From the director whose movie stars always land Oscars, Jonathan Demme (Silence of The Lambs) re-teams for the first time with Denzel Washington (Philadelphia) to bring us a remake of the 1962 Frank Sinatra classic, updated to Kuwait 1991, and then post Gulf war. Denzel is now a decorated Major whose army buddy Congressman Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber) not only once won the highest medal of honor, but is now running for Vice President against Senator Thomas Jordan (Jon Voight). It seems Shaw’s family is an American dynasty (think Kennedy) and his mother Senator Eleanor Shaw (Meryl Streep) part Hillary Clinton, part control freak, plans to keep politics in the family, do or die. And so die seems to be the route and she’ll stop at nothing, commanding her role with such gusto it will certainly land her an Oscar (just as Angela Lansbury was nominated for the original). It seems some Gulf War syndrome is the excuse the Feds have concocted in convincing Denzel this is the reason behind his bad dreams and hallucinations. But when Denzel begins to unravel a plot on brainwashing and hypnosis, bringing war to a whole new level (through a global equity fund called Manchurian, who injects bullet style implants into soldiers) things get chaotic. Sound confusing? It is. Yet this glossy conspiracy driven film feeling part “All The President’s Men” part “Marathon Man” is full of positive script complications and lots of imagination, in an against all odds outcome, that makes Denzel shine as usual.
