474: The Purge: Election Year

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: 181. Let's get to the third Purge film, which is The Purge Election Year, which came out in 2016.

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Written and directed once again by James DeMonaco,

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Starrs Frank Crillo, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mike Letty Williamson, JJ Soria, Betty Gabriel,

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_00]: few others. And the synopsis is, former police sergeant Barnes becomes head of security for

[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Senator Charlie Roan, a presidential candidate targeted for death on Purge night two to her vow

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_00]: to eliminate the Purge. This one I saw in theaters. I'm pretty sure I'd seen Anarchy at that point,

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_00]: so I was more excited to go out and see this in the theater. And I thought the idea was very

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_00]: pretty unsettling about it being called the Purge election year. And there being these

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Purge tourists coming from other countries and all these really scarily real ideas, I mean it's

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: exaggerated in this but you could unfortunately see people doing that in this day and age.

[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_00]: So I thought it had a lot of potential for sure. And I've only seen it twice now,

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I just rewatched it for this. I think this is by far, well maybe not by far, but

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_00]: definitely my least favorite of the franchise so far. I think all of the best moments are in the

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_00]: trailer. Not to say that it spoils the movie, but there's truly not that many memorable moments

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_00]: visually, conceptually, thematically that we don't just see flares of in the trailer. And so

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00]: having seen the trailers beforehand and especially on rewatch it feels totally like a

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: marketing gimmick. That's all it was there for and was just trying to fill in seats. Maybe I'm

[00:01:49] [SPEAKER_00]: wrong there, maybe that's too harsh but watching it now especially I'm like yeah it's not very good

[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_00]: at all. I think it's borderline terrible while I like that it takes place mostly out in the

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_00]: streets. It feels like it takes the Purge anarchy and everything I liked about it, the writing,

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: the camera work, the characters, the designs and took it to 11 out of 10 and not at all in a good way.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_00]: These characters besides Frank Grillo basically are so obnoxious, the writing, the dialogue is so

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_00]: ridiculously over the top and just grating. These like I don't like spending time with these

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_00]: characters but you're either too cartoony or the performances aren't very good. And while

[00:02:35] [SPEAKER_00]: the whole election year considering we're in an election year right now which is very

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_00]: scary for a number of reasons, the political stuff in this with the actual politicians themselves

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_00]: as well as the ideas that they're trying to get across come across as so cartoony really

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_00]: inauthentic and I'm never buying anything that these people are saying. So that whole

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_00]: aspect of the movie which is a big part is really bad.

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_00]: And then honestly I think the worst most offensive thing about this movie is

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_00]: the main or one of the main plot lines with this store owner and these kids. This to me is

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_00]: that like epitome of or the best showcase of how lazy writing can be because basically we spend

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_00]: so much time in this movie where these purge girls like these teenagers or college kids whatever it is

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: they want revenge on this store owner because they tried to shoplift a candy bar and they got caught.

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And so they come back on Purge Night which is I guess the same day to try and purge this guy

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_00]: and it's so overdone and I'm thinking it's called the purge election year and one of the

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_00]: things you could think of is a purger who is a criminal because she was trying to shoplift and

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_00]: she wants revenge on the person who caught her. It's like that's all you got really because

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: that idea alone or at its core could be interesting where in this day and age

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_00]: there are so many crimes especially when it comes to violence where

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_00]: there will be a moment of disrespect or disagreement and then suddenly oh here I'm

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_00]: going to shoot you or we're going to get into a fight and violence ensues.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that idea is modern in some ways and feels fresh but this movie is not nearly

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_00]: clever enough or subtle enough to actually really be hitting that on the head because

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_00]: that's something I've really thought about for years and years and I'm like grabbing at any

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: straws that I can to find something of worth in this movie so I think that whole storyline

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: and the girl, the main girl is so obnoxious like I don't mind the design of them where she's in the

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: prom dress or wedding dress whatever it is and I like the car that they drive where it's

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_00]: covered in Christmas lights. I think all that is pretty cool but it just goes on so long.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't care about the store owner. I don't care about these girls. The motivation there

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_00]: gives me nothing to really latch onto not say I would sympathize with her but

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_00]: nothing of worth there. So that right off the bat I remember in the theater thinking this is so bad

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: and immediately took me out of the movie and then getting back to the election year

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_00]: aspect of the movie. So you see in the trailers largely and in the posters where there are

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_00]: these iconic patriotic symbols of America as being made into purge costumes like the statue

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: of Liberty won the Abraham Lincoln one and like Uncle Sam whoever else it might be so which I think

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: that is a really cool idea for a movie but that is it is purely a visual tease. I feel like you

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_00]: barely even see those people see those costumes. It's just largely in passing and then spoiler

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_00]: a lot of those characters are killed in a certain scene so then they're gone for the rest of

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_00]: the movie and I'm like really you couldn't incorporate that a little bit more into this

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_00]: overarching story or to find something more meaningful to discuss with that or even just

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_00]: have more screen time with them so we can enjoy crazy creepy designs of characters.

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Also the idea of purge tourism where as I said at the beginning it's people from other

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_00]: countries who want to participate in the purge and they come to America so they could do that.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that is a really pretty new idea like even when I first saw it was like that's a

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_00]: wild idea and there would be so many people who would either want to participate in the violence

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_00]: itself or they'd want to be like oh here I'm going to livestream on Instagram and show you

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: totally believable but the issues with this franchise is it's just touched on. It's really

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_00]: and I was talking about this with someone fairly recently where I find that these movies even the

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_00]: ones I really enjoy I think they're more interesting to talk about and think about

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_00]: than actually watch and that's especially the case with this one where there's so many little

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: nuggets of things like oh that's kind of interesting or really scary or wild but then

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_00]: it's just out of your brain. There's no time to linger there and to sit with it. It's all

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Blumhouse you know the stereotypical Blumhouse scare you cool mask let's get to the next one

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_00]: and that's really it so very very big wasted opportunity. The whole sacrifice stuff towards

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_00]: the end with the politicians is it just I think once it gets into that I don't know what

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_00]: it is like a warehouse or wherever it is like where they're in that third act mainly it just goes on so

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: long it drags the writing is brutal but besides that the score is good it's I mean it's directed

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_00]: decently enough I think it overall looks alright and I also like the actress who plays the

[00:08:19] [SPEAKER_00]: politician and that idea especially now where we're very close to the election and crazy

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_00]: things are happening I mean we recently just had a assassination attempt and the lengths that people

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_00]: are willing to go and hey if a politician has this idea or not this idea or it's not far enough

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_00]: who knows what the heck might happen so it really is kind of like the wild wild west

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: right now and I just wish that the movie actually got into that more so yeah I don't

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_00]: think it'll ever rise above being my least favorite of the five at least so far I hope

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_00]: they don't get worse than this one but this is definitely the low point so that is a one and a half

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_00]: out of five