The Purge: Election Year review
So, I wanted to see this movie for a while, though I had no MAJOR expectations. I was expecting this to just be a run-of-the-mill horror-thriller. Pardon that comment as I haven't seen any prior Purge movies as of me writing this review. So, I walked into the theatre, expecting a good time. I got that, yeah, but the movie defied my expectations. Here are my thoughts.
Story
As I said, I haven't seen any prior Purge movies as of this review. However, I enjoyed this one's story as it's one of those "it could really happen" scenarios. It's about Charlene Roan, who witnessed the brutal death of her parents on purge night 18 years prior to the events of this movie. What is purge night? One night, every year, all crimes, including murder, are legal for 12 hours. Charlene is running as a presidential candidate so that she can end purge night once and for all. This means her having to survive through purge night. Seems easy at first considering she is instructed to stay in the White House under lock down. That is, until a betrayal by her security team occurs. Now, Charlene, with her main bodyguard, Leo Barnes, leave the house through a secret passage as the traitors are now trying to kill her. So, for mostly the rest of the movie, Charlene and Leo are on the run in hopes of surviving through the night while meeting new characters along the way. I'm not going to spoil anything else, but I can say it's very well done. 8.5/10 for the story.
Characters
The characters were a mixed bag for me. Some good, some not so good. I already explained Charlene, Leo's a hardened bodyguard that does whatever it takes to protect his V.I.P., Joe (a deli owner) is hardcore at his mission of survival (as well as the well-being of his deli) while being funny at times. Now, as with even the greatest movies, not everyone in the movie is perfect (example: Star Wars Episode VII's Kylo Ren). Let's take the president (the one keeping the purge going) for example. There's not much character to him. I know this movie is supposed to be dark and disturbing, but he and another example I'll give are too much. All I can say is he's straight up psychotic, nothing else. Another example is a high school girl who tries to steal a chocolate bar from Joe's Deli in the beginning, but gets caught. On purge night, this drives her to try and kill Joe OVER A CANDY BAR. She even mentioned that she "took care of mommy and daddy" so she could do it. A little much for one candy bar, don't you agree? 6.5/10 for the characters.
Special Effects
Not much to say here as there weren't many special effects. Pretty much just blood and gun effects. That's it. I guess I could say that they're as good as any other recent movies blood and gun effects. 5.0/10 for the special effects as there was pretty much NO variety.
Music
This is the best aspect of the movie for me to review in my opinion. Great choices for music as every scene with music had fitting music. Disturbing scenes had chilling music, action scenes had intense action music, you get the idea. As an example for the disturbing scenes part is the part with a tree that had nooses hanging from the branches with dead people in them, and chilling choir music played. It made it more chilling and spooky for me than it would have been with any other type of music. Also, there were good choices for licensed songs for the very beginning of the movie and the end credits. 10/10 for the music
In conclusion
In conclusion, it was a pretty good movie. As I said, it shattered what little expectations I had. It was darker and more disturbing than I anticipated, and I really liked it. Therefore, my final verdict for this movie is a solid 7.0/10. Great, politically realistic story, great music and some good characters while everything else is just kind of "meh" at best. Thank you for reading my first review and there will be more to come, my friends!
