Movie Review – The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
In honor of today’s presidential election here in the U.S., let’s take a look at the 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate.
Originally released in 1962, The Manchurian Candidate tells the story of war veterans who begin to sense that they may not really be who they think they are. Imagine if you would somebody who has been brainwashed (not to be confused with indoctrinated) and “programmed” to carry out instructions once they are successfully “activated” by a verbal command. Could you even stop the people behind the conspiracy?
What if a politician was secretly controlled by an unknown organization? Would the general public ever know? Could we, the people, handle the truth if such a conspiracy was ever proven to be true?
Throughout the Cold War with the Soviet Union, such a fear was prevalent throughout the country. Instead of fighting the U.S. on battlefields around the world, there were great concerns that the communists would instead infiltrate our society and slowly convert the minds of the general public. The conspiracy could, in time, allow such radicals to be elected into government offices, and there they could pass bills that would bring about the downfall of our country.
The Manchurian Candidate takes this fear to the next level by placing a “controlled” person to a high state of power within the U.S. government.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – (c) Paramount Pictures
The Manchurian Candidate begins in 1991 with a small unit of the U.S. Army in Kuwait near the Iraqi border. Operation Desert Storm is about to begin and this unit is scouting the location of enemy forces. The unit comes under enemy fire, and according to the tale, Sergeant Raymond Shaw (played by Liev Schreiber), heroically manned a machine gun on top of a Humvee and eliminated the attacking forces. Major Ben Marco (played by Denzel Washington) was in a state of shell-shock as Sergeant Shaw assumed command and led the men through the desert for three days, avoiding further enemy contact until they were reunited with American forces.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – (c) Paramount Pictures
That’s the story that Major Ben Marco recalls when telling his story over ten years later to an auditorium of Boy Scout troops. He tells them how Sergeant Shaw’s selfless actions earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest of awards that can be earned by a soldier. After his presentation, Marco has a chance encounter with Corporal Al Melvin (played by Jeffrey Wright), one of the soldiers in Marco’s unit. Melvin speaks with Marco and rattles on about having strange dreams with himself, Marco and Shaw back in the war. The problem is that Melvin’s memory of the night of the ambush is a little bit conflicting, and the events of the ambush may not be how everybody claims to remember them. Melvin shows Marco some drawings that he made after waking, and we see that Marco recognizes a drawing of a strange woman covered in tattoos. Marco dismisses it and tells Melvin to seek some medical help.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – (c) Paramount Pictures
In the years since the war, Raymond Shaw has made a political name for himself. He’s served as a Representative from New York for two terms, and he’s eyeing a higher position in his political party. Shaw’s mother, Senator Eleanor Shaw (played by Meryl Streep), has the same vision for her son’s rise in power, but she has the political muscle to make it happen. When meeting with members of her political party, Eleanor Shaw bullies them out of their pick of Senator Tom Jordan (played by Jon Voight) in the Vice President slot, and makes them select Raymond Shaw instead. Raymond Shaw used to date Tom Jordan’s daughter, Jocelyne Jordan (played by Vera Farmiga), but Eleanor Shaw put a stop to that years ago. Obviously, the tension between Tom Jordan and Eleanor Shaw still exists today.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Meanwhile, Ben Marco continues to have more and more vivid dreams about the night of the ambush in Iraq. He seems to remember something about being in a makeshift hospital and having him and his soldiers be brainwashed by unknown forces. Him and his men keep saying, “Raymond Shaw is probably the kindest, bravest, warmest, most selfless human being I’ve ever known.” This was the same exact phrase Corporal Al Melvin was recorded saying after their unit was “rescued” out in the desert. Marco tries to talk to Shaw about the events when their unit was “lost,” but Shaw refuses to speak with him.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Marco continues with his investigation into what really happened out in the desert. He tries to talk to Al Melvin, but Melvin is missing at his apartment. Marco breaks into Melvin’s apartment and finds a series of disturbing drawings, all of them related to his weird dreams. At a hotel during a campaign break, Raymond Shaw receives a telephone call from his mother, informing him of his progress. After her call there’s another phone call for Shaw, but this one is different. The voice on the other end instructs Shaw to proceed through a secret passage in the hotel’s bathroom closet. The neighboring room has been converted to a temporary laboratory, and there Shaw meets with the doctor in charge of the procedure (the same doctor back in the desert in 1991), and Raymond receives a new chip implanted in his brain.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Ben Marco takes his investigation into New York City. While riding on the train he meets Eugenie Rose (played by Kimberly Elise), the girl who normally bags his groceries for him at the store. She offers him a place to stay in the city at her sister’s home. Marco accepts, and after taking a shower, he discovers a strange lump on the back of his shoulder. He uses a knife to dig out a tiny chip that was implanted into his body. Rose enters the bathroom, startling Marco and causing him to drop the chip down the drain. His suspicions are confirmed though that something terrible happened to him and his men back in 1991.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Congressman Shaw is out campaigning in New York City, and Ben Marco pays him another visit. This time Shaw agrees to meet with his old unit’s commander, and the two of them have lunch at Shaw’s campaign headquarters. Shaw looks through the disturbing drawings in Melvin’s notebook and begins talking about his mother, Eleanor Shaw and her controlling methods, blaming his political success on her desires. Shaw admits having some sort of visions about the desert back in 1991, but he becomes irritable and violent when Marco pushes for him to seek treatment. Marco attacks Shaw, pinning him to the table and biting the implant out of Shaw’s shoulder. Marco is dragged out of the room by Shaw’s security forces, and Shaw is clearly shaken by Marco’s actions. Perhaps his former commander is right about the strange dreams and memories when the unit was “lost” for a few days.