Review of The Manchurian Candidate (2004) by Claire B — 25 Nov 2009

The captain of a recon patrol which went missing for three days in the deserts of Kuwait begins to question his own memories after a disturbing visit from one of his men. "Remake" is inevitably a dirty word in cinema but Jonathan "Silence Of The Lambs" Demme is no stranger to suspense, which along with a promising cast made this film a rather more interesting propostion than most Hollywood cash cows.

In fact Demme's skillful build up of tension combined with Denzel's believable performance as a man who is hallucinating, possibly delusional and questioning his sanity makes for a very intriguing foundation to the story.

It also chooses to avoid the usual laziness of most Hollywood thrillers by not including irrelevant gun battles and car chases, and has enough twists and turns to the plot to maintain the interest. It's a shame that the conclusion to the story doesn't live up to this initial promise, as the inclusion of hokey X-Files style technology and an increasingly preposterous plot is capped by an unsatisfying conclusion that feels like a half-hearted homage to The Dead Zone.

Certainly not a complete waste of time, but a decent finale might have realized the superior conspiracy thriller this could've been.