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Overall Rating
  Awesome: 19%
Worth A Look: 49%
Average: 18%
Pretty Bad: 13%
Total Crap: 1%
8 reviews, 52 user ratings
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| Manchurian Candidate, The (2004) |
by Erik Childress
"Why Are You Middle-Naming Me?"
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"Political doesn't scare me. Radical political scares me. Political political scares me," says movie producer Griffin Mill listening to a pitch in Robert Altman’s The Player. That’s the one thing that resonated with me over the course of a film in which he’d certainly have no problem greenlighting, a modern remake of John Frankenheimer’s The Manchurian Candidate. The material still resonates today and the masses familiarity with the title acutely provides an ironic twinge to gather them in droves. There isn’t a whole lot to improve on, so any other explanation for the new-and-improved Paramount (this the second of three planned remakes for 2004) is nothing more than spin. The latest version results in a more scary than suspenseful affair, created in workmanlike fashion by all those involved.Transplanting the action to the Gulf War, Denzel Washington (who covered similar territory in Courage Under Fire) plays Ben Mason, a Colonel whose troops were ambushed and then saved by one of their own, Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber). But the events of that day are unclear. A dozen years later, members of Mason’s squad report of having the same nightmare over and over, providing pieces to the puzzle while they all stick to the same story. Word-for-word.
Raymond, meanwhile, has become a major young player in the corridors of Washington. Influenced by his mother, Eleanor (Meryl Streep), a career political dowager, his party is slyly swayed to consider him for the Vice-Presidential ticket. Things aren’t adding up for Mason though who is quickly being convinced that something nefarious is afoot and naturally no one believes him. Not his superiors. Not Raymond. Not even Ben’s supermarket admirer (Kimberly Elise), unconvincingly trying to convince us that she’s in his life by chance.
If the remake does have one significant flaw is that it’s sorely lacking in the twist department. Most will already know the source material and the previews certainly haven’t been trustworthy in holding its secrets. The brainwashing aspect remains intact although its ultimate intentions seem less than sinister. No right-thinking individual will rebuke that money controls politics. The current administration is only the tip of an corporate-sponsored iceberg. But what Manchurian Global hopes to gain from their plan frightens our imagination more than what is never suggested on screen.
Jonathan Demme, who seems to do nothing but remakes these days (OK, to be fair it’s only his second in a row) has had the paranoic’s view from his camera for years with his characters talking directly into it. Never has it had a better place than it does here and never has it become as annoyingly obsessive. Most conspiracy-laced thrillers start with interesting conceits only to later develop into public chases and murders that no spin doctor or biased media could ever hope to cover up. It’s Demme’s best weapon for two-thirds of the picture before screenwriters (Daniel Pyne & Dean Georgaris) sieve in the original assassin concept which is way out-of-place and further more, unconvincing, even if its refreshing to see a politician take care of his own dirty work.
Demme’s not-so-secret weapons are his actors. Washington remains one of our greatest living actors . His constant martyrdom in film after film is probably only approached by Mel Gibson, but never before has he felt as hopeless and outright squirmy in a role. Liev Schreiber is one of my favorite untapped resources out there and his light switch alteration between evil and puppy dog is horrific and saddening. Meryl Streep takes on Angela Lansbury’s historically evil mommy wedged between Norman Bates and Frank Booth’s fantasies and it only takes 15 minutes to see the “for your consideration” marquee start flashing. It’s the first guaranteed supporting actress nomination lock of the year.It’s good to have thinking adult thrillers like The Manchurian Candidate now and again. Only the more you think about it the more its logic begins to unravel. Oliver Stone or even Brian DePalma could have hit this out of the park and jazzed it up with more frightening politics or labyrinthian suspense. Demme does a more than functional job though, keeping the weight of its implications pressed down hard on the audience to keep them appropriately uncomfortable. As a film it works in the moment and repeat viewings likely won’t be as rewarding, but maybe it will allow us to think just enough to recognize the faults of today and improve them for tomorrow when the opportunity comes.
 del.icio.us 
link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=10268&reviewer=198
originally posted: 07/30/04 13:16:55
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USA
30-Jul-2004 (R)
DVD: 21-Dec-2004
UK
N/A
Australia
28-Oct-2004
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