The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Runtime: 2 hrs 10 mins
Theatrical Release: Jul 30, 2004 Wide
Box Office: $65,898,487
Synopsis: Jonathan Demme updates the original 1962 John Frankenheimer classic with plenty of new paranoid twists: This time a sinister Halliburton-style corporation is behind the brainwashing of a Gulf War hero turned vice presidential nominee, Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber). Shaw's old unit... Jonathan Demme updates the original 1962 John Frankenheimer classic with plenty of new paranoid twists: This time a sinister Halliburton-style corporation is behind the brainwashing of a Gulf War hero turned vice presidential nominee, Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber). Shaw's old unit commander Ben Marco (Denzel Washington) recommended him for the National Medal of Honor, though he can't remember exactly why, and his recurring nightmares drive him to uncover a massive conspiracy. Sinister forces at work include shifty-eyed bodyguards, a love interest with questionable motives (Kimberly Elise), and Raymond's domineering senator mother (Meryl Streep). Demme infuses the proceedings with enough paranoia and uncomfortable close-ups to rival his 1991 Oscar-winner, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Layered sound, overlapping dialogue, and creepy cinematography by Tak Fujimoto (who also worked on LAMBS) further heighten the uneasiness. Demme regulars Roger Corman, Charles Napier, Paul Lazar, and Tracey Walter show up in bit parts as usual. Comedian Al Franken is a welcome face as a TV correspondent, and quirky indie rocker Robyn Hitchcock plays one of the brainwashing specialists. Needless to say, Denzel is superb. Streep is terrifying and hilarious as the maniacal Mrs. Shaw. As with the original (which focused on communist instead of terrorist fear-mongering), the events depicted here are doubly unsettling considering their uncanny resemblance to real-life politics at the time of this film's theatrical release. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, Meryl Streep, Jon Voight, Kimberly Elise
Screenwriter: George Axelrod, Daniel Pyne, Dean Georgaris
Producer: Scott Rudin, Jonathan Demme, Ilona Herzberg, Tina Sinatra
Composer: Rachel Portman, Wyclef Jean
DVD Info
Release:
Jan 23, 2007
HD-DVD Features:
- Elite Red HD Case
- Widescreen - 1.85
Audio:
- Dolby Digital Plus - English
- DTS 5.1 - English, French, Spanish
- Subtitles - English, French, Spanish - Optional
- Closed Captioned - English - Optional
Additional Release Material:
- Commentaries - 1. Jonathan Demme - Director, Daniel Pyne - Screenwriter
- Featurettes - 1. Behind the Scenes
- 2. Deleted/Extended Scenes
- 3. Outtakes
- 4. "Liev Schreiber Screen Test: A Political Pundits Feature, with Director Commentary"
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
With an inchoate admonition implanted in its aggrieved, post-modern heart, Demme's Manchurian Candidate is blippy and fractured and smeared with color.
The movie is playing with ideas, and they're important enough to bear thinking about now. What it's playing on are our fears. And they're real enough, and worth addressing.
This humorless and nonsensical so-called thriller--a total misread of Frankenheimer's classic original--never quite engages...
A superb piece of filmmaking by directing icon Jonathan Demme that surpasses the John Frankenheimer original in ways I didn't think possible.
This is a good old-fashioned thriller, nothing less, and nothing more.
An exhilarating, if politically wishy-washy, modern-day reimagining of Frankenheimer’s gem.
Demme’s The Manchurian Candidate is a political popcorn pleaser that’s rousing in its sheer rawness.
Demme takes the excellent source material ... and recreates it in a new style, with energy, wit, and a profound sense of cultural relevance.
An intelligent, provocative blockbuster that succeeds on its own merits.
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The Manchurian Candidate at IGN
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