BEFORE: Frank Grillo carries over from "The Purge: Anarchy", and he was already in a few action films back in January and umm, May? No, March. This might have been Frank Grillo's year, if it weren't already Bruce Willis' year and Nicolas Cage's year. Still, Frank's done all right in Movie Year 14, he'll finish strong in the standings. Two other actors also carry over from last night, and I'm done with this franchise for the moment - yes, I know there's one more film, "The Forever Purge", but it doesn't link up by actor with any of the other films. Not my fault.
Instead, I'm done with September a day earlier than planned, so I can start October the way I want and really focus on the horror films...mostly. As I got further into the project my definition of what's allowable in October has been forced to change, sometimes I've let in random animation films or superhero films just to make the links, and it's just not going to get easier. I'm just going to continue to link the best I can.
THE PLOT: Former police sergeant Barnes becomes head of security for Senator Charlie Roan, a Presidential candidate targeted for death on Purge night, due to her vow to eliminate the Purge.
AFTER: The most recent of this week's "Purge" films was released in 2016, which means it was in production for a year or two before that, and like many films and TV shows released around that time, it features a female character who's running for President. For good measure, she's a blonde lady who's a Senator, hmm, just like Hillary Clinton. Hollywood SO wanted to get this one right and be out ahead of the curve, but then the world had other ideas. Hell, a lot of people on the East Coast went to bed on Election Night 2016 fairly confident that they would wake up in a world with a new female President, and it wasn't to be. My wife went to bed early, but I stayed up, and then when I saw that Trump was going to win, I wondered if I should wake her up and give her the terrible news, but I figured, "Nah, let her sleep, let her have one last night of peace before her world goes bonkers nuts." Yeah, I called it straight away, that the next four years would be a disaster, it just took some time for me and everyone else to understand just how bad things were going to be. Does anybody who voted for Trump now wish that they had a do-over?
My first thought that if "The Purge" was set in 2022, and "Anarchy" took (will take) place a year later, that this film would depict the 2024 election. According to Wiki, though, the franchise took a big time-jump forward to the election of 2040. (The senator's flashback of her family being killed on Purge Night is set in 2022, though). This doesn't quite work, though, because Frank Grillo's character carries over, but he just doesn't look 17 years older than he did in the last film.
The standard Purge rules state that government officials are exempt, and right there, that should have been a giant red flag right from the start. Fair is fair, but the people who make the rules about the killing can't be killed? What a bunch of hypocrites, they're willing to sacrifice OTHER people for the betterment of the nation, but not themselves? How did anybody NOT see through this as a self-serving plan? Meanwhile, these same politicians made investments in gun manufacturers and healthcare stocks, probably funeral parlors as well, any industry that would benefit from mass violence in the streets once a year. Right? The motives were right there all along, just nobody took the time or had the resources to expose them, or perhaps the NFFA party just their most vocal opposition killed on Purge Night, that's how they've stayed in power. Hey, you want to hide a book, take it to a library - who's going to notice a few politically motivated assassinations on a night where thousands of people lose their lives, for any number of reasons?
As if the Purge weren't bad enough, suddenly the insurance companies decide to raise rates on Purge policies, meaning that once again, the poor get shafted. Anybody with a business who can't pay the new rates could see their store destroyed on Purge Night and then not be able to be compensated for it. And then on top of THAT, a bunch of other people arrive in the U.S. from other countries, JUST to take part in the Purge, a wave of "murder tourism". Just the fact that no other country besides the U.S. even has a Purge should offer another clue that this is, well, just not a good thing all around. Duh.
The unlikely heroes who are forced to work together in this film include the Senator on the run from an assassination squad, her chief of security (the police sergeant from the previous film), a black deli owner, his Hispanic employee, and his surrogate daughter, an EMT worker and former Purger herself. The group couldn't be more liberal if they tried, it's a cross-section microcosm of immigrants, minorities, women and right-thinking anti-Purge oriented people, they just needed a drag queen or a trans person to complete the anti-establishment Bingo card. And what a shocker, the white President's cabinet is 95% older white men. But nah, the Purge isn't racially biased in any way...
