The Manchurian Candidate is a movie in the same vein as Jacob's Ladderin that soldiers are unwittingly used in odd psychological ways. However, that is where the similarity between the two movies ends. Where Jacob's Ladder becomes a strange and spooky tale of the effects of the drugs The Manchurian Candidate shows a more nefarious purpose behind the mind control efforts. This 2004 retelling of a 1962 classic movie updates the story a bit by attaching it to the Gulf War of the early 1990's and ties in modern concerns such as terrorism and geopolitics. Denzel Washington, as always, does a fine job and his counterpart in this movie, Liev Schreiber (Sgt Raymond Shaw) is equally well cast.
The movie has various interesting plot twists - some of which are painfully obvious as they approach - and others subtly disturbing. The end is both perfectly fitting and flawed in a weak "cop-out" kind of way (but not so flawed that it hurts the overall movie). I would definitely recommend this movie.
RATING8