Locations/Showings
Featuring Mainstream &
Art House Choices

Forum
Scary Movie 3 was neither scary nor a movie. Discuss this & more.

Reviews
Glorifications & Executions of the latest Movies, DVDs, and television shows.

Flashback Flicks
Krull and other "Lost" Classics get their day in the sun.

Crapmasterpieces
So darn crappy they're hilariously brilliant.

TV Highlights
Boob Tube Playtime!

Calendar
A movie/tv related calendar. Covers openings, DVD release dates, conventions etc.

The Manchurian Candidate
It's the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful remake I've ever known in my life.

Starring: Denzel Washington, Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, Kimberly Elise, Jon Voight, Jeffrey Wright
Director: Jonathan Demme
Screenwriters: Daniel Pyne Demme, Dean Georgaris

Reviewed by Chris Ching

Jonathan Demme has balls. It takes some major cajones to update what is universally hailed as the greatest political thriller of all time. Especially since the director's last film Charlie - a remake of the Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn classic Charade - crashed and burned at the box office. The '04 model doesn't top the original, but Demme's Candidate is worthy of the Manchurian name and in many ways actually betters its predecessor.

The original MC was quite unlike any movie of its time. A nervy thriller about a squad of soldiers brainwashed by the Communists during the Korean War - The Manchurian Candidate so tapped into the political zeitgeist of its time, it became a bizarre oracle when JFK was murdered a mere year later.The film's lead Frank Sinatra was so disturbed by the connection he took the film out of distribution for two decades.

The 2004 version is just as timely. With the Democratic convention wrapping up the night before the film's premier and the fall election being touted as the most divisive in recent history, the Paramount Pictures marketing guys have targeted the perfect time to release this movie. Emphasis on "targeted."

Serving in the Middle East, Captain Ben Marco (Denzel Washington) and his squad are ambushed on the eve of the Gulf War. Sgt. Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber) single-handedly saves the platoon and leads them to freedom in a three day trek across the hostile Kuwait desert.

Or does he?

Marco is plagued nightly by the same savage nightmare of him and his men captured and brainwashed with Raymond (who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery) singled out for a particularly rough mindf**k session. While Marco continues popping No-Doz, Shaw - aided by his obsessively manipulative Senator mother (Meryl Streep) - has risen up the politcal ranks to become a Vice-Presidential candidate (although whether for Republican or Democrat, it's never made clear).

Marco can't shake his hunch that something is about to go down, but finds convincing others a team of scientists have brainwashed him and implanted microchips into his body is no easy task. The countdown to election day is ticking.

Screenwriters Daniel Pyne Demme and Dean Georgaris stick close to George Axelrod's 1962 narrative (based on the Richard Condon book) but get major kudos for taking the worthless Janet Leigh character from the original and retooling her as an integral part of the story. They also pull another gem out of their bag with a spectacular final act twist. Of course, it would be a crime to reveal that twist here.

Demme cakes his film in the appropriate amount of paranoia that the original pioneered but never improves on it. To this day, the 1962 version remains an incrediblly WEIRD movie and after forty years of moviedom, that's saying something. For example, the current version's brainwashing scene doesn't hold back on the gore, but isn't half as eerily horrific as the original's old ladies. Also, the subtle incestuous overtones between Raymond and Mother Shaw are expanded to their logical conclusion, and the wider focus seems more a concession to our present day love of gross out than artistic flourish.

And how do the triumvirate of actors from each film compare with each other?. Meryl Streep is one mean bitch but doesn't hold a candle to Angela Lansbury's deliciously diabolical Mother, and Liev Schreiber is merely playing Lawrence Harvey playing Raymond Shaw but without as much of Harvey's humanity. As for the dueling leads, it's a dead heat. Both Denzel and Sinatra do harried extremly well.

The original is still unbeatbale, but the remake is well worth your time and money. Did we really need it? Not really. But you'll have a great time at the movies all the same.

Rating:

(3 out of 4 stars)

Want to discuss this, and other topics, with fellow fans?
Post your thoughts in the SJ Fanboy Forum now!