The Manchurian Candidate [Blu-ray]

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Starring: Miguel Ferrer, Bruno Ganz, Robyn Hitchcock, Ted Levine, Simon McBurney
Binding: Blu-ray
Published: 2008-06-03

$19.95

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The Manchurian Candidate [Blu-ray]

Editorial Review:

Academy Award® winners Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep, along with Golden Globe and Emmy nominee Liev Schreiber, mesmerize a whole new generation of audiences in Academy Award® winner Jonathan Demme's "The Manchurian Candidate." As the entire nation watches the presidential campaign hurtle towards Election Day, one soldier races to uncover the conspiracy behind it - a conspiracy that seeks to destroy democracy itself.
The Manchurian Candidate, a classic of paranoid cinema from the 1960s, gets a cunning update, rife with hot-topic references to corporate war profiteering and electronic voting machines. Major Ben Marco (Denzel Washington, Training Day) has been haunted by nightmares ever since a firefight during the first Gulf War--a battle in which he believes he was saved by the heroism of Sgt. Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber, Kate & Leopold). But Marco's nightmares suggest otherwise and drive him to investigate what happened, which may threaten Shaw's candidacy for vice-president. Meryl Streep plays Shaw's mother, a senior senator who manipulates everyone around her with an iron will and a sharp tongue. The Manchurian Candidate loses steam towards the end, but up until then director Jonathan Demme keeps the movie rolling fluidly, crafting some creepy paranoia of his own while Streep tears into everything in her path. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

How Much Do People Control a Democracy?:

Jonathan Demme's version of "The Manchurian Candidate" was a favorite film of mine that recently came to my DVD collection as the result of a great price. Demme won the Oscar for directing "Silence of the Lambs" in 1991. I enjoyed watching the DVD extra interviews with him, only wondering why he didn't use a razor. :)
There is no doubt that with two Oscars for "Kramer vs. Kramer" in 1979, "Sophie's Choice" in 1982 & numerous other nominations, Meryl Streep is one of the most acclaimed actresses of... more info

The Manchurian Candidate, an updated political thriller:

The political importance of The Manchurian Candidate, a movie based on the novel written by Richard Condon, is excellent because it teaches us how power corrupts and absolute power has the ability to corrupt people, process and society absolutely. Lina Navarini and I set out to see the version played by Frank Sinatra in 1962, followed by this remake by Denzel Washington.
The first movie takes place during the aftermath of the Korean War, but now the plot takes place after the Gulf War. Now played by... more info

Had Potential:

I was disappointed. Meryl Streep was the star of this one, she really didn't need the supporting actors. They could have done a lot with this movie which had my attention in the beginning, but once I figured out what was going on (35 minutes into it) it became boring and predictable. I agree with another reviewer, Denzel did what he could with what was given to him, his pitiful character was sad to watch. They could have done more with Kimberly Elyse as well.
The movie wasn't horrible, it's just one... more info

A new incarnation that works well:

Manchurian Candidate is closer to the original, at least in spirit, than might be expected. But it's not the exact movie, and it hardly could have been. The relevance of the original to today's events counts little to an audience with little sense of history, and that has a hard time drawing meaning from any social context out of its experience. One glimpse of black and white films stock, men in felt brim hats, and cinematic conventions from an earlier era, and most teenyboppers under the age of thirty grab... more info

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