With a total gross of $89 million off a tiny $3 million budget, 2013’s The Purge didn’t light up the box office but it delivered an obvious great return on investment. Thus did a franchise come into existence, with 2016’s The Purge: Election Year as the third of five films to date.

An annual process called “The Purge” makes all crime legal in the US for 12 hours. 18 years into this event, Senator Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell) – whose family suffered grievously during the first Purge – runs for president on a platform to end the yearly violence.

Opponents attempt to use the Purge as a chance to assassinate this political threat, and that sends Charlie and security officer Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) onto the streets of DC in an attempt to survive. Along the way, the join forces with deli owner Joe Dixon (Mykelti Williamson) and others as they struggle to stay alive until the Purge comes to a close.

Though the third in the franchise, Election became the fifth of the five I saw. I believe I watched the rest in release order but missed Election along the way.

As a series, I found the other four movies to exist as varying levels of decent. None flopped but none excelled.

Though the 2013 flick and 2014’s The Purge: Anarchy worked better than 2018’s The First Purge and 2021’s The Forever Purge, that doesn’t exist as a real endorsement. Whatever promise the premise boasts, the movies never quite live up to it.

Don’t expect this to change with Election Year. It acts as just another violent adventure with nothing new to bring to the table.

Sure, the involvement of a presidential candidate offers a promising twist. However, it doesn’t go down any interesting paths, as Charlie’s political career fails to bring freshness to the tale.

Face it: people go to Purge movies to watch over the top violence. Election Year delivers this in spades, as it packs mayhem and gore in heavy doses.

Some of this creates tension but not enough to make the film especially compelling. It doesn’t help that most of the “Purgers” who threaten our protagonists largely remain anonymous.

Oh, we get the attempt of teen shoplifter Kimmy (Brittany Mirabilé) to get back at Joe. However, that thread doesn’t become a prominent one and this means most of the “Purgers” don’t get their own personalities.

Apparently to compensate, Election Year makes the “Purgers” ridiculously cartoony. I guess the filmmakers intend this to make them appear scary, but instead they just come across as campy.

Election Year throws enough action at us to ensure we stick with it. However, it never does anything to rise above that level of moderate competence.

The Purge: Election Year appears in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a pretty solid presentation.

Overall sharpness worked fine. Some interiors leaned a little soft but the majority of the movie seemed accurate.

I witnessed no indications of jaggies or moiré effects, and edge haloes remained absent. Print flaws also failed to manifest.

Unsurprisingly, Election Year went with a palette oriented toward Hollywood Standard Orange and Teal. While tedious, the disc executed the hues as desired.

Blacks appeared deep and dense, while shadows became clear. Expect a fine image here.

In addition, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack fared nicely, with a soundscape that used the speakers well. As expected, the various action scenes became the most involving.

These used the entire spectrum to place the viewer inside the violence. They added solid involvement and punch.

Music displayed appealing breadth, and quieter scenes offered useful information as well. The soundfield worked well for the movie’s ambitions.

Audio quality satisfied as well, with speech that appeared natural and concise. Music showed good range and impact.

Effects became the most impressive aspect of the mix, as these elements appeared accurate and vivid. The audio brought punch to the tale.

Two featurettes appear. Inside The Purge runs five minutes, 31 seconds and involves writer/director James DeMonaco, producers Brad Fuller, Jason Blum and Andrew Form, and actors Edwin Hodge, Mykelti Williamson, Terry Serpico, Kyle Secor, Frank Grillo, and Elizabeth Mitchell.

The reel looks at story, characters and themes as well as DeMonaco’s approach. We get a few basics in this superficial piece.

A Character Spotlight spans three minutes, 34 seconds and gives us info from Grillo, Form, Fuller, DeMonaco, Blum, Serpico and armorer Christopher Wdowin. “Spotlight” looks at Grillo’s role and performance during this fluffy program.

Seven Deleted Scenes occupy a total of eight minutes, five seconds. These offer minor character bits and expository elements but nothing notable.

The disc opens with ads for Incarnate, The Darkness, Popstar, Neighbors 2 and Hard Target 2. No trailer for Election Year appears here.

As the third in a franchise, one shouldn’t expect anything from The Purge: Election Year beyond the same old. This doesn’t make it a bad movie but it seems perfunctory at best. The Blu-ray comes with solid picture and audio as well as minor supplements. Fans of the series will likely enjoy Election Year but it seems unlikely to win over others.