Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/725667
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 11 SEPTEMBER 2016 38 This Week IN CINEMAS TODAY Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Ben Hur (12A) 10:30, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 Finding Dory (U) 10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 Suicide Squad (15) 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 The Mechanic Resurrection (15) 10:20, 13:45, 16:05, 18:25, 20:50 Bad Moms (15) 10:15, 13:45, 16:05, 18:25, 20:55, 23:15 War Dogs (15) 10:20, 13:40, 16:10, 18:40, 21:10 Valletta Living History (U) 10:00, 10:45, 11:30, 12:15, 13:00, 13:45, 14:30, 15:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 War Dogs (15) 14:00, 16:20, 18:45, 21:10, 23:40 Finding Dory (U) 14:05, 16:15, 18:30, 20:45 Pete's Dragon (U) 14:05, 16:25 Hell or High Water (15) 14:05, 16:25, 18:35, 20:55, 23:10 Nerve (15) 14:05, 16:10, 18:20, 21:05, 23:20 Bad Moms (15) 14:05, 16:30, 18:50, 21:15, 23:40 The Purge: Election Year (15) 14:10, 16:30, 18:50, 21:15, 23:35 Nine Lives (PG) 14:10, 16:15, 18:30, 20:50, 23:05 Mechanic: Resurrection (15) 14:10, 16:25, 18:40, 21:10, 23:25 The Shallows (12) 14:15, 16:20, 18:30, 21:00, 23:05 Ben-Hur (12A) 14:30, 18:10, 20:50, 23:30 Suicide Squad (15) 14:30, 18:15, 21:05, 23:00 Kids in Love (15) 14:30, 18:45, 23:05 The 9th Life of Louis Drax (15) 16:25, 20:45 Lights Out (15) 18:50, 21:00, 22:55 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 Mechanic: Resurrection (15) 11:15, 13:30, 16:00, 18:20, 20:45 Ben-Hur (12A) 10:20, 13:00, 15:45, 18:25, 21:00 Suicide Squad (15) 10:40, 13:15, 15:55, 18:30, 21:05 Finding Dory (U) 10:30, 14:00, 16:15, 18:30 War Dogs (15) 20:55 Nine Lives (PG) 11:15, 13:30, 16:00, 18:20, 20:45 Bad Moms (15) 10:30, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 20:50 Hell or High Water (15) 10:35, 13:15, 15:45, 18:00 GENRE cinema has always been a great place to comment on current affairs without boring your audience or dividing them with any clear ideological agen- da, and this third instalment in The 'Purge' franchise is a clear and entirely unsubtle example of how this possibility can be kicked into full gear. Set in 2022 and following on from two previous entries in the 'Purge' series – released in 2013 and 2014 respectively – The Purge: Election Year finds a pop- ulace that's tired of America's latest suspect pastime: that of allowing all crimes, murder in- cluded, to be legal for one night. This 12-hour total amnesty is officially put in place to 'purge' the nation of all of its submerged negative feelings, but in real- ity appears to exist primarily to wean off the lower social orders who can't afford to shield them- selves adequately during this night of mayhem. And come election time, one candidate, Senator Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell), appears to be willing to stand tall against the barbaric practice, though discontent is also bubbling un- derground, with anti-Purge re- bel leader Dante Bishop (Edwin Hodge) advocating about how the ritual is only there to thin out the low-income class so that the government elites have less mouths to feed. But when the NFFA, the cur- rent ruling party helmed by their new leader Minister Edwidge Owens (Kyle Secor) decide to take matters into their own hands, it falls to the indefatiga- ble (Frank Grillo), Roan's head of security, to make sure she stays alive and remains a ray of hope. Meanwhile, Roan and her co- hort are joined by a convenience store owner, Joe (Mykelti Wil- liamson), his young employee Marcos Dalie (Joseph Julian So- ria) and a Purge old-timer and medical expert Laney Rucker (Betty Gabriel) who have been driven to take matters into their own hands after the political system – ruthless economically as it is literally – chews them out precisely on the day of the Purge. Director James DeMonaco, who has also helmed the previ- ous two editions of the 'Purge' franchise, returns to an extreme world he's already set up and cracks it up to eleven, taking full advantage of the contemporary American zeitgeist by timing the release of his film right before what promises to be – for bet- ter or for worse – a pretty spec- tacular real-life election for the country. There's no beating around the bush when it comes to the 'mes- sages' the film wants to convey – be they a jab at economic in- equality, racial tension or the debate around gun control – but this is to the film's credit. This is ultimately a piece of raw genre fiction, and if it is to comment on contemporary realities, it should do so in its own, glori- ously unrefined way. Some refinement on the tech- nical front would have been welcome however, as a murky colour palette, some infelici- tous and cheap-looking slo-mo and a generally dull approach to the visual storytelling wa- ters down what could otherwise have been a truly memorable hi-octane ride. But that's not to say that it doesn't have its flour- ishes, like the indelible image of the Christmas-light covered car crammed with scantily clad murderbabes hiding behind the most lurid masks you can imag- ine. And luckily, the script – also written by DeMonaco – chugs along at a good pace. The set-up is simple enough to begin with, so which allows the twists and betrayals to come quick and fast without making a mess of things. Though it suffers slightly due to its lack of real star power and some patchy special effects work, The Purge: Election Year is a satisfying piece of pulp that's also got something to say. The bloody catharsis chronicles ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ SURGE ★ ★ ★ ★ SPLURGE ★ ★ ★ URGE ★ ★ VERGE ★ DIRGE FILM By Teodor Reljic THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR (15) ★ ★ ★ Against all odds: Frank Grillo and Elizabeth Mitchell The murderbabes attack: The Purge: Election Year takes America's cultural mores to a ludicrous but logical conclusion