Demme, an enigmatic filmmaker who successfully bounces between fiction and nonfiction, goes for the thrills here, leaving the chills to the original.
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07/30/04
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The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
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Reviews Counted:195
Fresh:159
Rotten:36
Average Rating:7.2/10
Consensus: While not the classic its predecessor is, this update is well-acted and conjures a chilling resonance.
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... [More]
Starring: Liev Schreiber, Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington, Jon Voight
Director: Jonathan Demme
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Reviews for The Manchurian Candidate
The updated Manchurian Candidate makes conspiracy theorists look like they have the collective imagination of an acorn.
07/30/04
With Meryl Streep in an updated version of the Angela Lansbury role, Denzel Washington in the Frank Sinatra part...the movie is a virtual master class of acting.
07/30/04
a taut, up-to-the-minute reimagining of the original... Demme, in his best film since 'The Silence of the Lambs,' superbly builds the mystery...
07/30/04
[T]he film’s overabundance of preposterous pop-corny-ness and simultaneous and surprising naivete defang it.
07/30/04
A smart contemporary film that, like 'The Bourne Supremacy' and the upcoming 'Collateral', takes familiar genre conventions and gives them a reasonably intelligent spin.
07/30/04
Remake of '60s pop masterpiece doesn't equal its predecessor, but it's still got some bitter, tasty moments of commentary.
07/29/04
Nothing gets in the way of a great story, well told, one which manages to slip in a few political digs without losing sight of its mission as popular suspense entertainment.
07/29/04
A more scary than suspenseful affair, created in workmanlike fashion by all those involved.
07/29/04
A political and psychological thriller that is richer in texture and nuance than its predecessor without sacrificing impact.
07/29/04
Top CriticA funny, creepy, cynical, lurid and strident potboiler whose surreal premise feeds on our depressingly all-too-familiar world.
07/29/04
This sleek and supple thriller features powerhouse performances but never quite persuades us that it has anything to add to the cold war classic.
07/29/04
Before it self-destructs in its convoluted final act, the film is an astute, genuinely gripping thriller that speaks shrewdly to our current corporate-phobia and post-9/11 paranoia.
07/29/04
Jonathan Demme makes the new millennium version [of The Manchurian Candidate his own.
07/29/04
A taut thriller that virtually burst from today's headlines.
07/29/04
A taut thriller that virtually burst from today's headlines.
07/29/04
Almost good enough to earn a recommendation.
07/29/04
Top CriticThis is one popcorn movie that provides food for thought, all the while remaining tense and witty.
07/29/04
Top CriticThe Manchurian Candidate does a fine job of reviving the paranoid thriller genre in this engrossing tale of politics, corporate power and mind control.
07/29/04
Denzel Washington is stellar ... and so is Tak Fujimoto's cinematography, which is as edgy and antsy as the story it tells.
07/29/04
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