Movie Review Mission Impossible

Mission Impossible (1996) 

Directed by Brian De Palma 

Written by David Koepp, Robert Towne

Starring Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emilio Estevez, Emmanuelle Beart, Kristen Scott Thomas

Release Date May 22nd, 1996

Published May 20th, 2016 

Mission Impossible doesn’t really hold up. I hate to say it because I really enjoy most of the franchise but the 1996 movie doesn’t hold up 22 years later. Watching Mission Impossible with modern eyes, the flaws stand out from Cruise’s desperate performance, Jon Voight’s lazy performance and the underwritten female characters stand apart from the lesser good things about the movie.

Ethan Hunt is an agent of the Impossible Mission Force, a branch of the CIA that specializes in the kind of espionage of the most impossible nature. Hunt works under veteran agent Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) alongside a team that includes Jack (Emilio Estevez), Sarah (Kristen Scott Thomas), and Claire (Emmanuelle Beart). Claire is Jim’s wife though quickly sees that she and Ethan appear to have eyes for each other.

A digression, the chemistry between Cruise and Beart has heat from time to time but the great disappointment of the movie is how little is done to exploit that chemistry. Brian DePalma is one of the great sleaze directors of all time and for him to allow the Ethan-Claire relationship to be so innocent to the point of being cookie-cutter, ala dozens of similar movie relationships, indicates how little this is really a Brian DePalma movie.

On a mission in Prague attempting to prevent a Russian spy from stealing a list of the real identities of IMF agents worldwide, everyone on Hunt’s team is murdered and he is framed for their deaths. On the run, Ethan is surprised and notably suspicious, to find Claire had survived despite having been in a car that later exploded. Nevertheless, he trusts her to be part of his mission to find the person who framed him. 

Mission Impossible was directed by Brian DePalma who appears to have been hired for his name value and not his style. Mission Impossible contains almost none of the classic DePalma style of sexy, weird, chaos. Sure, some of DePalma’s output is deeply problematic through the lens of history but you can’t argue that he was boring except when he directed Mission Impossible.

Compared to movies like Snake Eyes or Carrie, the action tropes of Mission Impossible are dull.

It’s hard not to assume that Mission Impossible is boring because of Tom Cruise. I say this as a fan of Tom Cruise. I am genuinely someone who believes Cruise is a fine actor. However, the deep, almost fetishistic control Cruise has over his onscreen persona can keep him from being fun. The actor assiduously avoids anything controversial, he plays it safe especially here in the wake of his first real failure, his much mocked performance in Interview with the Vampire.

Mission Impossible is such a rigidly paced action movie that even that classic Tom Cruise twinkle in the eye and million dollar smile are toned down and held back in favor of a stoic, dare I say, charisma dimmed performance. I get that Ethan Hunt is supposed to be a rigid, book hero but we go to the movies to see stars and big personalities and while his willingness to let the action do the talking is nice, I’d rather he have some personality while he’s action-ing.

It’s especially egregious because I expect so much more from both Cruise and Brian DePalma. DePalma has an eye for idiosyncrasy and had he been allowed to find the idiosyncrasies of Ethan Hunt and exploit them and had there been anything even remotely controversial about the character, perhaps the movie would hold up over time. Instead, looking back at the original, it’s a wonder this franchise is still around.

Thankfully, the franchise picks up the personality in the other movies, especially when they allow John Woo to make the film franchise his own. Here however, Brian DePalma is wasted and the film is shocking by the numbers. Cruise is sweaty and desperate throughout, rarely allowing Ethan to have a personality beyond his remarkable competence and impressive physicality. Kristen Scott Thomas and Emilio Estevez are killed off and Emmanuelle Beart is left with far too much of the dramatic heavy lifting.

The one thing that stands out as genuinely inspired in Mission Impossible ‘96 is the casting of Vanessa Redgrave as the big bad. The veteran actress is the one person in the film who is genuinely having fun. Redgrave sinks her teeth into the role and in her brief screen time the film is as fun as she is. The rest of the movie however, is just dour. Jon Voight especially is miscast as Jim Phelps.

