Directed by Jonathan Demme. Starring Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schrieber, Jon Voight, Jeffrey Wright, Vera Farmiga, Kimberly Elise. Sci/Fi/Drama. Synopsis: An Army officer with disturbing dreams after the Gulf War finds that his curious memories of one major incident are exactly the same as other soldiers who were there, particularly one former soldier who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroics and is now on the short list for Vice President. But, is the memory real, or was it somehow planted in all of them for political purposes?
My first disclosure is that I have never seen the original of this film, which I know is considered by many to be a classic. Clearly, it is not a complete remake since it is modernized to the present day and the antagonists are not a foreign communist power but a seedy, greedy corporation...named Manchurian.
In this version of the story, a Gulf War combat veteran officer (Denzel Washington Inside Man) is doing public relations for the Army, in particular telling people about the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation's highest. This is of particular relevance because one of the soldiers (Liev Schreiber The Omen) who served under him in
He also happens to be the son of a very influential and manipulative Senator (Meryl Streep The Devil Wears Prada) Now, all of this sounds just fine, but some of the other member of the unit who are still alive when their hero comrade makes his run for office realize that they share the exact same memories of that fateful night in Kuwait...and now share the same nightmares all these years later.
As you might predict, Denzel's character is the one who takes it the furthest, coming to believe that he and his fellow soldiers have been the victim of some kind of brain washing experiment, maybe even to put one of them into the White House.
I know this movie did not do as well as expected at the box office, given the Hall of Fame cast and the fact that the original film was such a classic. I don't know, maybe you can't go home again, but I don't think the story is dated in the way we might have thought if it had been released in, say, 1998, when the biggest threat to our security-at least publicly-was seen to be a oversexed Commander in Chief and a loose intern. No, the story is not dated and it works for me, with the required suspension of disbelief.
The performances of the actors is wonderful as you would expect. To me, the definition of "wasting time" is to actually spend minutes on a blog saying that Streep and Washington are outstanding as the leads...what else am I going to "tell" you? That the sun will rise in the East?
Schreiber is real good here, too, and he has to be, since the film really revolves around the viewer feeling some empathy for him, as he is not really the bad guy here. Who is? Well, I'm no spoiler, but I will give a hint to those who have not seen the film. The term "bad guy" should not be taken too literally.
So, I liked it, though I would be interested to hear the views of people who have seen and enjoyed the original with Frank Sinatra. That would be interesting.
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