There’s always been an obvious social/political subtext in
James DeMonaco’s Purge films. Regrettably, our country has come to the edge
of enacting the sort of severe class politics these movies revolve around. No,
it hasn’t gotten to the point where citizens are allowed to kill and maim
whomever they wish for a 12 hour period one night a year, but what with talk
off building a wall along the Mexican border and restricting the flow of Muslim
immigrants, the same brand of exclusionary politics are certainly at play.
As with everything in life, timing is everything and
DeMonaco’s third entry in the franchise, subtitled Election Year, finds
itself playing in our country’s theaters on the eve of the most divisive
presidential election in many a moon. A similar situation is at play in the
United States of 2025 in the film as the policies enacted by the New Founding
Fathers of America, are being exposed as corrupt in the press. Having instituted Purge Night years prior,
it’s now being found that they’re profiting from it as an inordinate number of
the poor are killed during that night, saving the government from having to pay
for social services earmarked for them.
Citizens are beginning to look askance at this practice while a
sympathetic candidate, Purge survivor Senator Charlie Roan (Elizabeth
Mitchell), has promised to put an end to this night of killing.
DeMonaco uses this premise to fashion an effective, taut
thriller that finds Roan on the run with her head-of-security in tow Leo Barnes
(Frank Grillo) after a botched NFFA assassination attempt. Echoes of John
Carpenter’s Escape from New York and Walter Hill’s The Warriors reverberate
throughout as the duo scamper from one urban shadow to the next, attempting to
evade one mercenary group after another.
The writer/director keeps it all moving at a brisk pace and throws us a
curve or two along the way to keep us on our toes. There’s even a trio of sympathetic allies
(Mykelti Williamson, Joseph Soria and Betty Gabriel), each striving to achieve
their own version of the American Dream, who come to Raon’s aid with an uncanny
sense of timing.
While this entry certainly provides the sorts of thrills
fans have come to expect, what’s truly disturbing are the scenes involving
members of the NFFA, spouting rhetoric based on fear and hate, their followers
cheering them on until they nearly foam at the mouth. These moments far too closely resemble scenes
from recent editions of the nightly news and make me question whether art is
imitating life or it might be the other away around. That’s what’s truly horrifying about The
Purge: Election Year and where it’s true power lies.
This article appears in Jun 30 – Jul 6, 2016.
