Rating of
3/4
"The Ghost" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 08/12/14
A populist ghost writer is employed to rewrite the memoirs of a former Prime Minister but when the politician is accused of war crimes, he becomes increasingly fearful for his safety. The Ghost is a very old school cold war style political thriller that is based upon a character who is purely fictional and in no way represents anyone living or dead - especially not Tony Blair, nosiree Bob. Roman Polanski has always had a knack for paranoid conspiracy thrillers and this understated yet suspenseful example follows very much in the footsteps of Hitchcock, revolving as it does around an everyman protagonist who finds himself completely out of his depth when he blunders into intrigue. Although it is set mostly in America, The Ghost has quite a European flavour with a quality cast of character actors who utter dialogue that actually sounds like the words of English people (for a change) and there's no superficial flash or irrelevant action sequences. The one major flaw is the rather glib twist at the end which makes the film feel a little insubstantial in the final analysis but a likeable performance by Ewan McGregor and some nicely judged political intrigue makes the journey there well worthwhile.
