8 reasons why The Purge: Election Year is the movie to watch this week

I’ll forgive you if you didn’t know that this is part three of a franchise. Unless you’re familiar with The Purge series, you might just think that this movie is made solely to leverage on the upcoming U.S. presidential election later this year.

Despite it being Part Three, you won’t need to watch its predecessors to understand the plot, as each movie stands by itself, but with the same setting: in the near future, the U.S. Government is ruled by a party called “NFFA”, and each year, there’ll be twelve hours in which all crimes, including murder, would be legal. Called The Purge, it, according to the movie, pushes the unemployment rate and crime rate down.

Of course, this won’t have happened in real life. Just take a look at this YouTube video that explains why The Purge won’t work.

In the first two movies, the focus is on individuals who try to survive The Purge. Government officials with a security level of 10 and above (whatever it means) are immune to The Purge—but here’s the simple premise of this latest film: that immunity is taken away, as the increment Government looks to assassinate a popular opposition candidate with The Purge.

Okay, good premise, but why is it a movie to watch, rather than Ghostbusters? Here’re why.

It’s so fast-paced, you don’t have time to breathe
With such a complicated backstory, you’ll have thought that half of the film is used to explain The Purge to you. Before you could even start on your popcorn, The Purge has been explained and began. You’re screwed if you come in late.

It shows the true evilness of humans
Politics aside, you would have been wondering who would be betraying who, because in a society without law, what would become of us? It isn’t a psychological thriller, but it sure can mess with your mind.

It has a few jump scares that works like a charm
The formula to a good jump scare is to scare the heck out of you without you expecting it. There’re only a few jump scares in this movie, but you won’t have expected them. At. All.

It adds creepiness to humans
We humans are often locked by our conscience so as to be accepted into society. But here, there’s a scene so disturbing, you’ll wonder whether you’ll be a murderer should there be a purge, right here in Singapore.

The plot and twist make the otherwise boring story interesting
If all you think it’s just a movie about an attempt to assassinate the presidential candidate, then you’re wrong. A Hollywood movie doesn’t usually have such a boring plot, my friend. It’s not 六弄咖啡馆.

It has one of the highest ratings among all three films
Other than Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and CinemaScore both gave it a better rating than its predecessors. Of all three movies, it grossed the highest at USD $149 million. Numbers don’t lie.

The movie makes you think
Sadistic girls shooting with automatic rifles and tourists coming over just to kill: the movie just shows the reality of people when laws became non-existent. And when someone says, “From what I come from, every day is purge day,” you know you’ve taken things for granted.

The U.S. presidential election is coming
Have you seen the trailer? If you’ve always been in the loop about this major election, do you find something remotely familiar?

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com