purge, but again, they feel like missed opportunities. Overall, I was never bored by "The Purge: Election Year" and was in fact quite entertained, but I still feel like the film should have been scarier, with more horror elements, and although it did delve more into the subtext of the series original premiss, it felt like it was playing things too safe. Maybe the new TV series will be scarier and more incendiary in it's subtext.

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edrhaskel
2016/07/07

By far the stupidest movie I've ever walked out on. For anyone who watched this all the way through, you are idiots.

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Fuego Johnson
2016/07/08

This is definitely a mediocre film at best, but despite the mostly poor acting and cliche script, I felt the need to actually watch the entire thing. Despite the aforementioned issues, this movie does have some redeeming qualities worth enduring through.The first big issue with "The Purge: Election Year" is the writing. The script is filled with cliches, some which were borrowed from the first film (I guess it is a sequel though, to be fair). While there are a few interesting characters, many of them seem very forced. Some unfortunately follow some pretty stereotypical archetypes (the store owner and clerk come to mind here) which end up hindering the overall experience. Beyond character development, the plot often feels pretty ludicrous. The concept of the film is very interesting in my opinion, but the scenarios presented seem contrived. Watch for yourself and see if you agree with me or not. The acting in this movie is decent overall, but many of the lesser roles were terrible. Some scenes were downright cringe worthy. The central cast does a pretty solid job, though, considering the script. I found myself invested in their story arc, even if some of the lesser actors failed to meet the performance of their peers. The primary redeeming qualities of this film seem to revolve around the concept and imagery. For whatever reason, the idea of a "purge" is a very creative and interesting concept for a film in my opinion, and the imagery that accompanies this fictional world is very interesting as well. Costumes, special effects and music were all done quite well in "The Purge: Election Year", are are a huge reason why this movie doesn't fail completely. Overall, this is a below average film. The concept is unique, but the overall execution leaves much to be desired. There are a few qualities that prevent this film from being downright terrible, but there are many other films I would watch before this one. If you're bored, check it out.

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