The Manchurian Candidate 2004

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The Manchurian Candidate ★★★ 2004 (R)

Political cynicism is at its most sinister in this updated take on the 1962 John Frankenheimer classic. Remake changes Ben Marco (Washington) and Raymond Shaw(Schreiber) from Korean War to Gulf War I vets. Shaw is now a New York congressman, with mom, Sen. Eleanor Shaw (Streep) pulling his strings. Marco comes to believe that his men were brainwashed by mega-corporation Manchurian Global who, with Eleanor's aid, are positioning Shaw to be a vice-presidential candidate who they can control via microchip. Washington is properly heroic and tormented while Schreiber is tormented and forlorn. Streep has fun with her power-hungry, mother-knows-best viper. Based on the novel by Richard Condon. 130m/C DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD, HD DVD . US Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, Meryl Streep, Kimberly Elise, Vera Farmiga, Jon Voight, Jeffrey Wright, Sakina Jaffrey, Simon McBurney, Pablo Schreiber, Ted Levine, Bruno Ganz, Dean Stockwell, Miguel Ferrer, Jude Ciccolella, Zeljko Ivanek, Obba Babatunde, Charles Napier, Roger Corman, Robert Castle, John Bedford Lloyd, Anthony Mackie, Paul Lazar, Tom Stechschulte, Be Be Winans, Robyn Hitchcock, David Keeley, Dan Olmstead, Walter Mosley; D: Jonathan Demme; W: Dean Georgaris, Daniel Pyne; C: Tak Fujimoto; M: Rachel Portman, Nelust Wyclef Jean.

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