The latest in the horror series that uses an anti-violence message as a Trojan horse to deliver exactly the kind of grimly visceral thrills it purports to condemn, The Purge: Election Year feels like a franchise that is running out of ideas. This year’s Purge – the 12 hours during which all crime is legal – coincides with an electoral campaign. Senator Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell) is campaigning on an anti-Purge ticket, which makes her a target for the spittle-flecked reactionaries who now run the country. Her best hope for survival is to dodge the mercenaries with Nazi insignia tattooed on their faces, avoid the murder tourists in Halloween fright masks, and stick next to Sergeant Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo, reprising his role from the previous film). We are left wondering whether the next Purge should target screenwriters who use the line “I got this!” as characters walk purposefully through doors, usually carrying a machine gun.