Oddly the only even remotely controversial thing about Mission Impossible, and mind you I am not asking for the film to be outre in a violent or transgressive way, just have some personality. The only controversy the film courted was in the portrayal of Jim Phelps. Phelps was one of the main characters of the beloved TV series Mission Impossible and the twists and turns of his plot angered fans who held a love for Peter Graves’ stoic, reliable performance.

Even the famed train sequence that closes Mission Impossible appears less impressive though the frame of history. In wrestling terms, Mission Impossible is what is called a Spot Fest, a match centered on the biggest moves the competitors are capable of. The series focuses heavily on topping one big action spot after another and what’s happened in the more modern sequels has rendered the helicopter spot from the original film not unlike the Hulk Hogan leg-drop, a move that was once iconic and now seems rather silly next to a 5 Star Frog Splash.

If only Mission Impossible had half the personality of a wrestling match, perhaps it wouldn’t be so unremarkable.

Movie Review Pride and Glory

Pride and Glory (2008) 

Directed by Gavin O'Connor

Written by Gavin O'Connor 

Starring Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Noah Emmerich, John Voight Jennifer Ehle

Release Date October 24th, 2008 

Published October 24th, 2008

The tortured history of Pride and Glory extends all the way back to 2001 when Mark Wahlberg and Hugh Jackman were attached to the script with director Joe Carnahan. The attacks of September 11th and the subsequent stories of NYPD heroism caused the project to be shelved. Revived and rejiggered by New Line Pictures and director Gavin O'Connor, Pride and Glory got the go ahead in 2006 with Edward Norton and Colin Ferrell in the leads.

And then things get murky. Whether Edward Norton went all Edward Norton on the movie or New Line had a disagreement with director O'Connor, Pride Glory completely found itself on the shelf. Two years later the film arrives and it may have been better off on the shelf.

Ray Tierney (Edward Norton) gave up on being a detective years ago. An incident involving his family, fellow cops and a cover up turned on Ray so badly that although he was never caught lying, he couldn't live with the guilt and hid out in a new assignment in missing persons. Now however, a case of four dead cops in his brother Francis' (Noah Emmerich) unit draws Ray back to being a detective.

The four dead cops it seems walked into an ambush as they staked out a seemingly low level drug dealer. The cops went for the bust and the dealer knew they were coming. Someone in the department tipped him off and four cops died. The case is a major headache for Francis as well as his Commander father Francis Sr. (Jon Voight) and thus why they turn to Ray for help.

Things grow much, much worse when a witness links the dealer to Jimmy Egan (Colin Ferrell) , a cop in Francis Jr's unit and Ray and company's brother-in -law. Jimmy married little sister Megan (Lake Bell) a few years back and now he is the main suspect in a corruption investigation that could bring not just the family but the reputation of the NYPD crashing down.

It's a familiar story: corrupt cops, NYPD, family of detectives, blah blah blah. What director Gavin O'Connor does is take these familiar elements and rearrange them into a slightly different form. He has good pieces to work with. Edward Norton  is a tremendous actor who can make the most of even the lamest material. Colin Ferrell has a more limited range than Norton but makes up for a lot with charisma.

These two actors make the most of what is given them but Pride and Glory remains a failure despite their best efforts. The script is just too familiar and Gavin O'Connor's attempts to reform those elements into a new story only serve to find further faults. Worse however, is the repeated moments of what is referred to rhetorically as Deus Ex Machina, the hand of god.

When a screenwriter is stuck he will often let slide a coincidence or two or three. These coincidences work to allow characters to be placed at just the perfect time. They allow characters to hold off on motivations or hunches or memories until just the moment they are needed as if the hand of god were delivering the character to the place they are needed or reminding them of just the right memory at just the moment it's needed.

These plot conveniences in Pride and Glory are groan-inducing to the point of modest chuckles for savvy audience members who recognize them.

