ECD and I just finished watching The Manchurian Candidate (2004) with Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, and Meryl Streep. It was OK and I was liking it pretty well until near the end when I was mightily offended by one particular scene that was unnecessary to the story and completely repulsive. If you’ve seen the movie, then you might know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, then let me spare you the rental now.

As a remake, this one isn’t too bad. But I’d like to point you in the direction of the original, 1962 version starring Frank Sinatra, Lawrence Harvey, and Angela Lansbury. I know that I plan to add it to my Netflix queue for a rewatch.

***THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SPOILERS - AVERT THINE EYES IF YOU DON’T WISH TO KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY***

Denzel and Liev are both excellent. Meryl is just plain creepy - from the git go. And that’s where the remake loses some of it’s impact. In the original, while we understood the mother to be manipulative, there’s still that shocking element at the climax. In the remake she’s so far beyond mere manipulation that the scene at the end that I object to was almost a forgone conclusion. The unstated implication of the Oedipal complex was enough - putting it front and center was a cheap attempt at adding new shock value - maybe for those of us who have seen the original? Who knows the reasoning behind it - it was a bad call.

Sadly, I can’t recommend the remake of the movie, although I give it 2 stars out of 5 for good performances by Denzel and Liev. Another strong performand was by Kimberly Elise as Rosie (Eugenie Rose in the original - played then by Janet Leigh).

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