The movie The Ghost Writer is an entertaining movie for those who are in the mood for a mystery. This is not a typical action movie, but it is beautifully shot and the acting is great. The Ghost Writer is a really solid, entertaining film, engrossing from an intellectual point of view, not from a visual/action perspective. Atmospherically however, the film is also great. What makes this successful for me is Polanski’s ability to create such a rich setting for events to take place within, the pace of the film is structured to allow for the narrative to become built up and revealed over time, rather than offering immediate visual or dialog-based cues for viewers who demand instant gratification. It is not an approach many directors take any longer. I would suggest that if the film was too slow for you, you might stick to watching something more childish that has more visual and action-based aids to provoke your dull imagination such as the Prince of Persia or something along those lines.
One problem with movies like this that for some, perhaps for many, the fiction may become reality. Obviously the period covered is that of the tenure of PM Blair. Now how many will believe his wife was an agent of the CIA. How many Americans were absolutely convinced that nuclear power was a disaster after the China Syndrome? There is a movie about IRA investigations that gives the impression that Maggie Thatcher’s government supported the assassination of all suspected of involvement.
The Ghost Writer movie is not an edge of your seat thriller; it is more of a thinking person’s thriller. There is no hand feeding here, and you must watch the movie carefully to get all that is going on. And then you must add it up to the conclusion that must be kept a secret. The movie The Ghost Writer gets your interest from the beginning so you want to keep watching it to see how the plot unravels. Ewan McGregor was great and played the character well, even for all the subtleties. I guess I’d have to say this about all the actors who were able to keep your interest as to what would happen next and who they really were.