The Manchurian Candidate

[Jasdero]

Okay, I don't see a thread for this yet, so I'll just start it. I'm looking foward to seeing this movie. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see it today because my brother wants me to take him to see A Series Of Unfortunate Events and he made his sad face when I told him I didn't want to, so, yeah.. I lost... But! I will see this later! A Series Of Unfortunate Events looks pretty decent. Jim Carrey is always awesome, so I guess I'll live through it... I didn't like the book series though... There's a lot of movies coming to theaters today. Must be some kind of box office competition thing. But anyways, if anyone sees The Manchurian Candidate, could you tell me if you recommend it or not? Thank you. : )
I do hope it's okay if I make this thread....

Edit : I messed up. X_X A Series of Unfortunate Events is coming out on December 17th, we went to see iRobot. Shows how much I know. V_V

[Bobtheduck]

This movie is very political, despite the great premise it appears they were using this particular incarnation (I think it's a remake) as a Bush bashing thing... That's what I had heard on Larry King, anyhow. I still want to see it, despite that (I'm for Bush, obviously) If it is as political as I had heard, this thread may get shut down.

Supposedly, the original (which Ihaven't seen) was about a president being controlled by China that ended up being assassinated... It was one of those "too close to reality" things because Kenedy was assassinated not long after it was made... It's the same story with some minor changes, and now the president is being controlled by a big business (hmm... I've heard that Mantra before) Well, Bush was elected on a 10 year (2000). Hmm... And he picked a penny up WRONG SIDE UP! Hmm... I know, I'm rambling. Call me Ramblo. *takes out guns loaded with lectures and monologues*

[Jasdero]

Uh-oh.. Oops, yeah.. it is political, isn't it? Hmm, well! then we'll just have to ask people to just say whether they liked or not, and not get into a political debate. I hope it doesn't get closed though... I just wanted to express my excitement... Heh, I should have thought about it more before I made this thread. V_V
But I still want to see the Manchurian Candidate! It looks awesome.

[Ashley]

Actually, the original was about several soldiers who were kidnapped and brainwashed in Korea, one of them being the stepson of a famous senator who was running for office (and who accused the senate of having communists in it, a la McCarthy). One of these soldiers has been trained to become a perfect assasin, and his buddy who was also in the war is trying to piece together what happened to him, who wants to control him, and how to stop it. It is then they uncover what's really going on:

[spoiler]The senator and his wife are communists and the wife is the one controlling the assasin. Because the assasin has no memory of his actions once you said a keyword or two, he never remembers doing anything out of the norm, much less being a killer or who is telling him to do so. The senator's wife plans on having the assasin shoot the democratic nominee at the national convention and thereby sweeping the nation to their side and voting in her husband so they can be communists[/spoiler]

While yes, the original was a little close to reality at the time and a bit political (critizing McCarthyness) it was an excellent movie, and one of the best I've seen. I definately look forward to the remake, and I'd suggest you go see the original first. Most rental stores would have it I'd imagine.

[glitch1501]

i want to see this movie i think, so there isnt any anti-america/bush things in it?

[shooraijin]

The original was excellent, one of the best political thrillers out there (Angela Lansbury's role is particularly startling ... and not a little bit terrifying, too). I'm personally displeased with some of the liberties taken with the remake, although I'll admit Liev Schreiber is a good choice for Laurence Harvey's role, at least physically.

[Yojimbo]

i want to see this movie i think, so there isnt any anti-america/bush things in it?

Basically the movie is anti-capitalistic in my mind and instead of communism being the antagonist, like in the original, it's big business.

[Jasdero]

Oh, so there's an original version, and this one is the remake. Gotcha.

[Bobtheduck]

So the intents are opposing? Hmm... Whatever. This looks like an interesting movie, despite my political standings. I will probably see it.l

[Jasdero]

Yay! I get to go see it tommorow!!! Or today, depending on your time zone.. : ) I'm excited.

Call me Ramblo. *takes out guns loaded with lectures and monologues*

Lol. ::duck and cover, duck and cover::

[Ashley]

I just came back from seeing it this morning--and yes, it is a little political, but the politics of it takes a bit of a diminished role. Yes it's there and yes there's some modern stuff in it--like domestic agendas and war on terror and what have you--but it's not the main focus.

I will say this--it's different from the original. They really changed much of the plot, and well, while it works nicely, it loses some of the punch from the original. IMO.

[Jaltus-bot]

How different is the plot? I've been looking forward to seeing the remake.

[Ashley]

Well, to make an anime analogy here, have you seen the Tenchi series? If you have--you know how Tenchi Universe uses the same characters as Tenchi Muyo! but has a slightly different story? It's like that.

The *basic* plot is the same, buuuuut:
[spoiler=changes] Raymond is now a senator himself, as is his mother, Marco is a tool of the manipulators as well, the dreams are far more disturbing, there's a lot of drawings, there's an actual chip involved in the mindcontrol, not just hypnosis, they added an Algerian doctor friend for Marco, Marco's girl is involved a lot more than she was, Jocylen and her father Senator Jordan are much smaller roles, and the assasin at the convention is Marco, not Shaw. Oh, and the story seems to focus a lot more on Marco than it did on Shaw, unlike the original. Also, there are no cards involved whatsoever.[/spoiler]

I think overall if you liked the first one, you'll like this one--it's just not the same.