On the lack of suspense in political thriller, The Ghost

Directed by Roman Polanski, The Ghost is an entirely European affair, even down to the wonderfully shot, rain swept locale that stands in for the remoteness of America’s New England. The premise sees ex-British Prime Minister Adam Lang employ a second ghost writer for his memoirs after the death of his first. Whilst the ghost and Lang conduct interviews, the news breaks that he is being charged by The Hague for war crimes during his invasion of Iraq. The ghost finds himself in the middle of a story that could lead to a grittier more marketable book. But, will Lang’s inner circle allow the story to be told?

With obvious and intentional comparisons to the leadership of Tony Blair, The Ghost remains a universally appealing story and doesn’t allow itself to be mired by caricature. The Ghost checks off the expected features of suspenseful political thrillers – secluded location, omnipresent higher force, guarded and mysterious characters. Yet, Polanski is unable to generate the momentum to really start a fire under this story. As the source material is interesting and relevant, the acting competent and the cinematography pertinent, it seems that the fault lies with the director’s decision to keep the pace sluggish (maybe to mirror the ghost’s slow realisation of what he had become entangled with) and the energy and forward thrust reserved for one tense chase sequence.

The Ghost is not a bad film and there is pleasure to be taken from McGregor’s performance and the real-life connections we can apply having the advantage of retrospection. Yet, upon leaving the film behind the feeling that more could have been achieved from the material cannot be discarded.