What is a real shame about Pride and Glory is that it wastes an Oscar worthy effort by longtime character actor Noah Emmerich. As the conflicted captain of a corrupt unit. Emmerich walks a tightrope between drama and caricature and makes the right dramatic decision almost each time. On top of being the boss and dealing with all of this corruption, Francis has a wife at home, played by Jennifer Ehle, who is dying of cancer.

Many actors would be overwhelmed with so much sorrow to play but Emmerich handles it all exceptionally well. If the movie weren't such a dog overall Emmerich could have been a strong contender for best supporting actor. Thankfully, based on his work in Pride and Glory I have no doubt something like that is still in his future.

If your plot is too familiar you have to do more than just rearrange the elements slightly. Play with the tone, grim sadness and gritty gray skied backgrounds are so done. Play with the characters, make one a woman, give one an unusual quirk, work in some dark humor. Do something to keep the audience from sitting in the dark wondering where they've seen all of this before.

Also, if your script so often needs the hand of god to deliver characters to need locations or revelations, maybe you shouldn't make the movie at all.

Movie Review National Treasure 2 Book of Secrets

National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets 

Directed by Jon Turteltaub 

Written by Cormac Wibberley, Marianne Wibberley, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio 

Starring Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, Ed Harris, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Helen Mirren, Harvey Keitel

Release Date December 21st, 2007 

Published December 19th, 2007

2004's National Treasure came out of nowhere to become a late season blockbuster. With its popular take on legendary conspiracies, big time action and stunts and its family safe PG rating, National Treasure was like a perfect map to blockbuster success.

Naturally, with a film so successful there would have to be a sequel and the crew of National Treasure is indeed back. Nicholas Cage returns to the role of Benjamin Franklin Gates, historian, adventurer and most of all treasure hunter. With his electronics wiz pal Riley (Justin Bartha), Ben has been chasing all sorts of treasures for years.

The latest adventure has an important personal connection. As Ben is lecturing to a group of students on the history of his famous family of adventurers and treasure hunters, he is confronted by Mitch Wilkerson (Ed Harris) who claims a scrap of paper from the diary of John Wilkes Booth proves that Gate's great great grandfather conspired to kill President Lincoln.

Knowing that his family history proves otherwise, Ben sets out on a new adventure to track down the evidence that proves his great great grandpa's innocence. The trail leads Ben, Riley and Ben's dad Patrick (Jon Voight) to an ancient book passed down through the ages from one President to another. It's the legendary presidential Book Of Secrets.

Home to all of the greatest conspiracies in history, the book holds the key to whether great great grandpa Gates was a traitor or not. Hot on the trail of the book as well is Wilkerson and his secret society of thugs and Harvey Keitel as an FBI agent whose job has long been keeping on what Ben Gates is up to.

It is impossible to deny the fun of the National Treasure movies. With their goofball stunts and good humor, the movies are inoffensive and easily digestible. While you are watching them you smile and chuckle and for most that will be enough to call it successful.

If you like your movies with low brain power and plenty of distracting explosions and diversions, you will love National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. You won't recall the experience 10 minutes after it's over, but at least it won't take up space in your memory as it didn't in mine. I have seen National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets twice now and I still needed the Wikipedia plot description and Rottentomatoes reviews of my fellow critics to remind me that the film existed.

Forgettable, low watt entertainment, if you like movies the way you like a good candy bar or a can of soda, you'll like the disposable entertainment of National Treasure.... uh, what was that subtitle again? I forget?

Movie Review: Ali

Ali (2001) 

Directed by Michael Mann 

Written by Eric Roth, Michael Mann, Christopher Wilkinson 

Starring Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Jon Voight, Mario Van Peebles, Ron Silver, Jeffrey Wright 

Release Date December 25th, 2001 

Published April 15th, 2002 

The life of Mohammed Ali is one of the most fascinating ever lived, a life that should be dramatized for the big screen and make for a great film. 

Unfortunately, this is not that film. 

