The Manchurian Candidate details
| Formats: | 15 DVD, Blu-ray |
|---|---|
| Starring: | Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, Jon Voigt, Ted Levine, Jon Voight, Bruno Ganz, Jeffrey Wright, Vera Farmiga, Meryl Streep, Kimberly Elise, Simon McBurney |
| Director: | Jonathan Demme |
| Genres: | Drama, Thriller |
| Studio: | PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Collections: | Top 400 All-Time Rentals |
| Name | Discs | |
|---|---|---|
The Manchurian Candidate |
15 Feature |
DVD Information
| Run time: | 2 hours 9 minutes |
|---|---|
| Rental release: | 04 Apr 2005 |
| Main languages: | English |
| Dubbed: | German |
| Subtitles: | Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, Turkish |
| Hearing impaired subtitles: | English |
Write your own review
Most helpful review
A bland remake of a classic film
By Philip Concannon from London , 05 Feb 2005[Highly rated reviewer]
The fact that Jonathan Demme's remake doesn't live up to the original comes as little surprise, unfortunately the film fails to impress even when taken on it's own merits. Pedestrian and uninvolving, it had me checking my watch within the first hour. It takes forever for the film to set up the basic premise and then never really delivers on it. The plotting is obvious and often ludicrous, leaving some gaping holes along the way.
'The Manchurian Candidate's main strength is in its fine cast, but not the leading man. Washington just seems to sit there in the middle of the screen for long periods, offering nothing of interest until he switches into his twitchy, sweaty, paranoid mode. It's probably the least engaging performance I've ever seen from this normally compelling actor.
Meryl Streep delivers her usual strong performance as Raymond Shaw's mother, and she gets all the best lines, but the real stand-out is Liev Schreiber as Shaw. He's convincingly slick as the aspiring polititian but also vulnerable and racked with doubt when he needs to be. John Voight is excellent in an all-too-brief role but Kimberly Elise is saddled with a very poorly-conceived character that she can't do much with.
The most disappointing thing about 'The Manchurian Candidate' is how a very creepy and unusual film has been transformed into a straight-faced, slick blockbuster, indistinguishable from many other conspiracy thrillers. Demme's tricksy, cluttered direction is annoying, as are his endless point-of-view shots(which worked well in the confines of 'Silence of the Lambs' but not here).
Demme does get one over on Frankenheimer's film with the well-orchestrated assassination climax, but too often this falls short. And its desperate attempts to make everything seem topical and relevant will ensure it quickly dates while the original continues to shine- Was this review helpful to you?
- (45) Yes |
- No (17)
All reviews
(450)good film
By a customer , 17 Apr 2012Read the reviews, but thought that I would give it a go anyway
and it was better than I thought it would, it held your interest
I had not seen the one befor, this one, so yes I thought it was good, the ending was a suprise.- Was this review helpful to you?
- (0) Yes |
- No (0)
What a stodgy lot of nonsense
By Whippet9 (83 reviews) from Brighton , 29 Sep 2011THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Show review anywayHide
- Was this review helpful to you?
- (0) Yes |
- No (1)
See the original first
By MeadowScreen (8 reviews) from Braintree , 08 Sep 2011Not as good as the original - yes, I know that's corny, but it simply isn't. Some weird jump-cuts in the editing; my guess is that it had some heavy cuts.- Was this review helpful to you?
- (1) Yes |
- No (0)
Not Denzel's finest
By Moggys (1 review) , 01 Aug 2011This should have been a fantastic film but as it happens is not one of Denzel's best. Film was boring in parts but we watched through to the end. Disappointing.- Was this review helpful to you?
- (0) Yes |
- No (1)
Prime Candidate
By Robinski (152 reviews) from Glasgow , 18 Jul 2011Denzel Washington, ever reliable, does man on the edge with panache in this twisting political thriller, updating the 1962 Frank Sinatra / Laurence Harvey / Janet Leigh / Angela Lansbury version from Korea to the Gulf. Liev Schreiber puts in a strong performance as Jonathan Demme guides events to their rousing conclusion, and Meryl Streep is excellent as the conniving mother. Cracking entertainment.- Was this review helpful to you?
- (1) Yes |
- No (0)
