Nelson Strang
Polanski is the master. Everything he crafts is golden. This is no exception. It feels so low key, yet it hooks you in and doesn't let go. All the performances are faultless and the tension and intrigue are unrelenting. Definitely recommended.
Michael Ledo
I was sitting on the edge of my seat during the whole movie as the plot got thicker and thicker. Adam Lange (Brosnan) is a former British Prime Minister who hires Ewan McGregor to finish ghost writing his memoirs. As the movie opens we see the first ghost writer's body wash up on the beach. Ewan is selected because he is politically stupid. After his initial meeting with a hiring group,(Jim Belushi) he is handed a manuscript to look at. On his way home, he is mugged and the manuscript stolen. He suspects it is because the robbers thought it was Adam Lange's memoirs.On his way to meet Lange, he sees on TV that Lange is being charged with war crimes for turning over suspected terrorists to the CIA for torture (Apparently only the US and Israel are allowed to do that under the UN charter). He finally meets Lange and his aides and wife (Ruth), only find out Ruth (Olivia Williams) dislikes Lange's aide (Kim Cattrall) and suspects they are having an affair. McGregor shifts gears from Ghostwriter to investigative journalist as he unravels a web of deceit and lies.The movie is long, but it held my interest all the way through.
markmuhl
Writing memoirs is not always a popular activity for all the people that have the potential of being mentioned therein, especially when they have something to hide. If it is a high-end politician like a British Ex-premier, who is writing the memoirs, then even state secrets may be at risk and for a potential ghostwriter involved the whole matter may become a dangerous thing when trying to bind together the loose end of the notes.How dangerous we get to know as the movie slowly evolves into a political thriller about war crimes. Soon it becomes obvious that the first ghostwriter did not die accidentally and that his successor better should not have accepted the financially highly attractive offer to finish off the work of his predecessor. The new ghost, played by Ewan McGregor, however is not easy to alarm but in some ways he is acting a bit naive, too naive as it turns out in the very end. Has he in the end be blinded by the fact that the real enemy is the person he has slept with? This naivety may be one of the weak points of the movie but I see it as a means to make the story work. If you compare this to the invulnerability of many other film protagonists I rather go with this attitude. According to me, the lack of such rather unrealistic action scenes is a strength of the movie and the suspense, which the film definitely has, comes more from a Hitchcock-like atmosphere of distrustful and mysterious behaviour. This atmosphere is well supported by the almost clinical interior of the beach house, where the new Ghost is being sent to and the grey skies that prevail in the movie. Moreover, director and Grandmaster Polanski does not forget to underlay the suspense at certain points with a subtle sense of humour.Overall a clear recommendation for all those that can still appreciate a movie only for its good story telling.
Afaf Sydra
So the bad thing about this movie, is that the surprise at the end, or the solution of the mystery, isn't that surprising after all. I mean it's not like I trusted any of the characters/politicians in this movie (or in real life either). So when Ruth turns out to be a CIA agent and kills her husband(I guess) and the ghostwriter, it's not even unexpected. I really hated the cold decor, London was the only beautiful place shown in the movie. The actors played their roles very well, but of course the ghostwriter kept making all the bad decisions knowing he wasn't backed by anyone/anything powerful, I just wonder how he had the guts to keep chasing the bad guys, and why did he keep threatening them. That was so stupid and of course would lead to his eventual and most certain death.
AD
