The Ghost

 

Playing out impressively like a dark Hitchcockian thriller, The Ghost – directed by Polanski and taken from a Robert Harris bestseller – opens with Ewan McGregor’s journo taking on the job of ghost writer. He is assigned the task of presenting the memoirs of imperious former British PM Adam Lang (Brosnan) to the wider world, from Lang’s US beachfront home where he is on a lecture tour. The lucrative month-long job swiftly becomes a poisoned chalice. What happened to Lang’s former writer, an aide who drowned in a ferry accident? And what are the allegations that connect Lang to the water-boarding of terrorists by the CIA? Secrets begin to unravel as The Ghost questions Lang’s wife Ruth (Williams), his PA and mistress Amelia (Cattrall) and the mysterious Professor Emmett (Wilkinson). Directed ably by Polanski, The Ghost is a cogent and chilling conspiracy thriller. Performance-wise, Ewan McGregor and Olivia Williams are the standouts here, but they gain able support from Brosnan and Wilkinson and the action runs smoothly towards an unexpectedly rewarding ending. [Matthew Arnoldi]