The Manchurian Candidate

Paramount Pictures | Release Date: July 30, 2004

7.7	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 111 Ratings

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PatC.Apr 6, 2006

Tries to replicate the tension of the original, which expressed the paranoia of communist ideology run amuck. Imputing such ideological drive to a corporation is a push. The quest for money by people who lack the motivation created from Tries to replicate the tension of the original, which expressed the paranoia of communist ideology run amuck. Imputing such ideological drive to a corporation is a push. The quest for money by people who lack the motivation created from missing a lot of meals is neither compelling nor accurate. Some good acting, though.… Expand

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TyranianFeb 23, 2020

Decent thriller with very good performance from Washington though blunders a couple of crucial plot points.

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YorkManMar 23, 2016

The Manchurian Candidate is a weak 'remake' of the classic early 60's Cold War paranoia masterpiece.

It in itself isn't a bad film, but it removes so many of the layers of the original it feels more like a TV movie, than a relatively bigThe Manchurian Candidate is a weak 'remake' of the classic early 60's Cold War paranoia masterpiece.

It in itself isn't a bad film, but it removes so many of the layers of the original it feels more like a TV movie, than a relatively big budget Hollywood produced film.

Like the original the narrative is borne out of a conspiracy to place a sleeper agent in the White House, except this time it's not the Communist Chinese government at work, but a large multi-national company seeking to have someone in power who can increase their influence and profit potential.

So, the stakes are massively reduced for a start, and that hurts the movie greatly. We sit and watch events unfold, but the reality is that even if the 'bad guys' succeed, it's not going to be pushing the Government towards a pro-Communist stance etc.!

The acting in the film is good enough, the main leads are doing their best with a weak script. The action scenes are more interesting, as this movie goes more into detail about the 'brainwashing' than the original, and is quite harrowing. The score is by the numbers stuff, which is about all you can say about the direction too.... It's adequately done, but you can't sit there watching and wonder how much better it could have been, because there's nothing in the film that stands out.

Bad points just revolve around the lazy narrative. Updating such a classic to a 'modern' setting wasn't going to be easy, and this film proves that to be the case. However, it's not a lamentable attempt, it's just lazy.

It's a film to watch, if you've never seen it. Not a film to actively avoid. However, if you've never seen the original..... Then watch that, instead of this!… Expand

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DawdlingPoetNov 27, 2021

This is a somewhat sinister film, with a relatively decent performance by Denzel Washington, although it didn't feel engrossing enough to fully grab my attention and I feel it missed something of substance but its hard to say quite what. TheThis is a somewhat sinister film, with a relatively decent performance by Denzel Washington, although it didn't feel engrossing enough to fully grab my attention and I feel it missed something of substance but its hard to say quite what. The story is a sobering one - I can imagine people who may have been, shall we say tampered with, being regarded as paranoid but this isn't quite 'Men in Black' level, special effects wise or otherwise. The themes are obviously quite serious and not at all comedic really, especially in this day and age of unstable politics, I suppose. Indeed it has an element of the classic novel 1984 about it, I suppose. I felt there was perhaps an element of over acting at times, while at other times almost the opposite applied, in that there wasn't perhaps as much emotion expressed as I expected and not just down to the brainwashing aspect of the plot. However, I certainly wouldn't say the film is unwatchable - it features a decent cast with Meryl Streep, Jon Voight and Denzel Washington but I certainly wouldn't say its a particularly good film. It had/has potential and its ok but not great, so overall I wouldn't especially recommend it, no, although its certainly a thought provoking film.… Expand

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rfichokeJun 14, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This movie disturbed me—not because it was a tense thriller, but because it falls so flat. The acting is decent enough and the cinematography and direction is alright. Where it fails is the plot and writing. So much is left out that would have driven the plot or made us feel deep emotion: connection to the protagonists or hatred for the villains. But it’s just not there.

We see a lot of Streep as the frontline antagonist. But what exactly is her connection to the evil corporation behind the scenes? No idea. We barely see anything of them. And I don’t just mean on screen. There’s very little information to fill in any gaps at all. What exactly are they doing? Why are they so evil? They already completely control everything with money, so why would they need to have a brainwashed President anyway? There’s no risk here because there’s nothing to be gained.

The same goes for the scientist doing the implants. What drives him? What’s his relationship to Manchurian Global or Streep’s character? Again, no idea. He’s barely present in the film either. I can’t even remember his name. We’re told he’s “South African.” Are we just supposed to assume that South African = apartheid = terrible villain? I suppose so, but why not show us something that makes us truly fear and hate him?

And there’s a scientist helping The Good Guys too. Who is he? How did he become involved? What happens to him? We can guess, but we shouldn’t have to. If we guess, we’ll just come up with the same boring predictable cliches that the writers seem to have had in mind but were too lazy to bother showing us. That seems to be the intent: just insert your own cartoonish stock Bond-villains and side characters and watch the dumb movie.

And the ending! It comes out of nowhere, but not in a good way, like the climax of an episode of The Twilight Zone. It’s more like they ran out of time and couldn’t think of anything truly disturbing or thought-provoking, so they lazily slapped on an “and they all lived happily ever after” epilogue. And it’s so disjointed stylistically from what just happened previously that you’re sitting there for a minute trying to figure out if this is even the same movie.

Lazy is the only word for this movie. It doesn’t leave your head swimming with possibilities or fears or anything else. It just leaves you bored and annoyed.… Expand

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