The Ghost Writer (2010)

The first must-see film of the year.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The Ghost WriterThe chewed off intense sequences to build up the thrill is something that is obvious and expected while going in for such premise, but the makers in here keeps it smart and different to which they'll go to any extent and they took the longest way possible i.e. for more than 2 hours that can be easily exhausting. The adaptation by Roman Polanski and Robert Harris is dull and loosely edited that has no amount of crisp or tangent in it which makes the Roman's work harder on terms of execution which he pulls it off like a magic rabbit. On performance level there isn't much to look forward to although Ewan McGregor has done a decent work but isn't supported to that bar by either Pierce Brosnan or Olivia Williams. The Ghost Writer is a feature that you may think about while watching it and might even enjoy as the story enfolds in each phase but as soon as you are off the hook, it will cease to exist.

I have never written a review before but after spending 30 mins flabbergasted reading reviews for this thing and only finding 1 review that had the same question as me i had to... how in the hell are people reviewing this movie so overwhelmingly positive? Not just like "good movie" - which it was definitely not - but things like "one for the ages" "perfect movie" "hooked from start to finish"...... HUH? Is this like a practice joke? Like some Internet troll where hundreds of people decided to spoof review just to F with strangers? I understand with some movies how people can like them and I have a different opinion. I can see reasons for them liking said movie and I can understand why we disagree. But I am absolutely stunned by the reviews here... some of the shots are pretty I suppose. in a dreary, dark, colorless, monotonous way.. but beyond that I saw nothing thrilling, suspenseful, entertaining. I saw no reason to care about any of the characters or what happens to them. And the ending? Is that supposed to be some shocking twist? It's crazy cuz I read critic reviews on rotten too and it was the same thing. Roger ebert or whatever 4 out of 4. Huh? I don't know.. I pride myself in life in being able to figure things out that confuse me.. having an understanding on why a thing is a certain way even if I don't see it that way.. this is something that I'm not going to be able to solve. How this movie earned such incredible reviews is the single greatest mystery of my life.

Roman Polanski struck cinematic gold again with his 2010 film, The Ghost Writer. Starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, and Olivia Williams; The Ghost Writer follows an unassuming writer hired for a lucrative contract to ghost the memoir of the former UK Prime Minister. The simple job becomes much more complex when the former P.M. is charged with war crimes. The ghost gets an in-depth look into the lives of his subjects and begins to question if he should be getting involved with their lives at all, let alone work for them.A young ghostwriter, (Ewan McGregor) has enjoyed some success in his career, so he is assigned to assist writing the memoir of the former UK Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). The circumstance that brought him on, however, was the death of his predecessor, under mysterious circumstances. The ghost writer travels to a remote island town where Adam has sought refuge with his wife, Ruth Lang (Olivia Williams). It doesn't take the ghost long to pick up on the extreme tension between Adam and Ruth. When a legal scandal erupts, and Adam is accused of human rights violations, the tension between Adam and Ruth becomes even clearer. Soon after the news breaks, the ghost is barred from leaving the Lang residence and is being closely monitored. After more and more evidence mounts against Adam, and the ghost discovers damning evidence that his predecessor had uncovered, the ghost decides to take matters into his own hands and begin his own investigation into the life and dealings of Adam Lang.The fact that the ghost writer, the principle actor in the film, is never referred to by name, nor is his name ever revealed, tells the audience a great deal about the characters in the film and the secrecy one accepts as soon as meeting Adam Lang. Polanski explores real human fears and emotions through The Ghost Writer. Polanski, as he often does, reveals troubles that seem very personal to the director. One persistent theme in The Ghost Writer is the idea of futility. We see several moments in the film in which the characters on screen are exerting futile efforts towards their goals. For instance, we see a landscaper attempting to gather brush into a wheel barrel that the brush continuously flies out of against the wind. We see the ghost begin his investigation only to get stuck in the sand and under a torrential downpour, even the ghosts very objective is an exercise in futility as he is forced to begin the penning a new each day to avoid a security breach. It is the repeated notion of futility that may be providing the audience a deeper insight into the embattled man behind the camera. One gets the feeling through watching the desperate attempts of those on- screen to accomplishing their goals only to be squashed, that this is personal for Polanski. The Ghost Writer benefits from the slow, deliberate style Polanski implores. Unraveling much like a Hitchcock film, The Ghost Writer is an intricate puzzle in which no line of dialogue is spoken needlessly, nor is any piece of production design shown pointlessly. Speaking of production design, the massive, all- encompassing island, and incredible mansion used in the film really allow the audience to feel swallowed, as the ghost is swallowed by everything around him. The acting of Kim Cattrall and Pierce Brosnan was top-notch, and the cameo from Eli Wallach was a fun treat. The Ghost Writer is one of the more human films Roman Polanski has made in recent years and is certainly not a film to dismiss in his filmography.

Ewan MacGregor is recruited as memoir ghost writer to the ex-Prime Minister of the UK, Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), who will soon be facing a war crimes trial. Ewan's predecessor was mysteriously lost from a ferry to the island in Maine that Adam Lang is holidaying in, in the stormy season.Luckily, Ewan has all of the previous writer's stuff to go through, and it contains many clues to solving the mystery of um... whatever the mystery is. Why the previous guy was killed, I suppose. He also gets the help of a very old Eli Wallach, who puts beyond it reasonable movie-goer doubt that the guy Ewan has taken over from was murdered. Well we kind of gathered that already, but thanks Eli.Pierce Brosnan always gives good baddie, but while Ewan MacGregor is very good at appearing ordinary, he has never managed to make me believe a character, apart from in Trainspotting. If he's supposed to be an alcoholic in this, he's a kind of weekend alcoholic. And while there's mystery in this movie, IE wondering what secrets are being covered up, there's very little suspense, because you have no idea what or who Ewan is supposed to be scared of. Apart from Adam Lang's wife.Terrible, terrible ending, too. It's like they gave up trying to explain anything because the plot is so inconsequential. The ex-Prime Minister's wife was a CIA plant, OK? (Oh! THAT'S why Lang was so pro-US foreign policy!). This message is 'hidden' in the first words of each chapter of the memoir manuscript. And Ewan figures it out, just in time for publication date, shortly afterwards being hit by a car in a neatly directed but letdown final scene.We never know for sure why the first dead ghostwriter thought 'hiding' his revelation in this way had any point whatsoever. And this isn't even a spoiler because it's a plot turn that has no consequences or relation to the conclusion of the story. All you end up with is, "The CIA are very bad". But you knew that already.Undemanding. Silly. Watchable, just, for Pierce Brosnan's class turn, digging at A. Blair, Esq. Spoiled the book (and any Robert Harris in future) for me.