isabelle_guns
Refugee
I saw the Manchurian Candidate last night...
Storyline:
From IMDB.COM
When his army unit was ambushed during the first Gulf War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw saved his fellow soldiers just as his commanding officer, Major 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 Iraq. As Marco 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.
Script/story progression:
The first 30 minutes of the movie dragged on too much and I actually fell asleep for a little bit. The movie was too long as it was and a lot of what happened in the beginning was unnecessary and could've been left on the cutting room floor. There was too much "political jargon" used that even for someone into politics like myself found a little annoying. A lot of the "political dialog" went over my head. The movie was painful to watch, like pulling teeth. The script writer tried too hard to make this movie better than the original by over writing certain plot twists. It just got so confusing during certain parts of the movie. I got so bored, I fell asleep for 10 minutes half way through the movie (this is the second time I fell asleep in one movie).
Acting:
The worst acting in a movie I have seen this year. I expected a lot more from a cast containing Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Liev Schreiber. I have seen children in a third grade play act better than the cast in this movie. I expected a lot from Denzel Washington at least.
Cinematography/Editing:
Nothing adventurous in terms of camera angles or lighting. The editing pissed me off 'cause they cut out a lot of the good parts that people I am sure wanted to see like the kiss between mother and son. I hate teasing in movies like that. Either show it or don't.
Hair/Make-Up/Costume:
Politicians look better than what the wardrobe and hair team did on the actors. It was fashionably painful to watch. Baby blue on film, like red works poorly on the big screen. I think the costume designer who did Meryl Streep's outfit should be fired for using baby blue.
Other comments:
The sound was above the normal level for a theater. Josh and I see movies every week in theaters and I have some friends who work at various Silver City theaters so I know what I am talking about when it comes to sound volume. The sound in the theater was deafening. It was louder than the Rush concert at GM Place a few years back. The sound was so loud that during the dialog, it sounded muffled. I wasn't the only one with sound level concerns. A lot of people after the movie made comments on the sound. I talked to the manager about it after and he tried to discredit me about my complaint. He eventually gave us passes to see another movie at Silver City for free. When Josh and I were heading out the door, the manager started laughing at us and our complaint to the other employees. At least he could've waited until we left the god damn theater. I think he was just upset 'cause he knew we were right.
Final score:
I posted a 4/10 on imdb.com
Storyline:
From IMDB.COM
When his army unit was ambushed during the first Gulf War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw saved his fellow soldiers just as his commanding officer, Major 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 Iraq. As Marco 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.
Script/story progression:
The first 30 minutes of the movie dragged on too much and I actually fell asleep for a little bit. The movie was too long as it was and a lot of what happened in the beginning was unnecessary and could've been left on the cutting room floor. There was too much "political jargon" used that even for someone into politics like myself found a little annoying. A lot of the "political dialog" went over my head. The movie was painful to watch, like pulling teeth. The script writer tried too hard to make this movie better than the original by over writing certain plot twists. It just got so confusing during certain parts of the movie. I got so bored, I fell asleep for 10 minutes half way through the movie (this is the second time I fell asleep in one movie).
Acting:
The worst acting in a movie I have seen this year. I expected a lot more from a cast containing Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Liev Schreiber. I have seen children in a third grade play act better than the cast in this movie. I expected a lot from Denzel Washington at least.
Cinematography/Editing:
Nothing adventurous in terms of camera angles or lighting. The editing pissed me off 'cause they cut out a lot of the good parts that people I am sure wanted to see like the kiss between mother and son. I hate teasing in movies like that. Either show it or don't.
Hair/Make-Up/Costume:
Politicians look better than what the wardrobe and hair team did on the actors. It was fashionably painful to watch. Baby blue on film, like red works poorly on the big screen. I think the costume designer who did Meryl Streep's outfit should be fired for using baby blue.
Other comments:
The sound was above the normal level for a theater. Josh and I see movies every week in theaters and I have some friends who work at various Silver City theaters so I know what I am talking about when it comes to sound volume. The sound in the theater was deafening. It was louder than the Rush concert at GM Place a few years back. The sound was so loud that during the dialog, it sounded muffled. I wasn't the only one with sound level concerns. A lot of people after the movie made comments on the sound. I talked to the manager about it after and he tried to discredit me about my complaint. He eventually gave us passes to see another movie at Silver City for free. When Josh and I were heading out the door, the manager started laughing at us and our complaint to the other employees. At least he could've waited until we left the god damn theater. I think he was just upset 'cause he knew we were right.
Final score:
I posted a 4/10 on imdb.com
