The Ghost Writer

Subtlety isn't  how you describe most political thrillers. Often they're high tension movies with lots of running, shouting and gunfire. While there is some of that in The Ghost Writer, it's on a somewhat less extravagant scale. It's a movie that plays it's premise so subtly it isn't even clear if there's any sort of political conspiracy afoot or if it is just a tale of a writer who finds himself in a paranoia inducing situation.



The story follows a ghost writer, played by Ewan McGregor who lands an assignment to write the memoirs of former UK Prime Minister, Adam Lang, after the previous ghost writer dies, but not before finishing a draft of the manuscript. The manuscript is kept under extreme security, with the current ghost writer only able to review a printed copy kept at a secured house on an island off the coast of New England. Shortly after the writer accepts the assignment, a major scandal erupts in which Adam Lang is accused of war crimes during his tenure as Prime Minister. As the scandal grows, the writer begins to uncover secrets his predecessor uncovered that are potentially more damaging than the war crimes accusations.

The pace of this movie is rather patient, revealing details slowly, building tension as the audience strives to make sense of them. For example, the movie opens with a shot of an SUV on a ferryboat, which doesn't move as all of the cars unload off of the boat, only after we see it towed away do we learn that it's former driver, the first ghost writer, apparently fell overboard. The audience is introduced to characters well before it's apparent what their role to play in the story will be.

The film shifts its focus equally among the various plot points so that the viewer isn't entirely sure what's a red herring and what is proof of a greater conspiracy at work. So, while you're focusing on the war crime scandal looming over the prime minister's head, a little nugget of information about the ghost writer's predecessor will pop up, leaving you unsure of which is more important. It all comes together nicely at the end, pulling enough twists to keep you guessing without resorting to cheap tricks.

I suppose I do have to mention that this is a film by Roman Polanski. While it may be hard for some viewers to put aside Polanski's personal controversies, the man definitely knows how to craft a good piece of cinema. He manages to make the story feel like it's moving along at a brisk pace even when it isn't clear to the audience what direction it's going in.

He also put together a great cast for the film. Ewan McGregor really lets you get inside his character's head, making you understand the motivations of a man who is trying to remain as objective as possible and just get a paycheck while caught in a situation where sides need to be taken. Pierce Brosnan plays the former Prime Minister. As easy as he was to like in the James Bond films, he creates a particularly loathsome character who is unapologetic for what he did during his term in office.

Rounding out the cast are Kim Katrall as the Prime Minister's personal assistant and Olivia Williams as his wife. I especially liked Olivia Williams's performance, as her character is both trying to watch out for Ewan McGregor while also being fed up with the situation she's been put into. This is the first major role I've seen her in, and hopefully she'll start appearing in more leading roles after this.

Overall, this is a movie for somebody looking for a story that straddles the line between political thriller and film noir, especially one that is less about explosions and bullets and more about telling an engaging story.

Stephen King's The Mist

Yeah, I was surprised by this one too...

When I first saw the ads for this one, I just rolled my eyes. Maybe it was just the fact that for every well made Stephen King adaptation there is, there are a slew more memorably bad ones. More likely it's because this movie was released about a year after the The Fog, a horrendous remake of the John Carpenter movie with a similar premise. I probably would have forgotten about it entirely had it not been for a good amount of internet buzz legitimately praising as being a modern classic. When it came out on video, I kicked myself for not getting in on the ground floor of this one.

I tried to spread the gospel of this movie before starting this blog, but every time I tried explaining it to people, they kept assuming I was talking about the remake of The Fog. Once I cleared it up with them that it wasn't The Fog, they then assumed it was a shitty knock off of The Fog. So here I am breaking down reasons why you should see this movie.

1. It's not The Fog.

Seriously. It has nothing to do with it.

2. It's written and directed by Frank Darabont.

Don't recognize that name? He's the guy who gave us The Shawshank Redemption (which, interestingly enough, is another movie based on a Stephen King story that was initially overlooked) and The Green Mile. If you've seen either of those, this should be pretty self explanatory.

3. It's a damn good thriller.

Okay, here's where I'm going to devote the bulk of my efforts. This movie is essentially a B-movie made better than anybody should have ever made one. After a devastating storm hits a small New England town, (for any Stephen King fans out there, yes it's Castle Rock,) a mysterious mist rolls down from the mountains. The town residents find themselves trapped in the local grocery store when a man runs inside, covered in blood, claiming something in the mist is killing people. The "something" turns out to be a horde of alien creatures.

While the premise is strictly B-movie, the characters are developed up to A-movie standards. The heros, played by Thomas Jane and Laurie Holden, aren't a pair of hard-asses with quotable one-liners. Instead they're believeable as ordinary Joes who find themselves the voice of reason in and increasingly maddening situation.

There's the skeptic, a New York City lawyer vacationing in town. While B-movie skeptics tend to have the strange ability to doubt that the monster/demon/phantom attacking people is real, even when the evidence is staring him/her right in the face, in The Mist, we can kind of see the skeptic's point... for a while at least.

But the real surprise is how this movie uses the token religious nut, Mrs. Carmody, played by Marcia Gay Harden. She starts out as a simple cliche. She's the one who starts shouting bible verses in the background when it's apparent that monsters are among them. Yet as the movie progresses, she steps out of the background and emerges as the main villain, one worse than the monsters outside.

She begins to convince the people trapped within the store that the monsters are a punishment from God, whipping them into a frenzy that anybody who doesn't side with her must be sacrificed. This of course leaves the heroes in a catch 22 situation, where they can either be killed by the monsters outside, or killed by the people in the store.

As a horror movie, The Mist isn't really scary, but as a thriller, it's a genuine nail biter. Be warned that it's also frustrating to watch. You'll probably find yourself wanting to kill Mrs. Carmody halfway through the movie, yet find yourself feeling as helpless as the other characters in doing something about it. As for the monsters, while they aren't the focus of the film, when show up onscreen they're convincingly frightening, a rarity for sci-fi movies.

By the way, should you end up watching this and decide you want to own it, there's a two disc collectors edition available with a black and white version of the film included.