The film covers a ten-year span of Ali's life from his victory over Sonny Liston in 1964 to his dramatic victory over George Foreman in Zaire in 1974. Michael Mann gives us a feel of Ali's personal life, his battle with his father over his conversion to Islam, his relationships with his wives and his relationship with Malcolm X. However all of these scenes feel disjointed. Director Michael Mann seems to keep the audience at a distance instead of allowing us into the mind of Ali. With dialogue, Mann uses the film's soundtrack of 60's R & B tunes to deliver the emotion and at times even replace actual dialogue. 

It's likely that Mann knows many of us are already quite familiar with Ali's many public challenges and doesn't feel the need to go into much detail. But why then does he muddle the timeline of the champ's career? If Mann believed the audience to be overly familiar with Ali's story, why does he leave out important moments of the champ's career such as the infamous phantom punch in the second Liston fight and his two rematches with Joe Frazier? 

The boxing scenes in Ali are quite good with Mann getting in the ring with a handheld camera and putting the audience right in the match. The camerawork in the boxing scenes is phenomenal and star Will Smith is surprisingly credible, trading punches with real boxers including former middleweight champion James Toney who plays Smokin' Joe.

As for Will Smith he's very good, not quite Oscar good in my opinion but good. Smith evokes many of Ali's most recognizable attributes such as his brashness and vocal cadence. He also handles the emotional elements very well, especially the difficulties in Ali's personal life. Unfortunately, Smith is let down by director Mann who forgoes Smith's dialogue in favor the film's soundtrack as I described earlier. 

Movie Review Holes

Holes (2003) 

Directed by Andrew Davis 

Written by Louis Sachar 

Starring Shia LeBeouf, Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Patricia Arquette, Tim Blake Nelson 

Release Date April 18th, 2003 

Published April 17th, 2003 

Posters and wall hangings for the movie Holes began popping up in my local theater over 3 months ago. Because they touted the Disney connection of the film, I took little notice of them writing the film off as yet another formula Disney family movie. It wasn't until recently that I found out Holes is based on a book that had been a phenomenal hit with grade schoolers. This piqued my interest so I checked in with my grade school pop culture consultants, my nieces Megan, 11, and Alexa, 9. They told me that indeed Holes was a big hit in their school though Alexa was more interested than Megan was. Alexa was a little annoyed about my questions because she claims she told me about Holes a long time ago. So armed with this new knowledge, and never one to be left out of the pop culture loop, I went and checked out the movie.

Holes tells a couple of parallel stories that all play into one central story. The center of the story is Stanley Yelnats (Shia Lebeouf) who while walking home is hit in the head by a pair of baseball cleats. What Stanley doesn't know right away is that shoes were stolen from a charity auction for the homeless and were the property of a famous ballplayer. The film doesn't tip off the audience to exactly what is happening, all we know is that Stanley didn't steal the shoes but is nevertheless railroaded in court and sentenced to 18 months in a juvenile camp called Camp Greenlake.

The name Camp Greenlake is ironic because it’s far from green and there is no lake anywhere. The camp is in the middle of the desert and is run by three numbskull bad guys, Mr. Sir (Jon Voight), Dr. Pendanski (Tim Blake Nelson) and Warden Walker (Sigourney Weaver). According to the slimy Mr. Sir, Stanley's punishment at Camp Greenlake for his 18-month stay is to dig holes. Everyday for endless hours, nothing but digging. The counselors say digging builds character but it’s obvious to even the camp's most dunderheaded inhabitant that they are digging for something.

That something may be the treasure of a legendary bank robber known as Kissin Kate Barlow (Patricia Arquette). Kate Barlow was once a loving, docile school teacher who taught both the children and adults of Greenlake how to read and write. Her life was changed forever by a short sweet romance with Sam the onion man (West Wing’s Dule Hill). It began simply enough with Sam trading Kate his delicious onions in exchange for her delicious peaches. Then Sam offered to fix holes in the schoolhouse roof and from there, a tentative romance that is sweet and tender and yet barely takes up 10 to 15 minutes of screentime. The Sam and Kate subplot is the best thing about the film. Director Andrew Davis paints the romance quickly but without sacrificing the tenderness and Arquette and Hill have terrific chemistry. As the subplot develops in flashback, the fact that Sam is black tips the audience to the likely tragic ending of the romance to come.

