This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Such a frustrating disappointment

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

What it lacks in subtlety it makes up for in blandness. The performances are great, but they spend so much time uncomfortably staring directly through the screen and into my soul that I can't ignore the overtly broad and ridiculously conspiratorial dialogue. I really should've watched the original first.

Gulf war veterans Ben Marco (Denzel Washington) and Raymond Shaw (Live Schreiber) are comrades in Kuwait in 1991, but when their platoon is attacked under mysterious circumstances the two men end up separated with little recollection of what happened after their platoon was attacked. Fast forward 13 years and the two men meet again under very different circumstances and both men soon learn that they were part of a terrible experiment.First of all I would like to say that I have not seen the original film so anyone who wants a blow-by-blow analysis between the two films is best off looking elsewhere, but for what it's worth this is my take on this version of The Manchurian Candidate...I believe that this is categorised as a Conspiracy thriller and in that respect it works very well; it's easy to become swept up in the paranoia of the whole thing and the fact that Washington's character is always just about on the right side of sanity helps to keep things interesting and help give the film a sense of urgency. Although some elements of the narrative are slightly predictable (clearly there is a government conspiracy of some kind involved), but in these type of films knowing what is involved is only half the battle and knowing why said party is involved and how this aspect of the story is going to be resolved is the other half of the puzzle and that's where The Manchurian Candidate does come good. Live Schreiber is the other strong link in the film and is on the other side of the fence in the early stages - in comparison to Washington's character he is apathetic and content in his elevated position in society and although he thinks Washington is crazy at first he slowly starts to believe that his old commander is perhaps more sane than anyone else. These two characters are what drive this picture forward and they manage to steal the limelight from veterans such as Streep and Voight - the former to me shows off a bit and the latter isn't given much to do.What I liked about this film though is that it is a clever film with a strong narrative, but it's never a film that goes overboard by trying to be too clever - in other words it doesn't tie itself in several plot twist knots. The ending is clever, but it's clever in a way that gets you thinking rather than being a silly curve ball style ending.My only real criticism with this film (and it is minor) is that Demme does get carried away stylistically at times - some of the dream sequences are overdone and a tad silly, but that's about as far as my criticism goes with this film. As I mentioned earlier, I haven't seen the original film so cannot comment on what that film is like, but for fans of conspiracy thrillers this version is definitely worth a look.

I haven't seen the original Sinatra movie, but for me this movie presents quite a solid story with quite a few unpredictable surprises along the way at some of the most unpredictable spots. A political thriller at most, this movie walks on one of the most classic assassin plot lines; an able man being brain-washed into being an effective assassin and another who tries to rid him from the brain-wash grasp. What I like is the twists and turns particularly the ones near the movie's ending where the seemingly protagonist and the puppet switch places for a moment. The overall acting is quite nice. Denzel Washington is as always able to live up the mystery driven character of Bennett Marco. Liev Schreiber also did well enough in portraying the steadfast man that's yet confused about his past. Having Jon Voight and Meryl Streep really help in putting the seriousness into the story.

This version of the movies is a bridge to the show "Homeland"-some interesting real-life history about both of them athttp://www.koreanconfidential.com/manchuriancandidatesreport.htmlThis version of the movies is a bridge to the show "Homeland"-some interesting real-life history about both of them athttp://www.koreanconfidential.com/manchuriancandidatesreport.htmlThis version of the movies is a bridge to the show "Homeland"-some interesting real-life history about both of them athttp://www.koreanconfidential.com/manchuriancandidatesreport.html11