The Ghost Writer – 3/5 – Movie reviews by Ry!
The Ghost Writer – 3/5 – Political drama films are one that are either filled with boring elements with staunched characters, or just way to be overly descriptive while trying to have an ulterior motive. The former usually makes these kind of movies good, its the latter that will sway a person’s favorability towards the film one way of the other. This specific movie does the latter, but is half decent from beginning to end. This movie starts off turned into a suspenseful thriller.
The film stars Ewan McGregor as ‘The Ghost’. He is a ghost-writer who has landed a lucrative contract to redact the memoirs of Adam Lang, played by Pierce Brosnan. Adam Lang is a former UK Prime Minister. Living in America now, McGregor travels there to begin working on the memoirs, but soon discovers that the former prime minister, who is embroiled in major international scandals, starts to unravel secrets that could warrant war crimes against the former leader of the United Kingdom and change perspective in the memoirs.
The character played by Mr. McGregor is played very well. He does a good job as a writer, presented as a weary outsider. All he wants to do is correct the memoirs written by a previous ghost writer. After the truth starts to subtly come out (from information left by the previous deceased ghost writer) he turns into an investigator. This is where the acting starts to draw you into the story, and McGregor does masterful in weaving you to becoming his eye as you want to pry the true person behind Adam Lang. Brosnan’s Lang is a stern, starched individual, as he contrast everything McGregor wants. The downfall is Lang is only one screen a short while. This short time hurts to develop a true attachment towards his character, as his character feels very powerful, devilish and also innocent. Even for these qualities in the character, you don’t really care about him or want to see if he really is guilty or innocent against the war crimes. For the rest of the cast, they were very stiff and slow, and you just notice no layers to them.
As the film starts, from the beginning, it comes across as campy and dull. Because of a rocky start, the film becomes just a boring story of history. This kind of direction draws a lack of attentiveness, and causes nothing to be relative and/or thoughtful towards the audience. It all becomes just a passe conversation between two individuals to create a book. Luckily, there is a shift. The shift starts when ‘The Ghost’ finds the pictures and information tied back to Lang’s pass. When the story shifts from boring history to a thriller, you began to be caught in the web of conspiracy. That makes you want to know the real purpose behind Lang’s special relationship with America.
Becoming of a thriller turned this movie up a notch, and made the movie from below average to good. After the evidence is found, you began to weave the spider’s web, drawing a crisp direction for the film. This tight pacing makes you become aware of the dangers McGregor faces, as he comes close to death multiple times. By the end, you see that real proof in the pudding, and you feel as if the truth doesn’t matter. This leads to another downfall for the movie, as the relative climax just falls to one of the typical things that cause political dramas to fall flat; a distinct directive to have an ulterior motive instead of having a cohesive plot.
Crisp pacing, a thrill of detective elements, and decent acting from McGregor and Brosnan (in limited fashion) keeps you focused for most of the movie. The downfall is caused by the boring beginning and the flat climax. You really feel the 2 hours wasn’t as worth watching as it should have been. Having an ulterior motive could draw ears down, if you had a different perspective of Adam Lang, but overall … recommend for a rental to political thriller fans, nothing more than that.