'The Purge: Election Year' (2016)

So I'd already promised myself that I wouldn't leave it too long before watching 'The Purge: Election Year' (and the nap that I took yesterday afternoon made it very clear that I probably wouldn't be reading much...) so once I'd woken up and sorted myself out with a little dinner, I settled down to polish off the last part of the main bit of the franchise. I know there's a prequel film and a spin off Amazon series but I'm not in a mad rush to get to these now I've finished the three main films. Maybe one day...

The problem with posting so quickly about 'the sequel', after you've just posted about the last film, is that you run a really big risk of making yourself look stupid by just repeating stuff that you already said the day before. Nowhere is this more apparent than with 'The Purge: Election Year' and not just because Michael Bay's fingers are all over this film as well...

As a young woman, Senator Charlie Roan survived the annual night of lawlessness that took the lives of her family members. As a presidential candidate, Roan is determined to end the yearly tradition of blood lust once and for all. When her opponents hatch a deadly scheme, the senator finds herself trapped on the streets of Washington, D.C., just as the latest Purge gets underway. Now, it's up to Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo), her head of security, to keep her alive during the next 12 hours of mayhem.

I'm going to cut straight to the heart of it and say that 'The Purge: Anarchy' must have done well somewhere as they've basically gone and remade it with 'Election Year'. Sure, there are some small changes here and there but let me present you with the evidence ladies and gentlemen... I give you,

Exhibit A: Ok, we're talking about a senator, two deli store workers, and a couple of ex purgers doing ambulance work on the big night, but it's essentially the same story of the wrong people being caught in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and having to stay alive until the morning. It worked last time and it's not a complete write-off this time, it just feels a little tired now.

Our plucky crew don't need to worry too much though as they have...

Exhibit B: Frank Grillo is back as Leo Barnes and he's here to chew gum and shoot purgers in the face; it looks like he forgot to bring his gum though... Again, Grillo is great at being the lone gunman style hero but it just feels like he's been wheeled out again a bit too soon and what you're left with is a lingering case of anti-climax when what you really wanted was something a little more fresh. That's very much the case with,

Exhibit C: The crawl through the underbelly of the city and the constant parade of purgers all trying to 'out weird' each other. Seriously, there's so much trying to outdo each other that I was surprised any purging got done at all. All very eye catching but didn't do anything to add to the substance of the film (although I liked the idea of 'murder tourists'...) That's ok though as we still have Exhibit D, or do we...?

Exhibit D: Yes, it's the return of the heavy handed social commentary that (hang on...) is exactly the same as it was in the last film? But wasn't that already a bit of waste of time? Why yes, yes it was... Talk about flogging a dead horse...

The thing is, there's enough chases and gunfire in 'Election Year' to keep my interest ticking over but it didn't do a lot more than that once I realised that I was basically getting 'The Purge: Anarchy' all over again, just in slightly different wrapping. Fun then, but unfortunately no more than that which is a shame given how cool the last film was. Oh well, onto the next film (whatever that may be...)