The Manchurian Candidate is a psychological thriller based on the famous Richard Condon novel and previously turned into a famous 1962 Frank Sinatra/Angela Lansbury thriller. Army Major Bennett Marco (Washington), a career soldier grows suspicious about his experience in Desert Storm after Squad Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber), son of the powerful Senator Eleanor Shaw (Meryl Streep), becomes a candidate for Vice President.
His investigations into his nightmares uncover the sinister truth about what happened to the squad one night on the battlefield and how the people now surrounding Raymond are using them both for their own ends in a dangerous plan that could affect the entire world.
Remakes are always a risky proposition; usually because they are remakes of ?classics? that everyone loves and try to cash in on that adoration. They try and recapture a film that is considered nearly flawless and draw crowds in with a new crowd. This, of course, has mixed results from abject failure (?Psycho? and ?The Planet of the Apes? remakes) to success (?Ocean?s Eleven?). Lately the idea of a remake has been to not to literally remake the movie but to recapture its essence, the quality of the film that made it so good. Not so much remaking the same story but retelling the same idea. This has had more success as with ?Texas Chainsaw Massacre? and ?The Italian Job?, ?The Manchurian Candidate? falls in line with these last two in terms of how the remake is handled.
The 1962 original was a masterpiece and often considered the paragon of the psychological-suspense thriller genre, and it is without a doubt a wonderful film. With strong performances and a pointed, political message about the lust for power, it has only a few minor flaws (the conspiracy draws a slightly long bow and the fact that there is no guarantee that a queen of diamonds would be found in a game of solitaire).
This remake keeps the essentials: a unit of American soldiers go missing in combat, turn up a while later, minus two, thanks to the heroic effort of Sgt. Raymond Shaw, whom the whole unit agree is ?is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.? Shaw ends up running for vice-president (rather than being the step-son of the vice-president candidate), tries to salvage a relationship with an opposing senator?s daughter, is under the watchful eye of his mother, and is regarded with suspicion by Marco as well as the rest of the unit.
In areas the plot holds together better, mainly in the conspiracy the whole idea of a Soviet in the White House was far fetched and the ?alliance? was a little nonsensical, now by making it a global corporation, instead of Chinese Communists, is far more believable particularly in these days of cash and carry government. However by isolating Marco and making him a rogue soldier investigating his suspicions without the army, in the original he?s part of Army Intelligence, it?s unlikely that he?d get as far as he could. Also by adjusting the conspiracy, it removes a lot of the power and sacrifice from the climax, there is simply no comparison between the older version?s harder finish.
The performances all show a lot of heart. Washington allows the script to convey the message and there is none of the grandstanding that he has in ?The Siege?, he turns in a quiet, emotionally damaged performance that shows that as far as the silver screen is concerned less truly is more. Streep does chew the scenery a little, but in fairness it is a delicious performance and she grounds it with conviction. Schreiber gives a heart-breaking performance as Raymond Shaw, masterfully going between a broken man and a brainwashed agent. The last scene between him and Washington is fantastically done:
Raymond Shaw: Are we friends, Ben? I want to believe that we were friends.
Ben Marco: We are connected, and that’s something no one can take from us. You could have had me locked up, but you didn’t. That’s proof there’s something deep down inside you that they can’t touch, deep down inside us. And that’s where the truth is.
It takes a long time to get moving however, and for newcomers the first half will be hard going with the occasionally creepy and surreal moment (the cupboard full of one brand of instant noodles for instance). There?s still suspense it?s just that the audience doesn?t really know where it?s coming from, it?s just there. That works in its favour if the audience is patient enough.
The only other thing likely to put people off is the partisan nature of the politics. While the party that Shaw belongs to is unnamed there is no doubt that he is a Republican, and the Republicans in this movie are hardly the nicest of people. Between the power games, Eleanor Shaw, cash and carry government and willingness to sacrifice the little people, this film doesn?t pull punches against the conservatives. This has drawn it a lot of criticism? However this criticism pushes an absurd notion that movies should not have any sort of political or social message and relevance (similar to that idea of ?That Hollywood Left should shut up, they?re only actors what would they know??) If you can stomach a little political/ social commentary in your movies, i.e. if you can see a film for adults, then this shouldn?t be a bother.
For me the biggest drawback of this remake is that it lacks the humanity of the first movie. While pointed there was still decency in characters and actions were done because they were right and are now marginalised in this new version. Shaw gains humanity not through his ?government for everyone? policies but through his relationship with Jocelyn.
Senator Jordan?s behaviour is dictated not by power-broking but doing what?s best. Marco?s relationship with Rosie, a woman on the train, is nothing more than a relationship? In this new version it?s given an agenda. It makes the film incredibly depressing especially considering this is Demme making a comment about how soulless society has become.
Overall it?s a smart, sophisticated psychological thriller that utilises the core of a great story, amazing performances and clever directing to make one of the better films of this year. Still, see the original.