NITPICK POINT: The deli gets attacked by a couple of female high-schoolers who tried to steal candy bars the day before, but suddenly on Purge night they're gang-bangers who are willing to kill the owner? Over a CANDY BAR? How come they have money for elaborate Purge Night costumes and weaponry, but they can't afford to pay for their candy bars? Stopping a shoplifter isn't worth dying for, but also, girls, if you'd just waited ONE MORE DAY you can steal all the candy you want, and it's legal! Forget murder and arson and rape, they just don't pay, why aren't more people focused on the benefits of grand larceny, which is also legal on Purge Night, if nothing is illegal? You could get rich quickly just by robbing a bank or taking all the merchandise from a store. Just saying.
The group on the run, once again made up of people who really should have stuck to the plan of avoiding the Purge by remaining indoors, escapes in a "triage van", which most of the Purgers consider to be off-limits, because the medical personnel inside are interested in saving lives, and that benefits all involved. In exchange for giving medical treatment to a gang member, the five are escorted to an underground hide-out, where the anti-Purge movement is working to provide services to those in need, since all regular emergency services are suspended for the duration. There they learn of the plan to assassinate the President as he leads his party's church services on Purge Night. What a coincidence, the New Founding Fathers waived the rule this time around about government officials being exempt, however they most likely did this so they could have Senator Roan killed without any liability or repercussions for that.
The senator is against this plan, even though it would seem to assure her victory in the upcoming election, but she reasons that if the President were killed, he'd become a martyr for the cause and the NFFA would end up with more support than ever. She wants to win in a fair election, without killing her opponent, but her opponent doesn't mind having HER killed. Only if the Americans believed in a fair election would she then have the power to make the Purge illegal. Geez, why does this feel so damn familiar, that the newly-elected President would face opposition if there was any talk of a rigged election? Don't tell me, it'll come to me...
NITPICK POINT: The film ends with the Presidential election, two months after the last Purge. But the Purges take place on March 22, so that puts the election in MAY? But don't all U.S. Presidential elections take place in November? So how is this possible, and not one bit of explanation about this? Did I miss something or is this a glaring error? Since this whole film is set either two or possibly seven, or maybe even 17 years after the last film, really, all of the chronology is super screwed-up.
Well, I've earned myself a night off, as my next film will kick off the horror chain FOR REALS on October 1. What will I do? My DVR is filling up again, so I should probably watch some TV - but also there's a new "Star Wars" series on Disney Plus, "Andor", and I should try to work that into the schedule. BUT, I can always watch that when I'm on vacation if I can't sleep, just pull up the Disney app on my phone. Maybe I'll just log in some comic books and call it a night - I've got to work a double tomorrow and then I'll be busy all weekend at the theater.
Also starring Elizabeth Mitchell (last seen in "Frequency"), Mykelti Williamson (last seen in "After the Sunset"), Joseph Julian Soria (last seen in "Hamlet 2"), Betty Gabriel (last seen in "Human Capital"), Terry Serpico (last seen in "Man on a Ledge"), Edwin Hodge (also carrying over from "The Purge: Anarchy"), Kyle Secor, Liza Colón-Zayas (last seen in "Freedomland"), Ethan Phillips (last seen in "Irrational Man"), Adam Cantor, Christopher James Baker (last seen in "The Great Raid"), Jared Kemp, Brittany Mirabile, Raymond J. Barry (last seen in "Just Married"), Naheem Garcia (last seen in "Free Guy"), Roman Blat, David Aaron Baker (last seen in "Phil Spector"), George Lee Miles (last seen in "Malcolm X"), Johnnie Mae (last seen in "Paterson"), Juani Feliz, Jamal Peters, Matt Walton (last seen in "The Irishman"), Christy Coco, James Best, London Hall, Nicholas Rexford, Kimberly Howe (last seen in "Love, Weddings & Other Disasters"), with cameos from Barry Nolan, Tom Kemp (last seen in "The Company Men") and the voice of Cindy Robinson (also carrying over from "The Purge: Anarchy")
RATING: 5 out of 10 Uncle Sam costumes (the Purge is Halloween for adults? Here I thought Halloween was Halloween for adults...)
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