THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR
Cert 15, Running time 109mins
When it comes to the law of diminishing returns, the Purge series is now plunging into the same territory as any sequel with the words Paranormal or Amityville in its title. The third movie turns out to be badly acted, packed with cardboard characters and the satire is replaced by sheer nastiness.
Once again we revisit an alternate USA where, to reduce overall crime, all laws are suspended for one night a year, resulting in a wave of murder, looting and general anarchy.
Thrown into the milieu are a shopkeeper defending his business, a politician who’s vowed to ban the Purge if she’s elected to the White House and a pair of medics cruising the streets in an armoured ambulance. Despite the rise of Donald Trump and the lunatic Right in the States presenting an open goal for satire, the film is more content to linger on gory close-ups and ‘heroes’ that are neither believable nor particularly likeable.