The tone of the movie is firmly established for the story's beginning; gray and bleak, dark brooding skies threatening to release their contents on the heads of those below and a cold chill that permeates the entire fabric of the film. This is not to say that the film is dark. In fact true to Polanski's style there is a sharp, witty humor that is interspersed throughout the picture in which the director let's his audience in on the joke. Alfred Hitchcock immediately comes to mind. (And not dissimilar to Polanski's 1967 film "The Fearless Vampire Killers" which I shared with you last year.) The film leaves you on the edge of your seat all the way to the end as intrigue and layers of deception slowly unravel. It's a classic.

The story begins with Ewan McGregor's character being sent in as a "ghost writer" for the former British Prime Minister ( played brilliantly by Pierce Brosnan) Adam Lang who is writing his autobiography. (The character obviously thinly-veiled Tony Blair.) The previous writer has died under questionable circumstances (unknown to McGregor) and the publisher is on a deadline to get the book completed. He flies to the United States (but not before being mugged and his manuscript stolen)and  to Martha's Vineyard where Lang in hold up at friend's compound. Sleepless and jumpy McGregor sets the pace as all is not what it seems. As he begins his amateur sleuthing, it  leads to unsurprising trouble as paranoia sets in among the films' monochromatic landscape. Polanski is a master at creating this edgy uneasiness and as the story unwinds McGregor digs deeper into the mystery that unravels before his eyes.(remember Jack Nicholson's character in "Chinatown?") Meanwhile Lang's role in aiding CIA operatives in capture and torture of suspected terrorist and illegal extradition bring media attention and hordes descend upon Lang's compound leaving him a prisoner. It leads one to speculate that the film is as much about Polanski and it is about Tony Blair. I will not spoil the ending by going any further. What i will say that it is a brilliant film that will take you on a rollercoaster ride that starts out slow and methodical and ends up barreling down at a 90 degree angle. Polanski is a brilliant director who's carrying on the tradition established by Raymond Chandler and Alfred Hitchcock. This is classic Polanski and one not to miss...