It's been a week since I last wrote a review. Why? Because I just didn't feel it. Nothing has gripped me and forced me to put my words down on the cyber page. A friend bothered me today, and the guilt took hold, so I'm back. Please excuse any poor quality reviews (as opposed to the vaguely average you're used to getting on here) as I fall back into the groovy groove.
****
Where Martin Scorsese fumbled the ball with his throwback to the early years of Hollywood genre cinema (SHUTTER ISLAND), Roman Polanski hits all the right notes. THE GHOST WRITER is probably the least straight up thrilling thriller you'll see all year, but that's never a bad thing. It's all about creeping unease and the possibility of a threat as opposed to the attack. Ewan McGregor is absolutely riveting as the writer (who remains unnamed) that gets c the autobiography for an ex-prime minister and ends unraveling something a whole lot bigger.
Yet, it's never presented as big.
It's a simple straight up thriller. No long soliloquies on the implications impersonating someone behind the scenes - The actual meaning of the title GHOST WRITER is pretty obvious by the end. The film rolls on at a very controlled pace as little bits and pieces fall into place. The final reveal would have probably been relegated to the end the first act in a big budget Hollywood product, but here it ends up perfectly satisfying. The cast performs their roles with ablomb (Including a r Pierce Brosnan as the pretty boy ex-prime minister) and there's a very welcome vein of humor that runs throughout. In the middle of particular suspensful scene a joke would be dropped and the audience around me bursts into loud laughter as the tension was eased.
It's classic thriller cinema at it's best. Your care about the characters, the mystery isn't completely convoluted and you're in it for the long run
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