There is yet another flashback story that plays into the main story, which is the story of the Yelnats family curse that Stanley believes has landed him in trouble. It seems years ago before coming to America Stanley's great grandfather made a deal with a sorceress Madam Zeroni, but before completing the deal he ran off to America and Madame Zeroni curse the family forever.

I won't reveal how the subplots play into the film’s main story, but I will say that it all makes sense in the end and the multiple flashbacks never become overbearing or distracting. They each reveal little clues that play in the ending of the film. Again I cannot praise enough the romance between Arquette and Hill which is of course meant to teach a lesson of history and tolerance. Because of Davis' skillful direction and writer Louis Sachar's smart script (Sachar also wrote the book), the subplot never seems preachy or heavy-handed.

The surprising thing about Holes is the amount of negativity sprinkled throughout that the film’s cute kids movie trailer doesn't prepare you for. The trailer is quite a swerve, leading those who didn't read the book to think you were seeing a Goonies-like gang of friends who stand up to the bad guys and work together as friends to find treasure. In reality, the supporting characters played up as Stanley's friends are for most of the film rather mean and unlikable. That is destined to change by the end of the film but it's certainly surprising at the beginning. Credit Sachar for such a risky choice to allow the kids of Camp Greenlake to actually be the obnoxious troublemakers that would end up being sent to a camp like the one in the film.

The problem areas of the film come from its one-note villains, Weaver, Nelson and especially Jon Voight. Playing a verified version of his amazon guide from Anaconda, Voight gets on your nerves with his many character quirks and quick tempered over acting. As for Weaver and Nelson, they don't rely on quirks and over acting likely because their character development was left on the cutting room floor, leaving them to simply be jerks. The film’s pacing is also at times a little slow and will leave many checking their watch and feeling they have been in the theater far longer than it seems

Nevertheless, there is more good than bad in Holes which is a parable about race, love, family and friendship masked in a mystery about buried treasure and western legend. With such unwieldy elements to tie into one story, credit Louis Sachar and Andrew Davis for making the film coherent. That it's also mildly entertaining is a nice bonus.

Movie Review Glory Road

Glory Road (2006) 

Directed by James Gartner 

Written by Chris Cleveland, Bettina Gillois, Gregory Alan Howard

Starring Josh Lucas, Derek Luke, Jon Voight 

Release Date January 13th, 2006 

Published January 12th, 2006 

Filling the yearly niche of the inspirational sports movie is the historical record of a true turning point in the history of collegiate basketball. Glory Road is the story of the 1966 West Texas University Miners who upset the powerhouse Kentucky University Wildcats to become national champions. The victory was notable because Western coach Don Haskins started five African Americans, a first for any college basketball team. If the movie were as relevant as its inspiration we might have a real winner here. Unfortunately a director for hire, working under the auspices of the Bruckheimer regime, only turns out a formula picture that hits the notes of importance and never becomes important on its own.

In 1965 Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) was coaching girls high school basketball somewhere in the dust bowl of Oklahoma when he was offered the head coaching position at tiny Texas Western University. Though the job was low paying and Haskins and his wife (Emily Deschanel) would have to live in the men's dorm, with their two young children, the job was his first chance to coach Division 1 men's basketball. He could not pass up the opportunity.

Packed off to the scorching hot oil fields of El Paso Texas, Haskins had no plans on making history. He simply wanted to put a winning team on the court. The fastest way to improve the Texas Western Miners team was to do something that few other programs in the country were willing to do. Actively recruit several African American players.

By 1966 college basketball had long been integrated but there was a basketball equivalent of Jim Crow laws in place, off the books. As described by the teams long time trainer Ross Moore, (Red West) teams, especially in the south, had African American players but usually no more than one. If a team had more than one black player they were only allowed to play them one at a time unless the team was losing. Having more than two African Americans on a team was simply unheard of for a southern school.

