| Product: |
The Manchurian Candidate (DVD) |
| Date: |
05/10/05 (123 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Streep is on top form, the idea behind it all.
Disadvantages: The execution of the story and the nonsense it becomes.
Back during the cold war the ever-present threat of attack from the USSR was always at the back of the minds of millions of Americans. The build up of nuclear weapons and the possibility of all out war was not just talk, it seemed to be more likely to happen than not.
Playing on these fears Richard Condon (?) wrote a novel, ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ that highlighted those fears and brought forward the terrifying idea of brainwashed American soldiers being used to further the will of a communist nation.
The original film, made in 1962 and starring Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury, is a classic film. Not only does it have two tremendous performances by the aforementioned stars but it also has one of the most terrifying scenes ever shown on a big screen, or small screen for all of us who have only ever seen it on TV. The fact that it involves a group of old ladies at their knitting club meeting a group of American GI’s will give you very little clue as to how powerful this scene is. Trust me you have to see it!
The new updated and modern adaptation stars Denzel Washington as Bennett Marco, a major in the US Army, haunted by visions and nightmares of an ambush he and his squad got caught in during the Gulf War. After being missing in action for 3 days they squad reappeared from behind enemy lines. Captain Raymond Shaw, Ben’s second in command, guiding his comrades back to safety after fighting off the enemy. All the survivors praise Shaw for his bravery and he is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour, Americas highest award.
Raymond Shaw (Liev Schrieber, Scream & ) has since followed in his family footsteps and become a Senator for New York. His father was a Senator before his death and his mother is a current, powerhouse, Senator. He is an all-American hero and a potential vice presidential candidate, the perfect poster boy of American politics!
Meanwhile Ben meets another member of the ambushed squad, a man who has suffered terribly from the same dreams and nightmares as him. His visions though have a deeper, darker side to them, leading Ben to wonder whether there is more to these dreams. As his own visions start to take on a different meaning Ben heads off to New York to visit his old friend Shaw, the only other surviving member of the squad, to try and unravel the complex images cascading through his mind.
First thing to say, if it isn’t already obvious from an earlier statement, is that I love the original film. I often try to avoid remakes of films I really like, mainly because no matter how good they might be they are not going to live up to the my opinion of the original. My mind is already prejudiced against the remake, no matter how much I try to prevent it, before I even take a seat in the cinema. The Manchurian Candidate looked interesting enough, and different enough, in the trailers to get past that mindset though and I was looking forward to seeing this. It seemed to have taken the basis of the original and updated it for a modern generation.
For me though it didn’t work, while the story was still good the direction was very routine and by the numbers. I have never really liked any of Jonathan Demme’s mainstream outings, ‘Silence of the Lambs’ is okay but Lecter has be made a pantomime character compared to the menacing, psychotic, intelligent man he is, and was in Manhunter and ‘Philadelphia’ is not the film it could, and should, have been. This time around he has somehow managed to film a script that has the potential to be very tense and exciting but fill it with scenes that possess neither. There was no time I ever really felt any sense of danger or really cared about what was going on, and that was all down to the boring direction of Demme.
Acting wise though the Manchurian Candidate is lucky enough to have some remarkable performances.
Meryll Streep shows, once again, why she is one of the best actresses in Hollywood. She is the lynchpin of the film and she livens things up every scene she is in. She plays ?? Shaw, Raymond’s mother and a powerhouse politician in her own right, used to getting her own way.
Liev Schreiber is as good as he always is. He plays Shaw as an unemotional, almost disturbed young man. As Shaw he is good looking enough to be the all-American boy, but has that slight edge to his looks that implies there is more to him, that secrets are hidden behind that face.
Denzel Washington is okay, not up to his usual quality, but is believable enough. He seems to have hit the same problem as Halle Berry. At the moment neither of them seem to be getting, or picking, quality parts. Ever since their joint best actor/actress Oscars they have only been in mundane, run of the mill films.
Overall I was disappointed in Manchurian Candidate, it wasted an interesting story and just bored me rigid. When I’m bored 20 minutes into a film I know it’s bad!
Certificate: 15
Running time: 130 minutes
Director: Jonathan Demme
Writer: Daniel Pyne & Dean Georgaris
Intersting Cast Members:
Denzel Washington – Bennett Marco
Meryll Streep – Eleanor Shaw
Liev Schrieber – Raymond Shaw
Jon Voight – Senator Thomas Jordan
Kimberly Elise – Rosie
Ted Levine – Colonel Howard
Miguel Ferrer – Colonel Garret
Dean Stockwell – Mark Whiting
Al Franken – TV Commentator
Roger Corman – Mr. Secretary
Summary: One of those remakes that should just have been made. See the original it is much better all round.
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