It may have something to do with the fact that I, for once, guessed the main twist but I really quite enjoyed Polanski's The Ghost.
Ewan McGregor has not had a particularly good track record of late in choosing good film projects (Incendiary????) but I was reminded of how good he can be watching Shallow Grave on the telly and decided to give him another chance.
The Ghost is a suspense thriller based on the novel and adapted by Robert Harris about former British Prime minister Adam Lang, played excellently by Pierce Brosnan, who is having his memoirs written by a ghost writer played by McGregor. The ghost writer - the character is never named - is asked to take over the project from the previous writer who is found washed up on the beach dead.
As always with these sorts of things, all is not what it seems and the Ghost Writer begins to suspect the ex-PM is not all he appears to be as he digs deeper into his past the what has already been written.
While in the middle of working on the book, Lang is accused of committing war crimes when he was in office and is easily persuaded to hide behind the protective coat-tails of America to avoid the European courts.
I give any more away for fear of straying too close to plot spoilers - did I mention I guessed the twist?
The film is nicely constructed, the suspense gradually building and the pace only sags slightly three quarters of the way through. There are a couple of 'yeh right' moments but the twist is a nice touch and there are a couple of surprises finished off with a neat ending.
McGregor and Brosnan are ably supported by Olivia Williams as the supportive politicians wife Ruth, Tom Wilkinson as the former Cambridge buddy-turned-professor, Bernard Hill as the rival politician and now after seeing her on stage in Private Lives, the officially lovely Kim Cattrall as the PM's officient PA Amelia.
What the professionals thought:
Guardian 'The past will resurface; the repressed will return. Whether or not Polanski fully grasps the moral of his own excellent film remains to be seen.'
Time Out 'It’s a film just silly enough to be taken deadly seriously.'
Den of Geek 'The Ghost may not be the most flashy or exuberant film of the year, but it's one of the better ones so far.'
Metacritic rating: 77/100
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