I saw the new "Manchurian Candidate" this past Saturday, and was *very* pleasantly surprised. It was much better than I had expected. The plot is just different enough from the well-known original that the audience can be surprised at various points, including the ending.

In general, the plot is much more highly detailed; we come to know more about the brainwashing procedures and the battlefield situation that began the whole deal, and we learn more things about more different characters.

Also, each of the major characters is even more well-acted than in the original, great as it was: Meryl Streep is an even more hateful mother-figure than Angela Lansbury, Liev [sp?] Schreiber easily trumps Lawrence Harvey, and Denzel (thanks as much to the script as to his talent, perhaps) shows us a much more fully-realized character then did Frank Sinatra.

Incidentally, I had watched about the last half of the orginal film just the previous evening on TV (Turner Classic Movies channel). A great movie, to be sure, and the inspiration for one of those rare remakes that is worthy of its predecessor.