The Ghost Writer (Single-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Director: Roman Polanski
Actors: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Category: DVD

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

76 reviews
Sales Rank: 1474

Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dual Disc, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English (Unknown)
Genre: mystery-and-suspense
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: Blu-ray
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Running Time: 128 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 5.3 x 0.6

MPN: SUMBR66115508
UPC: 025192075308
EAN: 0025192075308
ASIN: B0036TGSRG

Theatrical Release Date: February 19, 2010
Release Date: August 3, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (summit) Release Date: 08/03/2010 Run time: 128 minutes Rating: Pg13

Amazon.com
Oscar-winning director Roman Polanksi (The Pianist) teams up with author-screenwriter Robert Harris (Enigma) for this twisty political thriller. Ewan McGregor plays an unnamed ghostwriter who signs on to pen the memoirs of former British prime minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). The money is good, but there's a catch: the ghost's predecessor perished under mysterious circumstances (his body washed up on the shore in an apparent suicide). Being the adventurous sort, the ghost puts that information aside and travels to Lang's austere compound on Martha's Vineyard, where he meets Lang's efficient personal secretary, Amelia (Kim Cattrall, good but for an inconsistent accent), and acerbic wife, Ruth (An Education's Olivia Williams). Just as he's wading through Lang's dull text, the PM's ex-cabinet minister accuses him of handing over suspected terrorists to the CIA, fully aware that torture would be on the agenda. The next thing the ghost knows, he's working for a possible war criminal, and the deeper he digs, the more convinced he becomes that Lang is lying about his past. After exchanging a few words with a sharp-eyed old man (Eli Wallach) and a tight-lipped professor (Tom Wilkinson), he realizes his life may also be at risk. Then, while Lang hits the road to proclaim his innocence, the ghost gets to know Ruth better--much better. If the conclusion feels a little glib, Polanksi tightens the screws with skill, McGregor enjoys his best role in years, and Williams proves she's fully prepared to carry a movie of her own. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 1-5 of 76

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Polanski's Polemic Marches On September 6, 2010
Hikari (Lima, OH USA)
Roman Polanski hates America. Really hates it. Which is a bit of an ingrate attitude, seeing as America has given him so many opportunities to direct films in Hollywood, using American stars. Thanks to America, Roman Polanski is an internationally-famous auteur, and not just a regional European product. Mr. Polanski is also internationally-infamous for his conviction of statuatory rape of an American 13-year-old, on American soil, and that more than anything, explains his anti-American bias. Even if he does like to dress up his personal vendetta in 'political' clothing. Quite a way to treat a country who's been so good to him and who was instrumental in creating the nation of Israel. Go figure.

The film is an adaptation of 'The Ghost' by Robert Harris, the screenplay of which Polanski co-wrote with the author. So, the political ideas herein are not solely Polanski's, but seeing as Harris shares Roman's anti-American bias, it becomes easy to see why Polanski would have been drawn to this project. You've probably heard the plot: a talented ghost writer between jobs (Ewan McGregor--in the style of "Rebecca" our main protagonist is never given a name) is hired as a last-minute replacement for another ghost writer who died mysteriously while working on the memoirs of the former British Prime Minister, Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). Despite misgivings, our ghost takes the job, only to be immediately mugged by thugs who think he is carrying the manuscript. The manuscript is kept under lock and key at the PM's palatial compound on Montauk, to which our ghost goes. He has to stay at the house because the manuscript is not permitted to leave the room it's kept in. While he's there working, strange undercurrents swirl around him in the house, and the story breaks in the international media that a former cabinet minister of the PM has accused him of war crimes for his complicity in Iraqi torture. The ghost soon discovers that by continuing work on this project, there is a very good chance he will share his predecessor's fate. But what he, and we don't understand is, why? What is in the PM's past, buried deep in his memoir, that people will kill in order to keep it hidden?

Now, I will give credit where credit is due: no one excels Polanski in the tension-building set-up, or in creating an atmosphere of increasingly-ratcheted up suspense. As in his Frantic (1988) with Harrison Ford, he puts a guy who is professionally-accomplished yet politically naive into a sinister situation where he is completely out of his element, and turns him loose to see how he will cope. The creepy visual effects of the gray winter beach and sky outside the PM's sterile, modern house that seems entirely made of glass create this sense of forboding and opressive isolation that serves the story well. And, in whatever capacity the director deserves credit for these things, he ellicits terrific perfomances from his cast. Ewan McGregor anchors the movie, since he's in every scene. The character McGregor gives us here goes against his usual charismatic and self-confident type: something of a lost and passive man who is just drifting along with events, but watching him carry this movie, and seeing the physicality he has developed convinces me that the rumors that he was considered a leading contender for the reboot of the James Bond franchise aren't as far-fetched as previously thought. Pierce Brosnan, best known as an affable light comedian and action star really displays his dramatic chops as the embattled PM. Here, Brosnan is portraying a man who is considered, though telegenic and popular, a political lightweight, an 'actor' rather than a serious politcal mind. Mr. Brosnan may have found some parallels between his character and himself: in drama school, the impossibly handsome Pierce was affectionally derided by his fellow classmates as "Hollywood"--everyone predicted, rightly, that his looks would make him a huge star, but on the flip side, nobody is willing to take anyone that good looking seriously, or give them credit for more than superficial ambitions. Guess Mr. Brosnan has been able to have his cake and eat it too, thereby proving that he is more than just a pretty face. It is impossible not to draw parallels between his fictional Adam Lang and Tony Blair, who despite being beloved for pulling the nation through the Princess Diana crisis and being elected a resounding three times by his fellow Britons, is in hindsight treated by the media intelligentsia (of which Polanski and Harris are part) with withering scorn as some sort of lapdog to two American presidents. The American government and the CIA are supposed to be the real baddies in this movie. McGregor and Brosnan are supported by a cadre of reliable actors doing the kinds of parts they do best, most notably Tom Wilkinson and Olivia Williams. Kim Cattrall (aka Samantha on SATC) plays the PM's efficient secretary and not-so-secret mistress. She looks great, but whatever accent she's attempting drifts in and out making her something of a caricature.

