Creed II
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Homecoming
Log in with Facebook
OR
By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies, and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango.
Please enter your email address and we will email you a new password.
Critics Consensus: While not the classic its predecessor is, this update is well-acted and conjures a chilling resonance.
Critic Consensus: While not the classic its predecessor is, this update is well-acted and conjures a chilling resonance.
All Critics (207) | Top Critics (46) | Fresh (166) | Rotten (41) | DVD (15)
Jonathan Demme's new Manchurian Candidate is a gourmet-popcorn movie--a hugely entertaining thriller shot through with dark shards of agony and paranoia. It takes nothing away from the original while delivering pleasures all its own.
Happily, this extremely timely entertainment matches, even perhaps surpasses its predecessor.
Demme serves the picture completely.
Strikes me as a very artful cover -- about the cleverest imaginable transliteration of the story from its historical moment to ours.
Far from a disgrace, but it's not freewheeling enough, not strange enough to make sense of our gathering dread.
Beautifully made and unsurpassingly creepy, it's the rare remake with something contemporary to add.
The surprises surprised me so much that I am not sure I have quite mastered the plot yet. It is all excellent fun but, as with the original, not serious.
Good as the players are, they can't make this hokum remotely believable.
If it isn't the original's equal, The Manchurian Candidate conjures up an air of menace sufficient to make most modern thrillers look like romantic comedies.
Sleek remake is more violent than original.
This humorless and nonsensical update of The Manchurian Candidate - a total misread of Frankenheimer's classic original - never quite engages, devolving the original's camp and satire into self-serious melodrama.
A rather decent imitation in the end with political subtext and very good performances.
The opening gambit is one farfetched sci-fi idea: that you can be programmed to kill your loved ones against your will. But, past that, due to the professionalism of the participants, here is one decent fantasy thrill ride about a secret government coup by a multinational corporation. Jonathon Demme keeps the story fluid while Washionton, Streep and Schreiber, amongst others, make it all seem believable. Decent.
Super Reviewer
It's an enjoyable, thrilling-enough watch, but it's not entirely memorable and suffers from an intriguing but convoluted premise.
A superbly acted and skillfully scripted story. Denzel, as always is terrific, but the big surprise is Liev Schreiber's awesome performance as a confused politician puppetered by his rich mother. The ending is appropriate and the story is rich in character color.
The Manchurian Candidate for me is an average thriller that works well enough because of a good cast. I enjoyed the film, but did feel it lacked something to really make it something excellent. If it wasn't for the cast, the film definitely wouldn't have the same effect, as the cast here are well chosen in their respective roles and are perfect in the parts they play. This is a good thriller, but is nothing really excellent. The film does have an entertaining story, which is engaging, however it lacks something really special to make this film memorable. The performances, like I stated is what really makes this film worth seeing, and above all makes the film interesting for the viewer. The Manchurian Candidate is better than what most people may think, and is a good remake for what it is, but of course it does not beat the original. Director Jonathan Demme delivers a good thriller with this remake even though it's not perfect, the film does deliver and entertaining two hours. I think that the film is underrated and was quite good considering that this is a remake. The cast like I said were great, and is one of the key aspects as to why the film works. There are things that could have been improved upon, but for the most part, this remake of the classic Manchurian Candidate is good enough entertainment for anyone looking for a good thriller. I really enjoyed this film and thought it was very good, but it was of course at times uneven.
View All Quotes
View All