Rating of
4/4
The Ghost Writer review
alec96 - wrote on 10/07/11
This may just be Roman Polanski's masterpiece. This is just as good as Polanski's Oscar winning movie, The Pianist. The Ghost Writer is based on the 2007 Robert Harris bestselling book, The Ghost, Ewan McGregor plays this guy, who is nameless in both the book and movie, they simply refer to him as The Ghost. So, he is hired to ghostwrite the memoirs of the former British Prime Minister Adam Lang(Pierce Brosnan) after Lang's previous ghost writer he mysteriously drowned. The Ghost decides to take the job, he was convinced by his agent that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The publisher has sunk $10 million into Lang's memoirs and the deadline is only a month away, he has to work fast. The Ghost is getting paid very well though, for one months work on this, he gets a quarter of a million dollars. Heck, I would take that job in a heartbeat.
Almost immediately after The Ghost arrives at the remote mansion in the U.S. to begin working with the prime minister, Lang is accused of committing war crimes by a former British cabinet minister. The Ghost then dives into into the unfinished manuscript and comes to a very terrifying conclusion, he believes that the previous ghost writer mysterious death was no accident. This is because he thinks he discovered a link between Prime Minister Lang and the CIA. Every bit more The Ghost uncovers, the more that he is convinced that his life could be in very great danger. The Ghost knows for a fact that he is in way over his head.
This movie was very well made, and is also very smart, it's not just one of those mindless movies. The movie is very suspenseful as well, and the movie does not build the suspense with tons of action. There is not a lot of action, but the script is great. Every line of dialog is written very well. The movie would have failed without this screenplay. With so much dialog the movie needed one great screenplay, and luckily they have one.
The script keeps us listening intently, and constantly twisting with surprises until the very end. There is rarely a moment to breath. This is rare for a movie with no real action to speak of. Polanski masterfully transforms a movie that could have been a complete disaster into a masterpiece. The acting is good as well. Both McGregor and Brosnan do a good job. They were very well cast. Brosnan does give one of his best performances ever here. He does not get the most screen time, but he is great in every scene that he is in. McGregor is the main character, so he gets the most screen time.
If you give Ewan McGregor a good role to work with, he can just be outstanding, and they give him that here. He really delivers, this is also one of McGreegor's better roles, not his all time best though. The Ghost Writer is a very subtle movie. I love how this movie is just way much more than your average political thriller. The Ghost Writer is smart, smooth, and you just find yourself getting completely lost in this movie.
