The Manchurian Candidate is a 2004 American psychological political thriller film directed and produced by Jonathan Demme. It is a remake of the 1962 film, in turn adapted from Richard Condon's 1959 novel. It stars Denzel Washington as Bennett Marco, a tenacious, virtuous soldier; Liev Schreiber as Raymond Shaw, a U.S. Representative from New York, manipulated into becoming a vice-presidential candidate; Jon Voight as U.S. Senator Tom Jordan, a challenger for vice president; and Meryl Streep as Eleanor Prentiss Shaw, also a U.S. Senator and Raymond's manipulative ruthless mother.
While the name of the novel and the earlier film was retained, the significance of "Manchurian" was changed. In the original, the protagonist was captured in the Korean War and brainwashed by the Chinese army in Manchuria. In the 2004 film, with the Korean War replaced by the Gulf War, Manchurian is instead used as the name of a sinister multinational company.
The film was released by Paramount Pictures on July 30, 2004. It received positive reviews and was a moderate commercial success. Meryl Streep was nominated for a BAFTA Award and Golden Globe for her performance.
Contents
Plot
Major Bennett Marco commanded a U.S. Army unit during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Sergeant First Class Raymond Shaw was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions following an enemy ambush of his reconnaissance patrol in Kuwait. Shaw led all but two survivors of the patrol on a three-day escape through the desert. Shaw is now a U.S. congressman whose ruthless mother, Virginia Senator Eleanor Prentiss Shaw, uses her influence to secure his nomination as the vice-presidential candidate over the favorite, Senator Tom Jordan. Shaw also resents her role in the break-up of his relationship with childhood sweetheart Jocelyn, Senator Jordan's daughter, prior to his enlistment.
One of Marco's former soldiers, Al Melvin, confesses to him he's having confusing dreams about the ambush, in which the patrol's soldiers are captured, tortured and brainwashed. Marco feels compelled to investigate and travels to New York City. En route he meets an outgoing supermarket clerk named Rosie who knows his name. Marco accepts her offer of lodgings. While showering at her apartment, he digs at a small lump he finds on his upper back and dislodges a metal object that falls down the sink after Rosie forces her way inside the bathroom in response to his sounds of distress.
Marco confronts Shaw at campaign headquarters, wrestles him to the ground and bites his back to remove an implant he suspects is there. Marco is arrested and released when Shaw refuses to press charges. He returns to Rosie's apartment still concealing Shaw's implant in his mouth. His friend Delp analyzes it, and surmises its purpose was storage of emergency medical data. He is aware of a parallel project for implantables funded by Manchurian Global, a powerful private equity firm with major political connections, including Senator Shaw. Delp administers electro-convulsive therapy with methohexital to Marco and he summons clearer recollections that he was brainwashed during the mission, and that the two missing soldiers were in fact killed by him and Shaw. He learns he's under surveillance when he discovers microcassettes in Rosie's handbag containing recordings of their conversations.
His research on Manchurian Global in the public library produces the name of Dr. Atticus Noyle, a South African geneticist accused of human experimentation on political prisoners during Apartheid who is involved in scientific research for Manchurian Global regarding novel memory implants. He shows his findings to Senator Jordan, who confronts the Shaws by connecting Dr. Noyle's work on deep implant behaviour modification financed by Manchurian Global during Desert Storm, Marco and Shaw's three day disappearance in the desert, and subsequent dreams and recollections of the patrol's members. When he suggests that Shaw withdraw from the campaign, Eleanor "activates" Shaw and orders him to kill Jordan. Jocelyn is killed trying to stop Shaw from murdering Jordan.
Cast
In addition, cameos include: director Sidney Lumet as a political pundit, filmmaker Roger Corman as the Secretary of State, actor and future US Senator (2009–2018) Al Franken as a reporter, and humorist Roy Blount Jr. as a political pundit.
Production
Tina Sinatra was a co-producer of the film. Her father Frank Sinatra portrayed Marco in the original 1962 film and owned that film's legal distribution rights into the late 1980s, never re-releasing it during that time (although it did air on network television several times). In the original, nationally released during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the premise was based on communists taking control; in this remake, big corporate influence serves as the evil faction, a twist to maintain the "Manchurian connection". The remake does not follow the original film's plot details on several occasions.
The film's Persian Gulf War scenes were filmed in New Jersey.
Reception
Box office
The Manchurian Candidate grossed $66.0 million domestically (United States and Canada) and $30.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $96.1 million, against a production budget of $80 million. Released Jul 30, 2004, it opened at No. 3 and spent its first four weeks in the Top 10 at the domestic box office.
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 208 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "While not the classic its predecessor is, this update is well-acted and conjures a chilling resonance." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 76 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote of Streep, "No one can talk about the acting in The Manchurian Candidate without rhapsodizing about Streep (in the role originated by Angela Lansbury). She has the Hillary hair and the Karen Hughes attack-dog energy, but the charm, the inspiration, and the constant invention are her own. She gives us a senator who's a monomaniac, a mad mommy and master politician rolled into one, a woman firing on so many levels that no one can keep up – someone who loves being evil as much as Streep loves acting. She's a pleasure to watch and to marvel at every second she's onscreen."
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