"The Soul Of Our Country Is At Stake..."
With horror franchises seemingly being the norm of the recent cinematic climate, the release of The Purge: Election Year comes as no real surprise, particularly when looking at the success of its' predecessors, yet it is the underlying satirical dark nature which helps to justify its' very own existence in the battleground of the modern horror blockbuster which calls out for something different and something that may indeed stand out against the bulk of movies which ultimately are spoiled by common mediocrity. Although The Purge series is not exactly the Citizen Kane of horror, the fundamental premise of the series is one that is genuinely intriguing, if rather ludicrous, but also one that isn't truly absorbed into anything more than just vicious slasher-filled craziness. With Election Year however, the politics and principle of the series' original idea is met with some depth and discussion with Elizabeth Mitchell's Senator Charlie Roan hell bent on ending the horror of the Purge overall if elected to power, a notion of which the New Founding Fathers, the creators of the Purge, are not exactly best pleased about. Cue murderous rampage.
When I mean some political discussion, I literally mean some. Maybe a piddling ten percent with the rest of Election Year simply acting as a canvas for creepy masks and ultra-violent death scenes, something of which should indeed be expected when observing the rest of the franchise yet the appeal of the movie isn't in its' politics at all, it is the sheer crazy nature of a film which isn't exactly being cautious in its' satire against the gun-ho nature of the US's second amendment and the bewilderment at a situation which is so OTT it could indeed become a Trump-designed policy if such a nightmare does come to life in the near future. Is it groundbreaking? Not at all. Is it violently bonkers? Indeed. Election Year should indeed spring an end to the Purge series overall and it concludes such in an enjoyable if rather flawed fashion.
