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The Manchurian Candidate

The TVClubHouse: Movies & Library ARCHIVES: Movies: May 2004 - March 2005: The Manchurian Candidate users admin

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Tishala
Member

08-01-2000

Saturday, July 31, 2004 - 7:20 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Why remake a classic film that is as close to perfect as a film can be? Because sometimes, Gus Van Sant's slavish frame-by-frame remake of Psycho notwithstanding, it can work quite well.

The Manchurian Candidate is a tight, taut film that combines the wonderful use of suspense director Jonathan Demme showed us in Silence of the Lambs with the emotional power he demonstrated in Philadelphia [we will leave his muddled adaptation of Beloved out of the discussion because...well...just because]. Is this the film Sinatra and Landsbury gave us? Nope. Demme gives us a film that explores the roles of multinational corporations that look suspiciously like Haliburton and the Carlyle Group play in contemporary politics, like the original used Chinese Communists. The film is not quite as complex as the original and Meryl Streep, as usual, falls short of the mark of making a great performance [while some have insisted she bases her performance on Sen. Hillary Clinton, she insists Karen Hughes was the model for her role], but not as short as she did in The Hours. Still, she gets to dig into her Streep bag of tricks--new hand gestures, new hair, vacant eyes--and she is generally adequate in an over the top, mannered way, but lacks the brilliance of Angela Landsbury. Thankfully, the rest of the cast is, like in The Hours, much better than her. Denzel Washington is just wonderful and Jon Voight uses his time on screen well. Liev Schreiber, whose work I am frankly not familiar with, is especially strong. The ending deflates the soufflé ending of the original, but I'm sure it was audience tested to death and we therefore have a sunnier ending than is really appropriate. Oh well. Quelle dommage.

It's unfair to compare the retrofitted Manchurian candidate to the original, but it is a meritorious film by itself.

Kitt
Member

09-06-2000

Sunday, August 01, 2004 - 7:26 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I haven't seen the original. In the new version the story was very good, but it did seem to be dragged out a bit, which reduced the suspense. The ending was a little too sunny, as you say Tishala. And unexplained, how did they two of them suddenly beat their programming? I was a little disappointed, mostly because I had really high expectations for it.

Grandmato2
Member

07-16-2004

Monday, August 02, 2004 - 1:55 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Just saw this movie yesterday and I have never seen the original although I would like to do so now.
Very intense for me and I never figure out who all is involved ahead of time. DH always gets that part (to my annoyance)
I was not disappointed in it but just wondered how much could possibly be true in this day and age.

Earthmother
Member

07-14-2002

Monday, August 09, 2004 - 10:28 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I saw them both and really liked them both. I remember my friends and I debating the chance of possible truth with the first one as well.. I guess nothing is impossible.

Mssilhouette
Member

07-11-2001

Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 10:29 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Okay just a side note. I just saw a NATURE special about Teamwork in Nature on PBS on Sunday and guess who was narrator: Liev Schreiber. Holy Crap! When I read that I realized that I've been listing to this guy for a LONG time. I always wondered why his voice was so dang familar not to mention extremely soothing.

Now back to the movie. I haven't seen the original so I came in not having a point of reference. That being said, I thought it was good but not excellent, I also didn't think the ending was quite as tension filled the reviews lead you to believe. I mean actually it was a bit predictable. It was a nice movie not thought provoking though, it didn't leave me wondering what if that happened. (Hmmm anyone check Bush for implants- LOL)

BTW Liev Schreiber was in Sum of All Fears. He played a famous Clancy character: John Clark (you'll remember him for this line in the movie said to Ben Affleck at a Russan secret facility: "Shoot them...Shoot them before they understand what I'm saying."

He was also in SCREAM 3. He plays a lot of creepy semi-weird characters and bit parts.

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Saturday, August 14, 2004 - 8:05 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Saw it today. It was good. Have not seen the original. I thought Meryl Streep was terrific.

Bbfanatic
Member

08-14-2000

Friday, September 24, 2004 - 3:45 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Meryl Streep is enough to keep me from seeing this flick.