Haskins actively recruited and ultimately acquired seven African American players including a pair of high school superstars, Bobby Joe Hill (Derek Luke), and David Latin (Schin A.S Kerr). Texas Western first made history for being the first NCAA division one team to have more African American players than Caucasian but, of course, as history tells us, there was plenty more history to be made. As the season went on, and team and coach melded to each other's style of play, the team was nearly undefeated and finally faced off with the legendary Adolph Rupp (Jon Voight) and his Kentucky University Wildcats for the national collegiate basketball championship.

Glory Road is a typical Disney/Bruckheimer sports film. Like The Rookie and Remember The Titans before it, Glory Road has a particular formula to execute and anything else is merely extraneous. The key to formula filmmaking is not necessarily to subvert the formula, though that would be welcome, rather it is to improve upon the formula with casting and execution. Unfortunately director Rod Gartner is unable to capitalize on either of those elements.

Gartner sticks to the job at hand which is simply moving Chris Cleveland's very basic script to the screen with minimal innovation. While the basketball scenes are impressively shot and edited and move with great speed and skill, when Glory Road leaves court it's all about tugging the heartstrings. Scenes in Glory Road play like signposts instructing the audience to sigh here, laugh here, or cry here. The script banks on the real life importance of this story to give the movie gravity and in the process never earns that gravity on its own.

The story of the Texas Western Miners of 1966 is a sports and cultural landmark deserving of an enshrinement on film but if deification is Glory Road's only ambition we might as well be watching an ESPN documentary on the real team and players and save the movie theater ticket price.

A year ago Coach Carter filled the role of the obligatory inspirational sports movie. The difference between that film and Glory Road however is that where Glory Road assumes its importance from its true story, Coach Carter earned its importance with stronger characters and better storytelling. It definitely helps that in the lead role Coach Carter had the weighty presence of Samuel L. Jackson while Glory Road lives with the less impressive Josh Lucas.

Watching Josh Lucas I get the impression of Hollywood trying to sell me something. Since his breakthrough performance in the dreadful romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama Lucas has been given a couple of opportunities to become a movie star and has demonstrated that he just doesn't have it. It's not that he is a bad actor, his performance in the little seen indie Around The Bend demonstrates his real talent, what Lucas lacks is star presence.

The rest of the cast of Glory Road struggles as much as Lucas. The young actors who make up the team are thinly drawn and fit the formula roles required of a formula film. There is the funny one, the troubled one, and the loner. With so many characters and only so much screen time the caricatured players tend to blend into one another and become forgettable.

In the role of Coach Haskins' wife Emily Deschanel seems terribly miscast. Like her more independent minded younger sister Zooey, Emily Deschanel carries an innate intelligence and presence that, in this case, overwhelms her tiny underwritten and ultimately insignificant role. Casting Deschanel in this role is a mistake not because she isn't a very talented actress, it's the opposite of that. Because Deschanel is so talented we expect more from her and are greatly disappointed that the filmmaker does not take full advantage of her talent.

Glory Road, like most uplifting Hollywoodized histories, takes liberties with its subject. While Texas Western was the first team to win the national title starting five black players, it should be noted that in 1956 San Francisco University lead by Bill Russell won the title with four African American starters. I don't mean to diminish the importance of the true story of Texas Western but as scripted the film can seem false by implying.

Movie Review The Manchurian Candidate

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Directed by Jonathan Demme 

Written by Daniel Pyne, Dean Georgaris 

Starring Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, Kimberly Elise 

Release Date July 30th, 2004 

Published July 29th, 2004 

The 1962 original The Manchurian Candidate, directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Frank Sinatra, is an unmitigated classic. The film was the brainchild of Sinatra who saw in the complicated satire a chance at an acting comeback after a series of flops. Boy was he ever right, the film brought Sinatra back to prominence as an actor. Despite being pulled from release for 24 years after the assassination of President Kennedy, the film remained a classic.

