THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
Cast: Denzel Washington Merryl Streep Liev Schreiber...
Director: Jonathan Demme
Writer: Richard Condon (Novel) George Axelrod (1962 Script) Daniel Pyne (Screenplay) Dean Georgaris (Screenplay)
Review Date: 09/07/04
Written By: Clarkey
Rating: 7/10
THE PLOT:
When his army unit was ambushed during the first Gulf War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw saved his fellow soldiers just as his commanding officer, Major Ben Marco, was knocked unconscious. Brokering the incident for political capital, Shaw eventually becomes a vice-presidential nominee, while Marco is haunted by dreams of what happened -- or didn't happen -- in Iraq. As Marco investigates, the story begins to unravel, to the point where he questions if it happened at all. Is it possible the entire unit was kidnapped and brainwashed to believe Shaw is a war hero as part of a plot to seize the White House? Some very powerful people at Manchurian Global corporation appear desperate to stop him from finding out.
THE REVIEW:
I’ve always hated remakes because they always ruin the original. They take the reptuation of the original and drag it through the mud, like Dawn of the Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But I have now found the one exception of bad remakes and it is The Manchurian Candidate. I love the first one and was interested to see if they could break the curse of a bad remake. I mean it look great from the trailers and I wasn’t let down at all.
I have said this many times, but Denzel Washington is the best actor working out there nowadays. He once again, does it. He brings Major Ben Macro to life and gives yet another great performance. Merryl Streep is also at it again, giving another great effort as Senator Eleanor Shaw. I was wondering how Cotton Weary, I mean Mr. Schreiber, would do when place on screen with the likes of Denzel and Merryl. He held his ground perfectly and was great. Kudos to him. As for the rest of the cast, they are great and hold their ground.
Jonathan Demme directed beautifully and was back on his Silence of the Lambs level and not the god awful The Truth About Charlie level. I love the angles he picked and the way he shot it. The movie looked great and kudos to him for bringing the script to life the way that he did. As for the script, it was solid. Daniel Pyne and Dean Georgaris did a wonderful job keeping true to the original, while updating it to make more relevant to our day. I had no problem with the updating, and they weren’t anyhting major. Just little changes here and there, like Korea turns into Kuwait and Eleanor is a senator, while her son, not her husband running for Vice President.
I did have a problem with the length of the movie, I found that it could’ve been shorter and the final scene was not really needed, but I understand why they wanted it in. For the most part, it is probably the best remake that I’ve ever seen and lived up to the original.
Director: Jonathan Demme
Writer: Richard Condon (Novel) George Axelrod (1962 Script) Daniel Pyne (Screenplay) Dean Georgaris (Screenplay)
Review Date: 09/07/04
Written By: Clarkey
Rating: 7/10
THE PLOT:
When his army unit was ambushed during the first Gulf War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw saved his fellow soldiers just as his commanding officer, Major Ben Marco, was knocked unconscious. Brokering the incident for political capital, Shaw eventually becomes a vice-presidential nominee, while Marco is haunted by dreams of what happened -- or didn't happen -- in Iraq. As Marco investigates, the story begins to unravel, to the point where he questions if it happened at all. Is it possible the entire unit was kidnapped and brainwashed to believe Shaw is a war hero as part of a plot to seize the White House? Some very powerful people at Manchurian Global corporation appear desperate to stop him from finding out.
THE REVIEW:
I’ve always hated remakes because they always ruin the original. They take the reptuation of the original and drag it through the mud, like Dawn of the Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But I have now found the one exception of bad remakes and it is The Manchurian Candidate. I love the first one and was interested to see if they could break the curse of a bad remake. I mean it look great from the trailers and I wasn’t let down at all.
I have said this many times, but Denzel Washington is the best actor working out there nowadays. He once again, does it. He brings Major Ben Macro to life and gives yet another great performance. Merryl Streep is also at it again, giving another great effort as Senator Eleanor Shaw. I was wondering how Cotton Weary, I mean Mr. Schreiber, would do when place on screen with the likes of Denzel and Merryl. He held his ground perfectly and was great. Kudos to him. As for the rest of the cast, they are great and hold their ground.
Jonathan Demme directed beautifully and was back on his Silence of the Lambs level and not the god awful The Truth About Charlie level. I love the angles he picked and the way he shot it. The movie looked great and kudos to him for bringing the script to life the way that he did. As for the script, it was solid. Daniel Pyne and Dean Georgaris did a wonderful job keeping true to the original, while updating it to make more relevant to our day. I had no problem with the updating, and they weren’t anyhting major. Just little changes here and there, like Korea turns into Kuwait and Eleanor is a senator, while her son, not her husband running for Vice President.
I did have a problem with the length of the movie, I found that it could’ve been shorter and the final scene was not really needed, but I understand why they wanted it in. For the most part, it is probably the best remake that I’ve ever seen and lived up to the original.
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