Questions are always going to be asked when a classic movie is selected for the remake treatment, but 2004’s The Manchurian Candidate instantly washed away a great deal of doubts over the necessity of its own existence when an A-grade team of filmmakers and stars was announced.
Helmed by Academy Award-winning The Silence of the Lambs director Jonathan Demme and produced by EGOT alumni Scott Rudin, the ensemble cast was headlined by two-time Oscar victor Denzel Washington, with support coming from Meryl Streep, Jon Voight, Liev Schreiber, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright, Anthony Mackie, and literally dozens more esteemed talents.
Refitting the story of the 1962 Frank Sinatra vehicle for the modern age, Washington’s Ben Marco has spent years enduring nightmares stemming from his service in the Gulf War. An ambush on his squad left him with hazy memories, but the official party line has always maintained that Schreiber’s vice presidential candidate Raymond Shaw was the hero of the day.
However, Marco’s doubts grow in correlation with Shaw’s rise towards the top of the political tree, and something’s got to give as the two find their paths getting increasingly closer to crossing for the first time in over a decade, this time with far-reaching consequences for anyone who knows anything about the real truth.
The Manchurian Candidate V2.0 is an effective blockbuster thriller that thrives on performance above all else, and the Denzel factor means it’s always going to have the ability to surge on streaming. That’s exactly what’s been happening, too, with FlixPatrol naming the well-received redux as one of the top titles on the iTunes worldwide ranks.