Denzel Washington, starring in the 2004 take on The Manchurian Candidate, has no need for a comeback. He is clearly at the top of game. His director, Jonathan Demme, on the other hand could use a hit after his disastrous remake of Charade in 2002. For the record, The Truth About Charlie was not nearly as bad as the way it's producers dumped it into release. Why Demme would do a remake as his "comeback" is a fair question. Let's just be glad he did because his modernized version is the rare remake that doesn't dishonor the original.

Major Bennett Marco (Washington) is a decorated veteran of the first Gulf war. Though he seems to have it all together he is secretly plagued by nightmares that bring his memories of battle into question. Marco is not alone, other members of his squad who were involved in a memorable incident while on a recon mission in Kuwait have been having the same nightmares. Private Al Melvin (Jeffrey Wright) is slowly being driven insane by his nightmares, which mirror Marco's.

Both remember the incident in which their squad was attacked by what they thought were Iraqi militia members. Both were knocked unconscious and their lives were saved by Sgt. Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber), who went on to receive the medal of honor because of Marco's recommendation. However, both Marco and Melvin's nightmares play out a different scenario in which Shaw was never a hero, but in fact the entire squad was taken hostage by someone other than Iraqi militants. They were taken to a hospital and reprogrammed and two other members of the squad were murdered.

For his part, Sgt. Shaw is now Senator Shaw, a rising star in his unnamed political party (I think he's a Democrat but it's never spoken of aloud). Shaw is on the verge of being nominated for the Vice Presidency thanks to the backstage machinations of his determined mother, Senator Eleanor Shaw. Raymond also has strange nightmares about brain implants and mind control. As he confesses to Marco midway through the film, he can remember the mission as he has been told of his heroic actions but can't actually remember doing the heroic actions attributed to him.

As the plot unfolds, the mystery is whether Marco is just paranoid or if the things he dreamt about actually happened. We believe Marco because we see what he sees but it's easy for characters in the film to dismiss him especially as Marco grows more and more erratic. We also are privy to things he is not such as the behind the scenes meetings between Mrs. Shaw and the mysterious executives of Manchurian Global. Manchurian Global is a company that profits from America's foreign policy decisions by essentially betting on wars in the stock market.

The parallels with the real life Carlyle Group or Halliburton are completely intentional. Where the original The Manchurian Candidate played on our fears of the Cold War, this new version makes corporations the sinister forces working behind the scenes to rig our system in their favor. It's scarier if you've seen Fahrenheit 9/11and have seen the back room connections between the current administration, Carlyle and Halliburton. Of course, much of what these real life companies do is quite well known and helps you realize that you don't need a sleeper assassin to put your company man in the White House. All you need is a big enough checkbook.

The Manchurian Candidate is not meant to perfectly reflect reality but rather just fan the flames of conspiracy-minded moviegoers. Who doesn't love conspiracies?

The Manchurian Candidate 2004 is a paranoid potboiler with a complex plot and enough solid twists and turns to keep audiences glued to their seats. Who better than Denzel to lead us through all of the film’s complexities? His winning personality, charisma and believably carry us over a number of plot holes. Watch closely his relationship with Rosie, played by Kimberly Elise. Late in the film it hints at a whole other layer to the film’s dense plot and will make you pay to see it again.

Meryl Streep is perfectly on point in a role that won Angela Lansbury an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1962. Streep should also be on track for a nomination as she is the perfect choice for this Machiavellian mother from hell. Most have drawn odd comparisons with Hillary Clinton, although a better more accurate comparison might be Lady MacBeth with her lust for power and willingness to kill to get it. Not to mention the hinted at but little seen incestuousness between Mom and Son which mirrors another historic text.

Jonathan Demme's direction has not been this solid since The Silence Of The Lambs. Those who thought he had lost his touch will be turned around after watching the way he twists and turns the audience with one smart set piece after another.

True, there are plenty of holes in this plot. The script adapted by Daniel Pyne is like a sweater that could unravel with the tug of a string for a long enough period of time. It's best not to dwell on character motivations and small plot points and focus on the stronger elements of the film like it's performances and the timeliness of its references.