The Purge: Election Year is a 2016 American Horror Film and the third in the Purge series. It is preceded by The Purge (2013) and The Purge: Anarchy (2014). The film was released on July 1st, 2016.
Plot[]
In 2022, a young Charlene "Charlie" Roan and her family are tied up by a masked purger. He taunts them with his "purge playlist", and then tells them they will play a final purge game called "Mommy's Choice," where the mother chooses the sole survivor while everyone else dies. Charlie is chosen and forced to watch as her mother, father, and brother are killed.
Eighteen years later, in 2040, Roan is a U.S. Senator campaigning for the U.S. Presidency, promising executive action to end the annual purge nights. Former police sergeant Leo Barnes is now head of security for Roan. The New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) and their candidate, Minister Edwidge Owens, view Roan as a threat; under the pretense of regaining public trust, they revoke immunity for government officials, including her, on Purge night.
Watching the presidential debate are deli owner Joe Dixon, his assistant Marcos, and former purger turned EMT Laney Rucker. A pair of teenage girls try to shoplift, only to be cornered by Joe. The girls mock Joe until Laney intervenes; recognizing her as a famous ex-Purger, they leave peacefully. Joe receives a call stating the cost of his purge insurance has been raised far beyond affordability, prompting him to guard his store himself, despite Marcos and Laney's pleas not to. At the same time, the country's so-called "Murder tourism" booms the economy due to tourists visiting the U.S. to participate in the annual Purge nights.
As the purge begins, Joe guards his store and is joined by Marcos, repelling an attack by the teen girls seeking revenge. Laney and her partner Dawn patrol the city in an ambulance, providing medical care to the wounded. Roan decides to wait out the purge from her home rather than a secure location to secure the vote, and is accompanied by Barnes, Chief Couper, Eric, and additional security forces. However, Couper and Eric are revealed to be NFFA operatives after allowing a neo-Nazi paramilitary force led by Earl Danzinger to kill the security detail and invade the house. Barnes escorts Roan to safety, but is wounded by a bullet. He detonates a bomb in the house, killing Eric and Couper.
Navigating the hostile streets of Washington D.C., Barnes and Roan attempt to seek shelter, but are ambushed by a gang of Murder Tourists. Before they can be executed, Joe and Marcos kill the gang, having seen the pair's plight from the store's rooftop. As they take shelter in the store, the teens return with reinforcements. However, Laney runs over two of them and kills half the group. As the other Purgers threaten to break in, they leave for a safer hideout. The team is ambushed by Danzinger in a helicopter, and seeks refuge beneath an overpass wherein Barnes realizes they were tracked by the bullet in his shoulder, which he promptly removes. After a confrontation with a large number of Crips, which Joe was previously a member of, the team helps their leader's injured comrade. In return, the Crips plant the bullet in another area to divert the paramilitary team, whom they eliminate while Danzinger observes from his radio.
The team arrives at an underground anti-purge hideout run by Dante Bishop. During their stay, Barnes and Roan discover that Bishop's group intends to assassinate the NFFA's leadership, in an effort to end the purge. As Roan pleads to Bishop's partner, Angel, not to kill Owens, they are alerted by Dawn of a large paramilitary group arriving in search of Bishop and Roan. Barnes and Roan escape back to the streets and reunite with Joe, Marcos, and Laney, who had left the hideout earlier to return to Joe's store.
Barnes orders to flee from the city but on their way, the ambulance is hit by Danzinger's team. Roan is pulled from the van by the soldiers before anyone can assist. Barnes leads the group and Bishop's team to a fortified cathedral where the NFFA will "sacrifice" her, after NFFA loyalist Harmon James stabs a drug addict to death. Before Roan can be killed, the group arrives and Marcos assassinates US President and NFFA leader Caleb Warrens, causing a shootout that kills the entire congregation except Owens and James, who escape. Owens is caught by Bishop's group, but Roan manages to persuade them to spare him, thus preventing her from the chances of losing the election. The remaining paramilitary forces arrive, killing Bishop and his team. Danzinger and Barnes engage in a melee, where Barnes beats and stabs Danzinger to death. As Roan and the team free the other imprisoned purge victims, James emerges and kills a released prisoner before engaging Joe in a gunfight. Although his wounds will soon be fatal, Joe manages to shoot James point-blank in the head. He then asks Laney and Marcos to take care of his store before succumbing to his injuries.
Two months later, Roan wins the election in a landslide, while Barnes is appointed the new Director of the Secret Service. Marcos and Laney renovate Joe's store, which had been looted and demolished by the surviving half of the teens' group, and continue to run it in his memory. A news report then states that NFFA supporters have staged violent uprisings across the country protesting election results and the end of the annual purge nights.
Cast[]
- Elizabeth Mitchell as Charlene "Charlie" Roan
- Frank Grillo as Sergeant Leo Barnes
- Edwin Hodge as Dante Bishop
- Kyle Secor as Minister Edwidge Owens
- Betty Gabriel as Laney Rucker / Le Pequene Muerte
- Myletti Willamson as Joe Dixon