one of my absolute favorites!

Lack of good storyline.

I wanted to but couldn't!

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

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.

The idea of the purge is far more interesting than the two movies I've seen in the series. I really was disappointed by the first film as I felt it took this interesting larger idea and brought it down to a small home invasion boogeyman horror film. 'Election Year' is a better film than the first Purge movie because it actually explores the dystopian world. It's no surprise that the scenes with the drolly titled new founding fathers are the best and scariest of the film. There's always been a correlation between our societal fears and our horror films and these scenes show a mirror of the ugly kind of climate we live in right now.The thing that sort of disappointed me is that for the most part we don't get much of these villains. The movie for the most part is still a boogeyman chase film. It's a larger spectacle than the first film and with characters who are more likable and well developed but inevitably it gets kind of boring seeing these nameless drones go after our heroes. If the film didn't have leads like Elizabeth Mitchell and Mykelti Williamson I might have tuned out. They treat the material with the utmost sincerity. The successful moments of the film belong to them. It's needed because James DeMonaco isn't that great of a screenwriter. The scenes without the far out philosophical purge commentary play like a bad 'Friday the 13th' clone. DeMonaco is really the factor holding back this film from being really good. He's a mediocre screenwriter who has just enough little sprinkles of intriguing ideas to keep you invested in the midsts of bad dialogue and plot setup. As a director he is a waste. Obviously the purge takes place at night but that doesn't necessitate the film actually being so dark you have trouble seeing what is going on. The action and chase sequences are a cluster of chaos too. You can't tell what the heck is happening.The cleverest commentary sort of falls to the wayside by the end. The film sets up the Purge villains as hypocrites who want to use the chaos to commit genocide on the poor to keep the rich rich. They use religious symbolism to justify it. Brilliant stuff. But to get into spoilers if I may when we finally confront the minister(played by Kyle Secor who gives one of the more effective horror performances in recent memory), it turns out he is actually a fanatic who believes in the purge on that face value religious philosophy. Wouldn't it be more effective if he were the hypocrite the heroes accused him of being?It's a mediocre movie with some truly excellent moments. DeMonaco should let more talented film makers play in his 'Purge' universe.

Once a year the USA suspends all laws, including murder, for 12 hours. This keeps down crime and unemployment rates. It also has a disproportionate effect on the poorer classes, and Senator Charlie Roan (who lost her entire family to The Purge when she was a child) is running for President on an anti-Purge platform. But there are those who think such decisions should not be left to the electorate, and Purge Night seems to offer an ideal solution.This third - and possibly last - film in the Purge series follows two primary plotlines. One is Senator Roan's attempts, under the guidance of her security chief Leo Barnes (back from the second film), to avoid being killed, and the other concerns Joe, the proprietor of a small neighbourhood store, who fears that petty thief teenage girls will be back on Purge Night, just when Purge insurance has been priced out of his range. These threads intertwine and tie up with a third concerning an anti-Purge resistance movement.One of the strengths of the Purge series is that it provides a robust scenario within which any number of stories can be told, from the intimate and claustrophobic (a family trying to survive a siege, as in the first film) to this film which addresses wider issues as well as providing some nifty action set pieces.It is fair to note that most of the characters are fairly cliche'd, but they are played nicely (sympathetically by Elizabeth Mitchell as Roan and Mykelti Williamson as Joe), and the story doesn't always go exactly how you expected it to, although the ultimate resolution won't surprise you much.There is a decent amount of fairly violent action and, even though the entire film takes place in the dark, it is relatively easy to follow. Put your brain into neutral, take a mouthful of popcorn on board, and it will pass a couple of hours amiably enough, following which you will forget it completely.

The entire movie is based on bs perceived societal beliefs. Why is it OK for the female to kill the teenager with he ak47, but the shop owner(who would be justified any day of the year, let alone purge night, to defend his store from a armed teenager.)And the black guy team members die at the end!? REALLY!!!!! This isn't the 1960's!!!!This movie is total bs simpleminded pablum.