The Manchurian Candidate (Widescreen Edition)

Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Jonathan Demme
Starring:	Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, Kimberly Elise, Meryl Streep
Release date:	21 December, 2004
List price:	~~$14.99~~
Our price:	$11.29 that is 25% off!

The Manchurian Candidate (Widescreen Edition)

Average rating: Stars

If it HAD to be made, surprisingly worthy.

I am generally against remaking old classic movies. However, there are some that have worked for me; KING KONG, THE FLY, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, even the current WAR OF THE WORLDS. The reason primarily is that they were genuinely REMADE with the current times.

CANDIDATE retains the basic premise of mind conditioning and Raymond Shaw's rather twisted relationship with his mother. The film starts in 1991 Iraq and follows through to the post-terrorism paranoia of today. There are many other changes in the story as compared to the original film, which, like it or not, is what remaking a movie is all about. If not, you end up with an inferior carbon copy of an original, like Gus Van Sant's PSYCHO (what the hell was that idiot smoking when he came up with that idea???).

The Manchurian Candidate (Widescreen Edition) - Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber and more

complicated

Like the original, complicated requiring close attention to follow. Some slow parts, boffo ending worth the effort. Not for casual viewing.

Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber and more - The Manchurian Candidate (Widescreen Edition)

An inferior remake

This movie ranks with the new "Planet of the Apes" as one of the worst remakes of a classic ever made. The original Manchurian Candidate was tightly plotted, perfectly acted, and socially relevant. Its plot was rich and layered, and above all subtle.
This new film loses it all in favor of pastiche. The basic plot, that of a platoon being brainwashed into believing they were saved by the most hated member of their squad, is all that survives. Raymond Shaw is changed from a crooked politician's son to the politician himself, and the transition is not successful on any level. The backstory involving Senator Jordan and his daughter Joslyn is all but absent, rendering one of the most powerful scenes of the original rather tepid. With Shaw now as the candidate for vice presidency, his hatred of his mother is largely superfluous to the plot and so is barely noticeable. Also, Major Marco's role reversal at the end is limp and his turning-the-tables cannot be explained as Shaw's was in the original. The big-business conglomerate as brainwashers does not work. Last but not least, the Queen of Hearts trick is gone, its replacement infinitely less intriguing.
What does it leave? It leaves a simple if suspenseful tale of brainwashing. Meryl Streep is effective as the mother but cannot match Angela Lansbery (in her defense, Streep's role is far less three dimensional than Lansbery's, and her character is simply not as malevolent).
Not worth it. Seek out the original, one of the greatest films ever made, and cast this to the dustbin of cinema history.