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Raymond Shaw doesn’t press charges and Ben Marco is ultimately released from custody. He’s informed that his actions have kicked him out of the military and he’s told to seek further mental health treatment. Marco instead takes the chip from Shaw’s shoulder to a neurologist friend of his and has the chip examined. Sure enough, the chip is so technologically advanced that it’s not even supposed to exist. Marco then has his friend ‘reboot’ his brain so he can possibly regain his true memories about what happened during the war.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – (c) Paramount Pictures
The medical experiment works and Ben Marco regains his memory of what really happened when his unit was “lost” back in 1991. As we see, Marco and Shaw were in a secret facility on a small island where the men were brainwashed and controlled with implants. Marco is ordered to kill one of the soldiers and Shaw kills another one as well.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Back at Rose’s place, Marco discovers a hidden camera and realizes that she has been recording his actions and conversations for some time now. He takes the recorded conversations and listens to them while researching Manchurian Global, an international weapons manufacturer and leader in new technology such as micro implants. He sees a picture of Dr. Atticus Noyle and recognizes him as the doctor who carried out the brainwashing.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Ben Marco takes his findings to Senator Tom Jordan, showing him the truth of what happened to Congressman Raymond Shaw back in 1991. Senator Jordan doesn’t really believe Marco’s outlandish story, but he becomes very suspicious of Raymond. Jordan confronts Raymond and Eleanor Shaw and presents the evidence to them, demanding that Raymond remove himself as the Vice President candidate. Eleanor refuses to let him bully her son out of the VP slot.
The next morning, Raymond Shaw pays Senator Jordan a visit at his home. The senator is kayaking in the river behind his house when Shaw arrives. He walks into the water, flips the boat, and holds Jordan underwater until he drowns. Jocelyne sees her father in trouble, and when she gets in the water Shaw attacks and drowns her as well. The media later broadcasts that Senator Jordan had an unfortunate boating accident, and when her daughter tried to save him, she drowned as well.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – (c) Paramount Pictures
After seeing the deaths of Senator Jordan and his daughter on TV, Marco confronts Rose at her home back in Washington, D.C. She awakens and holds him back at gunpoint, telling him her real identity as a federal agent. Marco tells her the real story about his and Shaw’s background, and Rose sees the grander conspiracy with Shaw’s upcoming election. Meanwhile, Eleanor Shaw is furious with Manchurian Global and the fact that people are discovering truths that were promised never to be revealed.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – (c) Paramount Pictures
On election day, Marco is able to have a secret meeting with Shaw at the polling center. There, Marco shows Shaw the evidence of the Manchurian Global connection to the brainwashing. Raymond seems to finally agree with Marco’s theory, and he even gives him his Medal of Honor, telling Marco that he never earned it. Eleanor Shaw calls Raymond during his secret meeting and asks to speak with Marco. He answers the call and Eleanor gives him a voice command, “activating” Ben Marco for an assignment.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Raymond Shaw and his running mate win the election, making Shaw the next Vice President of the United States. Before the victory party, we see Eleanor bathing and caressing her son, telling him of the plan that’s about to take place tonight. As long as Raymond stands on his designated spot, then he’ll be safe from Marco’s sniper shot when he takes out the President-elect at the rally. Raymond Shaw will become the next president, just as his mother intends.
The victory rally begins and we see Raymond Shaw and the future president take the stage in front of a roaring audience. Ben Marco is also seen up in the rafters, preparing his sniper rifle and the shot that will change history. Raymond is aware of his mother’s controlling ways and her connection with Manchurian Global. He intentionally takes a different spot on stage, blocking Marco’s shot at the president-elect. Shaw makes Eleanor dance with him on the stage in celebration. With a nod of his head, Raymond signals for Marco to take the shot, killing him and his mother. Marco does so and Raymond and Eleanor are both killed on stage. Rose and the FBI find Marco and stop him before he’s able to kill himself as programmed.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – (c) Paramount Pictures
Some time after the assassination, Ben Marco and Rose visit the small island where Marco’s unit was brainwashed back in 1991. Naturally, the island is deserted with only a few frames of long-empty buildings remain. The last surviving member of his “lost” unit, Marco places a photograph of the unit into the ocean and lets it wash away in the waves.
So is the movie any good?
The 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate is a thrilling film lead by a powerful cast of actors and actresses. This is a frightening tale where the intentions are real in everyday life, the technology to carry it out most likely exists, and you hope that the premise in the movie is just fiction.
Meryl Streep’s character is so spot-on to Hillary Clinton that you have to wonder if the producers meant to be that accurate. Streep’s character is downright chilling on screen the way she carries out the role as a career politician and controlling mother.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – movie trailer
Like many conspiracy movies, The Manchurian Candidate makes you wonder if just such an organization exists. Could your barber or next door neighbor secretly be controlled by The Powers That Be? Maybe some of our politicians have a secret past and are really making speeches and policy decisions on behalf of their “puppet master.”
Relax. The Manchurian Candidate is only a movie. Right?
Ben Marco – “This isn’t an election, this is a coup.”