[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now the Official Review Thread for "The Manchurian Candidate". Please post all HTF member reviews in this thread.

Any other comments, links to other reviews, or discussion items will be deleted from this thread without warning!

If you need to discuss those type of issues then I have designated an Official Discussion Thread.



Crawdaddy

[JasonB]

I've never seen the original so take what I have to say with a grain of salt.

I absolutely loved it! Exceptional acting by Denzel and a fine performance from the rest of the cast. Great cinematography! Highly recommended thriller.

[Haggai]

I love the original, and I certainly don't think this remake has the devastating power of the '62 version, but I thought it was well done and worth seeing.

[Edwin Pereyra]

Jonathan Demme’s The Manchurian Candidate is a fine retelling and update of the 1962 classic directed by John Frankenheimer. Naturally, it is the original that stands out between the two where now evil corporations take the place of brainwashing Communists as the scheming villains.

The timing of this film’s release could not have been any better especially just right after last night’s conclusion of the Democratic National Convention.

This current version though, is still very well-acted by Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Liev Shriber who all give their own interpretations of the same characters played by Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury and Laurence Harvey, respectively, in the original.

The Manchurian Candidate rates (out of four).

~Edwin

[Patrick Sun]

I liked the original more, and the remake is probably 15 minutes too long, but the performances are overall pretty good. The re-imagined ending was too predictable to a fault.

I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.

[Chris]

This film struck me as "too cute by half" in that it tried to take a very well regarded film and "tweak it" some of the tweaks seemed to work, others did not. The film is definitely heavy on the amount of Denzl you get, you know he's getting top dollar But it needed to be trimmed down. More then that, in comparison to the original, some of the urgency and acting force just didn't click the same.

It's still not a bad film.

C+/B-. I normally do stars, but I'm trying to think about how to do 2.75 stars

[Ryan FB]

Overall, this film left me unimpressed. The plot is established in a predictable manner, and then goes nowhere. The same plot points are reinforced and played out over and over, with little effect of advancing the movie, characters, or impact at all. There are some truly enjoyable moments, but they are few and far between. The actors do what they can with what they're given, and the director succeeds in establishing an appropriately alien, somewhat distant feel to the movie. However, I never felt that the elements combined to consistently engage the audience in what could have been an intriguing film, but winds up being an exercise in filmmaking by rote.

5.4/10

[Kristian]

Cold. Dark. Unsettling. All adjectives that connect Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs to his latest film, The Manchurian Candidate. But where Lambs was thrilling and had great characters in Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter, Manchurian is emotionally unrewarding and has characters that don't leave any lasting impression. While Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Liev Schreiber show once again that they are great actors, they didn't make me care for the story at all. The best thing I can say is that it is better than Demme's previous film, The Truth About Charlie.

I give the film a C+, although I'm starting to feel that that's being too generous. And for the record, I have not seen the original film.

[Tim Glover]

Well done for the most part. Intense and suspenseful. Washington is great as usual, making you believe even when you don't want to.

Our crowd cheered and laughed when he knocked the hell out of the smart ass federal officer when he was being interrogated.

out of

[AlexanderS]

As much as I enjoyed the performance by Merryl Streep, who was every bit Angela Lansbury's equal, I just could not get into this movie at all. It just seemed that there was no pacing. Everything kind of dragged along with the plot not really going anywhere. When the tension would mound and you'd get the feeling that something was coming, something big, it just fell flat. The performances didn't live up to their predecessors either. 2 out of 5.