THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE

My goal to see all Meryl Streep movies continues. My most recent flick is The Manchurian Candidate. This is a 2004 remake of the 1962 film based on the novel of the same name.

The story revolves around a group of Gulf War veterans who are unaware that they were subjected to experimentation and brainwashing during their time in service. The purpose of this experimentation is to turn them into unknowing sleeper agents for forces bent on political and global domination.

Major Bennett Marco (Denzel Washington) is becoming cognizant of what happened to him and is working to discover the full extent of what he was subjected to… and why. One of his former servicemates is Congressman Raymond Prentiss Shaw (Liev Schreiber). Raymond is the son of Senator Eleonor Prentiss Shaw (Meryl Streep), a ruthlessly ambitious politician who is working to ensure her son becomes the next candidate for Vice President of the United States.

The acting is extremely good all the way around, but Schreiber stands out as the smarmy child of privilege private and public personas are so at odds with each other. I give credit to director Jonathan Demme for altering and updating enough of the story to make it interesting to those who might have seen the classic original. This film keeps you guessing despite its iconic and well-known plot.

This is a solid film and one well worth seeing if good suspense is something you enjoy. But if pressed to choose between this version or the original, the original wins hands down.