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Denzel
Washington plays Army Captain Bennett
Marco who after an old military buddy
that resurfaces during a speech made by
Captain Marco realizes that he is not
the only one that is having “dreams”.
During Captain Marco’s career in the
Army, the last tale of an ambush is
recollected exactly the same, word for
word, by all the remaining surviving
soldiers of that unit, which
congratulates and deems Sgt. Raymond
Shaw (Liev Schreiber) as a hero and
saving their lives.
Strangely enough, the death of the once
surviving veterans of the original
Persian Gulf War are classified as
suicidal, making Sgt Shaw look even more
successful as he is running for office;
guided by his controlling political
savvy mother, Eleanor Shaw (Meryl Streep).
After some investigation and tons of
Cup-O-Noodles, Captain Marco confronts a
hypnotized Sgt. Shaw about the dreams
and what happened that night in Kuwait,
hoping that he may be able to shed some
light on the subject. But after Captain
Marco frantically attacks the
President-to-be and takes a Mike Tyson
“bite” out of Shaw’s back, he removes a
small tiny object. Quickly, Eleanor Shaw
tries to convince her son to remain on
her side by revealing herself to the
audience that she is part of the
mastermind that orchestrated the events
in question.
These events begin when the platoon was
ambushed in battle. And the soldiers
were taken to a remote island, where
they were brainwashed in to “sleeper”
agents by a pharmaceutical company
called Manchurian Global, a rich backer
of the Shaw political party. After days
of torture, a small device is placed
inside their brains to control their
minds and causing them to do at will.
Even more thrilling than its
predecessor, “The Manchurian Candidate”
(1962), starring Frank Sinatra, which
had a delayed releasing due to the
nature of the film and the conspiracy
theories occurring at that time, steps
up to the plate, as Washington gives an
Oscar ridden performance.
Co-star Kimberly Elise, famous for her
deviled look and aggressive performance
nature, is not far from a stellar acting
performance herself as she appears to
Captain Marco as Rosie, a supermarket
check-out girl who just happens to be in
the same place as Captain Marco, on his
way to see Sgt. Shaw during his
campaigning rounds. Rosie (Elise) is no
such thing, as she turns out to work for
a government agency that is trying to
find out what is going on with Captain
Marco.
This version should not be compared to
its original. This action thriller is
capable of standing well on its own.
This is a must see film.
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