As strictly a piece of suspense, The Ghost Writer delivers a moody, mostly effective thriller, though portions of it could be tighter. I dozed off a time or two before things really got going. But ultimately it's impossible to divorce the action from the political subtext, and there are so many holes in the logic that the piece sinks under the weight of its own self-importance. Had this been made a generation ago, in the height of Cold War paranoia, it would have seemed to have a bit more heft. At the final reveal, we are left going . . .Is THAT it? Really? In the end, Polanski's final card, which he seems to slap down on the table with an "A HA!" falls flat because it doesn't even make sense. Just prior to that, there is a stunt involving an anagram of sorts that was put to much more chilling use in "Rosemary's Baby" with Scrabble tiles. To trot out a similar device again feels tired, and in this case is dramatically flabby.
In the final analyisis of this movie, I can't say that Mr. Polanski will have won himself any new friends in the American government who are already none too fond of him, but that the British government has an even greater reason to be ticked off with Roman. Apparently Mr. Polanski does not have a high opinion of Great Britain either. Which makes him a darling in France, certainment!

I found this disappointing after having looked forward to it for quite a while. It earns 4 stars for the production design, but on the whole, only a three-star effort.

4 out of 5 stars

TRUTH IN FICTION? September 6, 2010
Robin Simmons (Palm Springs area, CA United States)
This controversial thriller and murder mystery implies that a certain former British prime minister had a very big, explosive secret. Some readers of the Robert Harris novel think it's based on true events. Whatever you think of Roman Polanski, his film adaptation does nothing to remove the aura of a real life secret exposed. This is old school filmmaking at it's best. Ewan McGregor is a ghostwriter assigned to go to an isolated estate along New England's east coast and write the memoirs of the secluded Adam Lang (Pierce Bronson). The ambitious writer is quickly seduced by the power of sex and politics as the shocking story he uncovers becomes deadly. I liked this solid suspenser that many film goers overlooked.

As of this writing, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair autobiography was just released. It's VERY interesting reading the reviews and interviews with Blair and then seeing this roman a clef that seems, in many ways, more truth than fiction.

5 out of 5 stars

Ghost Writer September 5, 2010
Brian Boudreaux (Westwego, La. United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

Excellent movie. Would recommend you to watch it. Very good suspenseful movie. Keeps you on the edge of your seat.

1 out of 5 stars

Anti-war, anti-American propaganda September 3, 2010
G. DAVIS (Fremont, Ca United States)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful

Offered here for our disapproval is a contemptible former British Prime Minister, a revisionist's Tony Blair amorally in bed with a mistress and with the evil U.S. in its war vs. terrorism. This one-dimensional character's alleged "crime against humanity" was the rendering of a couple of British Islamic terror suspects to the diabolical CIA for interrogation. A suspect dies in custody. While not presented as the cause of death, waterboarding is mentioned repeatedly and becomes a focal point of this story's self-righteous wrath.

It is a matter of debate whether waterboarding, which produces plenty of physical and psychological stress but causes no physical harm, is torture. Yet this "crime" is judged in the movie's court of public opinion by anti-war zealots and media without the movie offering an opposing viewpoint.

A more intellectually honest script would have presented the moral dilemma between the wartime pursuit of mass murderers whose main tactic is targeting civilians vs. preserving the civil liberties that such pursuit endangers. These worthy and sometimes-conflicting endeavors deserve at least cursory examination here. Just a few lines among the PM's own inner circle explaining to the audience his rationales could suffice. The most we get is the PM's brief and shallow statement about the "defense of freedom," intentionally presented to us as a vapid media sound bite. His cooperation is simplistically presented as definitional evil as if no justification could possibly exist.

It is that one-sided presentation of a clearly controversial matter that makes this movie as propagandistic as if it were approved for public consumption by the Iranian Supreme Court. It assumes unquestioning agreement by the audience of its central theme -- that waterboarding is torture and a crime against humanity. That may be a "fact" to the anti-war crowd, but not to us all, and it's a lie to present it as such.

5 out of 5 stars

Truly Hitchcockian handling that brings a dry script alive with sauce. September 2, 2010
Tahseen Nakavi (Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India)
Few years back, I was mesmerised by his brilliant 'Pianist'. It was refreshing to see 'The Ghost Writer' this year . I saw it twice in three days and this film replaces all before it as the Film Of The Year. Truly Hitchcockian. What attention to details! Build up and suspense is truly magnetic. Embellished by an outstanding musical score by Alexandre Desplat. Hear it. Roman Polanski has handled this script with an ease like Alfred Hitchcock would have done with Saboteur and The Man who Knew Too Much. I was first bowled over by Polanski's 'Rosemary's Baby' and 'The Tenant'. This film is in the true tradition of how a tale has to be told even if the tale has political overtones. Any other director would have found the going dry and tough. Ewan Mcgregor, I always felt had the potential to deliver; and he has done greatly. Pierce Brosnan is adequate. Good supporting work from Timothy Hutton, James Belushi and Tom Wilkinson. Let me get back to Polanski who is the Master Director here and excellent work by Aexandre Desplat. The visuals are breathtaking and perfect for the sombre mood of the script. The music is a perfect fit to this suspensul cocktail of a tale.

Showing reviews 1-5 of 76

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