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In fact, the weakest element in The Manchurian Candidate 2004 is its screenplay. The Best Director Oscar winner ( The Silence of the Lambs, 1991) shows an immeasurable fondness for awkward close-ups while being incapable of making less bothersome the lazier and/or more outlandish elements in the narrative. Jonathan Demme’s handling of the material is no help. In the big-name supporting cast, Bruno Ganz ( Adolf Hitler in this year’s German hit Downfall), Best Actor Oscar winner Jon Voight ( Coming Home, 1978), Vera Farmiga, and Kimberly Elise (in the old Janet Leigh role, here reduced to an extended cameo) have little to nothing to do. Any turmoil going on underneath Congressman Shaw’s placid countenance can be barely seen or sensed. Liev Schreiber (Laurence Harvey in the original), in an equally difficult albeit radically different role, is just as inadequate. Despite – or perhaps because of – his obvious efforts, Washington is never wholly convincing as a psychologically battered man on the brink of insanity. Senator Shaw most of those featured in the production are either misused or wasted in non-roles.īest Actor Oscar winner Denzel Washington ( Training Day, 2001), the film’s emotional centerpiece ( Frank Sinatra in the original), is a case in point. Prestige talent not enoughĮven though The Manchurian Candidate 2004 boasts top-line talent in front of the camera, with the exception of Meryl Streep’s amusing/creepy turn as the power-hungry U.S. Reality, as usual, is both more complex and more perverse. Senator Shaw and her congressman son, a vice-presidential contender, are perceived as members of the perfect American family. The Manchurian Candidate 2004 with Liev Schreiber and Meryl Streep. But in his dream, the attack is perpetrated not by Iraqi fighters but by much more sinister forces. He suffers from a recurring nightmare, in which he finds himself back with his platoon on the night of the ambush. Marco’s nights, however, are a bit less mundane.
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“The First Iraq War”) platoon during an ambush. Army Major Bennett Marco ( Denzel Washington) as he spends his days giving speeches about the heroic deeds of Sergeant Raymond Shaw ( Liev Schreiber), winner of the prestigious Medal of Honor after saving Marco’s Gulf War (a.k.a. The Manchurian Candidate 2004 follows U.S.
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On the downside, The Manchurian Candidate 2004 suffers from two inadequate leads, irritating narrative absurdities (several also plagued the 1962 film), and, perhaps most problematic of all for a thriller, sluggish pacing. Lastly, Meryl Streep is in top form as a more humorous version of the character that earned Angela Lansbury a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination. Besides, at least in terms of technological advancements and their inherent totalitarian pitfalls, what may have seemed all but impossible around 1960, has now become way less far-fetched.
#The manchurian candidate (2004 review) plus#
On the plus side, this paranoia-suffused political thriller is grounded on a premise – from George Axelrod’s 1962 screenplay and Richard Condon’s original 1959 Cold War novel – that remains as engrossing as it was four decades ago. Screened at the Venice Film Festival, director Jonathan Demme and screenwriters Daniel Pyne and Dean Georgaris’ The Manchurian Candidate 2004 has kept the framework of John Frankenheimer’s big-screen classic while revamping various plot details to draw parallels between the storyline and current events.