I have not seen the original Manchurian Candidate and I don’t remember the trailers, so I had no idea what to expect going into The Manchurian Candidate except for my impression that this was a political drama with Meryl Streep – so it was going to be deep, serious, and probably slow, but well acted.

Well my goodness, I don’t think I’ve ever been thrown a curve like that in a theater before. There’s nothing political in The Manchurian Candidate (though at times it likes to pretend there is), but it’s still a heck of a good time.The Manchurian Candidate is actually sci-fi; it’s the subject of a Twilight Zone episode, or better yet, The X-Files – and a good X-Files episode at that. We are constantly kept on the edge of the seat as the plot twists and thickens with every scene.

For all its twists, though, the story is deceivingly simple, such that to say anything is nearly to say everything. Suffice it to say that in the Gulf War, Ben Marco (Denzel Washington) fought alongside Raymond Shaw (Liev Shreiber), who protected the squad by fighting bravely in combat. Years later, Shaw is a nominee for vice-president of the United States, but Marco is beginning to question whether the battle ever took place at all. Marco then begins to investigate what he believes is a large-scale conspiracy to take over the United States.

Meryl Streep plays Shaw’s mother, playing a MOTHER that’s reminds me of Pink’s mother in The Wall, and Streep lives up to the role. The screen just comes alive whenever she’s in the picture and her very presence keeps us as scared as any of the other much scarier things going on in the story.

As fun as it all is, however, the film never gets too far beyond its basic premise. I like some of the ideas about agency that are presented, but The Manchurian Candidate concerns itself with telling as much of its story as possible. The ending is a bit disappointing considering the intensity of the build up, but that’s ok. It’s not really about getting anywhere anyway. This film is about keeping you locked in on the screen for every second leading up to the end, and that it does flawlessly.

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