Review of The Manchurian Candidate (2004) by Kimberley F — 12 Aug 2011

This remake is directed very well, but the whole time you keep wondering why the corporation didn't have a tighter rein on Marco. In the original, the focus was on Raymond, and the decision to reverse this changes the feel and gives the remake a new take on the story, but it has the added difficulty of being a much harder plot device to handle.

The remake beats the original in one major way though: Denzel's casting choice. He is superb as usual. However, Streep is a pale imitation of Lansbury, both less ruthless and dumber to boot. And perhaps the biggest flaw, Liev Schreiber simply doesn't have enough to work with; he feels constrained in every scene he's in, and the love plot with the senator's daughter might as well not be there (though it was sorely underdeveloped in the original as well).

He was at the center of the original, being both unwitting, innocent, conflicted, and sympathetic. Here, you barely get any of that, which is a shame because it pushes through every so often. Finally, the political bent is tougher to incorporate than in the original; that one focused on McCarthyism while here it's big business, government, and the Middle East all rolled into one.

I'm actually impressed at how multilayered the whole thing ends up being, yet pissed because it feels rushed and rough around the edges. Some transitions are jarring and some music choices just ruin the atmosphere.

Although it runs over two hours, it feels like some important bits were cut.