The Manchurian Candidate Review
by Bob Bloom (bob AT bloomink DOT com)August 2nd, 2004
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (2004) 2 stars out of 4. Starring Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, Kimberly Elise, Jeffrey Wright, Ted Levine,
Bruno Ganz, Simon McBurney and Vera Farmiga. Director of photography Tal Fujimoto. Based upon the film screenplay by George Axelrod. Based upon a novel by
Richard Condon. Screenplay by Daniel Pyne and Dean Georgaris. Directed by Jonathan Demme. Rated R. Running time: Approx. 130 mins.
On its own terms, Jonathan Demme's The Manchurian Candidate captures moments of suspense and high drama.
But it's merely a pale shadow of John Frankenheimer's 1962 original. The fault does
not lie so much with Demme as with the change in the geo-political landscape over
the past 40-plus years.
The original was a paranoid thriller about the dangers of McCarthyism from within
and the threat of communism from abroad.
But communism, except for Cuba, has gone the way of the eight-track. And the hysteria of McCarthyism has been superseded by the fear of terrorism.
So without a new ideological -ism, Demme's film must rely on a contemporary world
monster — the all-encompassing global corporation.
And that scenario diminishes the film, diluting the sheen of conspiracy and perversity that worked so well in the original.
For now the goal is not world domination to further an ideology, but political power
to boost profits. Such a comedown.
The plot basically follows the outline of the original: A squad of U.S. soldiers are
taken captive and brainwashed into believing that one of their members, Sgt. Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber), is a hero who saved them during a firefight in Kuwait
and then led them across the desert to safety.
For this action Shaw is awarded the Medal of Honor.
Here is where the plot diverts from Frankenheimer's film. The idea was to brainwash
Shaw to comply with whatever orders his handler gave him. His ultimate assignment
was to assassinate a presidential candidate so the vice presidential hopeful — his
stepfather — would be elevated to the top of the ticket and swept into the White
House.
However, that character — loosely based on the infamous Sen. Joe McCarthy — is
eliminated from Demme's film, and it is Shaw who is the vice presidential candidate.
In both instances the plot is driven by the desire of Maj. Ben Marco (here played by
Denzel Washington) to unravel a series of dreams he nightly experiences about the
engagement that won Shaw his medal.
Demme's Candidate tweaks the plot to create a formulaic Hollywood "happy ending" that also is morally reprehensible.
Washington's performance is solid as he single-handedly fights to keep a grasp on
his reality, not the one that was implanted in his head.
Schreiber's Shaw is unemotional, stiff and distant. He's a man dominated by his
overly ambitious mother (Meryl Streep), a U.S. senator trying to push her son into
the White House.
While Streep's Eleanor Shaw retains the immorality of the original, she lacks the
venom and formidability Angela Lansbury brought to the part. Her character acts
more like an overly ambitious stage mother pushing her child to audition for the lead
role in a play.
And when Sen. Shaw kisses her son on the lips — one of the most shocking moments
in the original — it lacks the sexual tension and implications created by Lansbury
and Laurence Harvey.
Demme, with the help of cinematographer Tak Fujimoto, has created an askewed landscape in which everything feels a bit out of step and out of place. The aura of
paranoia is palatable.
To Demme's credit, he did not just remake a memorable movie; he adapted it to fit
into the multinational contemporary world and the more complex relationships between those in power in the public and private sectors.
Because Demme's movie is no longer a battle of doctrines, but rather one of corporate greed, it lacks the overall urgency and immediacy of Frankenheimer's
work.
Demme's film fails to reach the same high notes as the original. But he has created a
suspenseful thriller that in some ways is just as smart and scary.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be
reached by e-mail at [email protected] or at [email protected]. Bloom's reviews also can be found at the Journal and Courier Web site: www.jconline.com
Other reviews by Bloom can be found at the Rottentomatoes Web site: www.rottentomatoes.com or at the Internet Movie Database Web site:
www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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