The “Manchurian” of the title is now “Manchurian Global,” a corporation obviously modeled on Halliburton, down to the no-bid contracts and overcharges in Iraq. The terrible new threat in Demme’s remake isn’t Reds or terrorists but a multinational conglomerate-which functions, as the recent documentary The Corporation contends, with the same level of conscience as a DSM-IV textbook psychopath. And it was released during the Cuban missile crisis, when peoples’ heads were already messed up. Joseph McCarthy when the themes of brainwashing and the bomb and ‘50s ultrasensitive momma’s boys and Freudian monster-mamas all coalesced into the freakiest paranoid melodrama the country had ever seen. Another gaping logic hole opens up when Raymond Shaw, Vice Presidential candidate, is activated to personally do the dirty work once the conspiracy is threatened, another highly implausible and self-defeating tactic from evil plotters with supposedly every angle covered.Of course, it would have to have something new to add, wouldn’t it? The Frankenheimer-Axelrod adaptation of Richard Condon’s bracingly unsentimental novel is indelibly early ‘60s: when fear of the Red Menace collided head-on with revulsion for the Red-baiting legacy of Sen. Resorting to an elaborate and dangerous plot to brainwash soldiers in the middle of the desert to serve a political purpose seems disingenuous in the extreme. In modern day politics organizations like Manchurian Global easily buy and sell high ranking politicians with good old fashioned graft. The film works hard to establish a fledgling bond between the high-flying Raymond Shaw and his forgotten former commander Bennett Marco, and the investment pays off as the resolution unfolds.īut the script can't shake a couple of significant problems. Demme keeps the pace moving, and the 130 minutes zoom by fairly effortlessly. The Manchurian Candidate offers a pleasing mix of conspiracy, back-room politics, a personal quest for the truth, frazzled flashbacks, wicked science, police work and a rush against time to a satisfying climax. Wisely not competing with the grim aesthetic of the original, Demme applies a thorough shine to this version, with electoral machines in full swing, corporate chicanery operating behind the scenes and the media cycle reporting on every detail. The story is updated to the present day, with the Gulf War and the war on terrorism replacing the Korean War and the war on communism respectively. Marco reaches out to Shaw, but uncovering truth from fiction and the real motives at play will not be easy.ĭirected by Jonathan Demme and with an all-star cast, this remake is not as needless as most. Risking his reputation and his life, Marco digs into the story and uncovers the involvement of Manchurian Global, a private equity conglomerate heavily invested in arms deals, funding politicians and dangerous science.
Meanwhile, Marco is struggling with vivid dreams that suggest the story of the Kuwait firefight is more manufactured than real, and that all the unit members may have been subjected to mind control techniques. He is also in the running to be named as the Vice Presidential candidate on his party's ticket for the upcoming election. Shaw is a respected Congressman but very much under the influence of his domineering mother Senator Eleanor Prentiss Shaw (Meryl Streep). Years later, the US is involved on multiple fronts in the war against terrorism. Although two soldiers are consequently killed and the unit is lost in the desert for three days, after the ordeal Shaw is awarded the Medal Of Honor for his bravery and leadership in battle, based on the testimony of Marco and all the surviving men. Marco is knocked out, and Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber) takes charge. A remake of the 1962 classic, the 2004 version of The Manchurian Candidate updates the story and adds glossy treatment and star power, but loses some soul and grit in the process.ĭuring the 1991 Gulf War to liberate Kuwait, a small US army reconnaissance unit under the command of Major Bennett Marco (Denzel Washington) engages the enemy in a fierce fire fight.