The Manchurian Candidate

On the Thriller subject I watched the start of two versions of the film 'The Manchurian Candidate'. I watched the 1962 and the 2004 version of the film to see which one was more appealing to me.

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Major Ben Marco is an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army. He served valiantly as a captain in the Korean war and his Sergeant, Raymond Shaw, even won the Medal of Honor. Marco has a major problem however: he has a recurring nightmare, one where two members of his squad are killed by Shaw. He's put on indefinite sick leave and visits Shaw in New York. Shaw for his part has established himself well, despite the misgivings of his domineering mother, Mrs. Eleanor Shaw Iselin. She is a red-baiter, accusing anyone who disagrees with her right-wing reactionary views of being a Communist. Raymond hates her, not only for how she's treated him but equally because of his step-father, the ineffectual U.S. Senator John Iselin, who is intent on seeking higher office. When Marco learns that others in his Korean War unit have nightmares similar to his own, he realises that something happened to all of them in Korea and that Raymond Shaw is the focal point.

Most people would probably disagree with me here but I didn't really like the beginning of this film as I found it to be slow, I also found this film to start up slowly unlike most other films that I normally watched so I lost focus at the beginning. However as the film started to carry on I started to get into the story and start to enjoy. It had quite a good storyline in it.

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) movie poster.


The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

When his army unit was ambushed during the first Gulf War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw saved his fellow soldiers just as his commanding officer, then-Captain Ben Marco, was knocked unconscious. Brokering the incident for political capital, Shaw eventually becomes a vice-presidential nominee, while Marco is haunted by dreams of what happened -- or didn't happen -- in Kuwait. As Marco (now a Major) investigates, the story begins to unravel, to the point where he questions if it happened at all. Is it possible the entire unit was kidnapped and brainwashed to believe Shaw is a war hero as part of a plot to seize the White House? Some very powerful people at Manchurian Global corporation appear desperate to stop him from finding out. 

I liked the beginning to this version of the film as it started off with more action, still it had the basic storyline of the original version of the film, it is more of an updated version. For example, at the beginning of the film there is a more explosive fight scene, I think that this was used as it was a way to grab hold of the audience's attention. Also in this film, the use of music is used differently to create tense moments throughout the film. I think that  prefer this version of the film as it is more updated version to the last with better effects and better sound wise.

The Manchurian Candidate (2004) movie poster