Ahoy squirts! Quint here with a pair of MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE reviews. I love, love, love the original. I was gonna see the remake tonight, but this is my first day back home from Comic-Con and I had some residual Con stuff to deal with. Both the reviews below are fairly mixed. I think it's very interesting that Demme has substituted Cold War paranoia with modern day Terrorist paranoia. Not only is that interesting, it's also scary to me how easily you can interchange the two. So, maybe Demme tapped into something with the remake, had a real excuse to update the setting. I'll check it out when it hits theaters, but first here are the "Remarx Bros" with their views:
Harry –
We are two brothers who saw THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE Monday night in Washington, D.C. Call us Zeppo and Gummo Remarx.
Zeppo has seen the original 1962 classic with Frank Sinatra which this film is a remake of. Gummo, however has yet to see it. So with that in mind, we offer our separate views on this new film.
ZEPPO REMARX SAYS:
How can you remake the greatest political thriller of all? Or why should you? That point aside, those familiar with the Frank Sinatra masterpiece should not shy away from theaters this weekend. Denzel Washington’s MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE succeeds, with a few missteps along the way, by expanding upon the original and twisting the twist ending of the original. This “candidate” shifts from the Communism-fearing society of the post Korean War era to the terrorism-fearing society of modern day America. Just as the original exemplified and utilized the red scare of the 1950s and 1960s, so to does this remake utilize our current political scene in America. This film could have been filmed at any time over the past three years and thus benefits because of its grasp of current issues. The Communistic threat of the original has been replaced by Manchurian Global, a corporation with significant military and political power and influence. The fear such corporations inflict on the common American does not replicate the red scare, but works nonetheless in such a given climate. Unfortunately, without communist paranoia, the brainwashing element of the remake gets a little too complicated, using some high tech science, which might not sit well with fans of the original’s simplicity. Nevertheless, the twist ending of the original’s twist ending was a startling and truly enjoyable and I think makes the film worth seeing. SPOLIER: For, as it turns out, Raymond Shaw is not the true MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, but rather Benit Marco, the protagonist whose search for the truth has taken us through the entire film. Truly a twist I didn’t expect.
Usually remakes are just desperate attempts to cash in on the legacy of a classic by simply modernizing the sets of a story. (Please don’t get me started on that waste of film known as the PSYCHO remake). But MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE succeeds in first paying homage to the original and expanding upon it, developing itself into its own movie.
While the new film might not shake the political and cinematic worlds as the original did or offer an Oscar worthy performances, it does deserve your time.
GUMMO REMARX SAYS:
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, simply put, was solid but unremarkable. It wasn’t Denzel Washington’s best performance; but then again his worst performance is better than nearly any other actor’s best (and it was NOT his worst). Liev Schreiber sort of walked through his role as the solider-turned-zombie-turned-congressman-turned-Vice President – but then again, that was sort of the point. Meryl Streep clearly relished her evil role as the senator, his mother. Now let’s all open the debate as to whether or not the character was truly modeled on Senator Hillary Clinton (and in turn debate to what degree she was modeled; and how much she deserves this veiled portrayal, if at all). Dean Stockwell, who Jonathan Demme helped put back on the map with MARRIED TO THE MOB (which otherwise sucked ass) has a very small part but is always a welcome presence, especially to a QUANTUM LEAP cultist like myself.
Demme’s directing was very good, although some might find the use of close-ups excessive after a point. The second half contains a couple of what some may interpret as lapses in plausibility; but never offensively so (at least not for me).
The underlying theme of the film is also quite timely and does make one think – SOMEWHAT, anyway. As such, I cast my vote for THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE as a good time at the movies; still, this tale of mind-control falls well short of mind-blowing.
