Few stars in Hollywood have been as consistently great as Denzel Washington. The star of "Fences,"
"Man on Fire," "Training Day," and many more has always been an electrifying presence on
screen no matter what the film. Still, as with any actor, Washington is at his best
when he's working alongside a great cast and visionary director. 2004's political conspiracy
thriller "The Manchurian Candidate," starring Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, and Meryl
Streep has all that and more. The film is one of the best psychological thrillers of
all time, and it's just started streaming on Netflix.
"The Manchurian Candidate" is a remake of a 1962 film of the same name — starring
Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, and Angela Lansbury — which tells the story of a soldier
who is brainwashed by Chinese Communists into becoming an unwitting assassin under the control
of his diabolical mother to further her power-grabbing goals. The original film was a massive success
when it was first released, earning two Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress
and Best Editing. It even received entry into the United States National Film Registry in
1994 for being culturally significant. As you might expect, that's a lot to live up
to when making a remake, but the 2004 version more than lives up to the original by remixing
the plot to better reflect modern-day concerns.
"It's crazy."
"It sounds crazy, doesn't it?"
"It sounds crazy."
"That 's what they wanted me to think too."
The 2004 version updates the time period from the Korean War to the War on Terror era and
the enemy from Communists to a shadowy multinational private equity firm with extensive political
connections called Manchurian Global.
Denzel Washington stars as Major Bennett Marco, a Gulf War veteran who served with Sergeant
Raymond Shaw. During a mission Marco commanded, Shaw single-handedly shot down a helicopter
full of enemy combatants and saved all but two men in the unit. He received the Medal
of Honor for his heroism. About a decade later, Shaw is a congressman being pushed into a
vice presidential run by his domineering mother, hawkish Virginia Senator Eleanor Prentiss
Shaw, while Marco is seemingly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder in the form
of nightmares about the mission — nightmares that seem like they might actually be buried
memories in which they commit unspeakable acts against their fellow soldiers. Marco
begins to investigate what really happened in the desert, and discovers that he and Shaw
have mind-control implants in their bodies. Manchurian Global is behind it, and they're
conspiring alongside elements in the government and the military to put Shaw, their puppet,
in the Oval Office.
"The Manchurian Candidate" was directed by Jonathan Demme, the versatile filmmaker best
known for "The Silence of the Lambs." The movie reunited Demme and Denzel Washington,
who previously worked together on the Oscar-winning 1993 film "Philadelphia," and it's clear that
their creative partnership wasn't affected during their time apart. The screenplay was
written by Daniel Pyne and Dean Georgaris. If the latter name sounds familiar to you,
it may be because he wrote the screenplay for the Jason Statham vehicle, "The Meg."
Though there's plenty of danger in "The Manchurian Candidate," don't expect to see any sharks.
Tina Sinatra, daughter of Frank Sinatra, served as one of the film's producers — her father
owned the rights to "The Manchurian Candidate," and she inherited the rights after his death
in 1998. The cast of "The Manchurian Candidate" is stacked with star power. In addition to
two of Hollywood's biggest and best movie stars, the movie features early appearances
from actors who went on to become stars, including Jeffrey Wright, Anthony Mackie, and Liev Schreiber's
brother Pablo as members of Marco and Shaw's unit. "The Conjuring" star Vera Farmiga is
on hand as Jocelyn Jordan, Shaw's ex-girlfriend and the daughter of Eleanor Shaw's political
nemesis, liberal senator Tom Jordan.
"The Manchurian Candidate" received positive reviews from critics, with an 80% "Certified
Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but wasn't a box office success and failed to generate
much awards interest. It's one of Meryl Streep's rare performances for which she was not nominated
for an Oscar, even though she definitely could have been. She gives a terrifying performance
as a politician poisoned by her addiction to power.
It's a sneaky good film that has aged very well, as the themes of corporate control of
government have only become more prescient in the years since. If you're in the mood
to watch a high-quality psychological political conspiracy thriller on Netflix, check out
"The Manchurian Candidate" as soon as possible.
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