'The Ghost Writer'

'The Ghost Writer' (PG-13) ***

Writer: Robert Harris
Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Timothy Hutton, Jim Belushi

"The Ghost Writer" unfolds like a very good novel and it takes it's time rewarding us with a good mystery. The director is Roman Polanski and he is a master at setting a tone and building suspense and intrigue. It is not one of his best movies but it gets the job done and is more thoughtful then most thrillers. The movie unpeels it's many layers as it keeps us guessing and rewards us with what I thought was a decent ending. The movie concerns a writer played by Ewan McGregor who is called on to ghost write some memoirs of a famous politician played by Pierce Brosnan. The acting is very good here by the men including Ewan McGregor as the writer. He makes a convincing and solid lead character and we want to follow his journey. Pierce Brosnan is known in a lot of circles as James Bond and I thought he was an amusing Bond but not the greatest Bond (in fact he is the weakest to me). I like him much better in non Bond movies because I think he can be very strong as he is here when he doesn't do the dry humored Bond shtick. He creates just the right amount of mystery and he doesn't over do the sinister part of his character. There is some decent small roles filled by character actors including a nice little turn by Jim Belushi who I am not a big fan of in recent decades. The only reservation I had was the performance of Olivia Williams. Her acting comes off to me a little too over melodramatic. With all the hoopla recently about Polanski's extradition and rape trial we forget that he is a great film maker who knows how to make a good thriller. He takes his time, sets mood and suspense and knows what to leave in and what to leave out. Here he has made a compelling thriller that will keep you guessing until the end.