The Ghost (15), 2010 (128 minutes)
McGregor lifts the spirits

The Ghost-writer or Ghost as it is known in the UK is a mildly political thriller based on the book of the same name by Robert Harris written in 2007. Starring Ewan McGregor as the Ghost (we are never told his real name) and Pierce Brosnan as former British Prime Minister, Adam Lang, the action is set in a remote, coastal location somewhere on the eastern US seaboard.

McGregor, encouraged by his agent and a lucrative fee, reluctantly agrees to polish and complete Lang's memoirs. No sooner have they begun than Lang and his assistant, Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall) fly to Washington to clear his name against allegations of war-crimes – principally that he agreed, while Prime Minister, to pass terrorist suspects to the CIA in the knowledge that they would be tortured.

McGregor, left alone in the house with only Lang's wife Ruth (Olivia Williams) for company continues work on the draft but makes a series of troubling discoveries – including the fact that his predecessor was found dead in mysterious circumstances. Ghost starts investigating slowly putting the pieces together but is soon out of his depth drawn into a web of lies, deceit and ruthlessness. Distraught and alone, he reaches out... to one of Lang’s former colleagues

McGregor is convincing, playing the innocent hack with assurance and ease in spite of the not-entirely-convincing cockney accent. Brosnan, for once, disappoints, failing to make the role his own and outshone by his junior partner. Cattrall, despite acknowledging the restrictions of the role itself is rather wooden and stilted but the real surprise is Williams, equally convincing whether tense, nervous or seductive.

Director Roman Polanski, who co-wrote the screenplay with Harris, significantly underplays the political parallels (with Tony Blair) of the book, preferring instead to develop suspense, tension and atmosphere; the remoteness of the isolated beach house; the cold, dark wintry skies; characters who exchange knowing glances not always what they seem; and finally the current ghost's predecessor back from the dead via, of all things, a satellite navigation device.
Verdict
Despite its length (128 minutes) and a not entirely convincing denouement reworked by the screenwriters, Ghost keeps your attention. Enjoyable, if unmemorable, escapism. 6/10.
Dick Morgan
April 2010







Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor confront one another in “The Ghost Writer”