Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to his second movie of 2004, the remake of The Manchurian Candidate.
As a fan of the original, I skipped this upon release. This was my first time watching and I'm glad I didn't watch the above trailer, as it gives away some big reveals.
This isn't in the same league as the original, but it's a damn good movie, in its own right. It keeps the same plot, but changes key elements, which helped make it seem fresh.
This would be the last time Washington was directed by Jonathan Demme (Philadelphia, Devil In A Blue Dress) who does a great job.
This is superbly acted by a great cast, that includes Meryl Streep, Jon Voight, Liev Schreiber (who worked with Denzel in The Hurricane), Kimberly Elise (who played Washington's wife in John Q), Jeffrey Wright,, Dean Stockwell (Al from Quantum Leap) and Charles Napier (Murdoch from Rambo: First Blood Part 2) pop up, as does Verna Farmiga and Anthony Mackie in one of his first big screen roles.
Random fact 1: Tina Sinatra, who was instrumental in deciding to remake the film, inherited the production rights from her father, Frank Sinatra, who played Bennett Marco in the 1962 version.
Random fact 2: Denzel Washington admitted before making this remake that he had never seen the John Frankenheimer original movie.
The Manchurian Candidate grossed $65 million at the domestic box office and was the 45th highest grossing movie of 2004.
As a fan of the original, I skipped this upon release. This was my first time watching and I'm glad I didn't watch the above trailer, as it gives away some big reveals.
This isn't in the same league as the original, but it's a damn good movie, in its own right. It keeps the same plot, but changes key elements, which helped make it seem fresh.
This would be the last time Washington was directed by Jonathan Demme (Philadelphia, Devil In A Blue Dress) who does a great job.
This is superbly acted by a great cast, that includes Meryl Streep, Jon Voight, Liev Schreiber (who worked with Denzel in The Hurricane), Kimberly Elise (who played Washington's wife in John Q), Jeffrey Wright,, Dean Stockwell (Al from Quantum Leap) and Charles Napier (Murdoch from Rambo: First Blood Part 2) pop up, as does Verna Farmiga and Anthony Mackie in one of his first big screen roles.
Random fact 1: Tina Sinatra, who was instrumental in deciding to remake the film, inherited the production rights from her father, Frank Sinatra, who played Bennett Marco in the 1962 version.
Random fact 2: Denzel Washington admitted before making this remake that he had never seen the John Frankenheimer original movie.
The Manchurian Candidate grossed $65 million at the domestic box office and was the 45th highest grossing movie of 2004.