In a year rife with remakes, the 2004 version of "The Manchurian Candidate" had particularly intimidating shoes to fill. Not only does the 1962 John Frankenheimer original retain much of its unsettling power, but its place in Hollywood lore -- it's said to have been pulled from release by distributor United Artists in the wake of the Kennedy assassination -- makes for fairly daunting remake material. While a few too many bumps and lags prevent it from being mistaken for a masterwork, it's certainly a vast improvement over Demme's previous remake effort, which turned "Charade" into "The Truth About Charlie."

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