The Ghost Writer (2010) Movie

We missed the earlier timing for the movie and ended up catching the 9.20pm show. On a weekday, watching a movie this late after a long day at work turned out to be a pretty bad idea because I couldn't stop yawning and coughing throughout what has been a pretty well-received movie.

The Slog Reviews: 8/10. A CIA-spy thriller movie set in the UK. Plot is simple - a ghostwriter (the Ghost) is chosen (after a convincing speech to the editors how the biography has to be about "heart") to complete the memoirs of a former UK Prime Minister, Adam Lang after the previous ghostwriter is found drowned. The Ghost is flown to the island where Adam and his wife, Ruth Lang stays. During that time, there is talk that Adam will be tried in the International Court of Justice for war crimes for his role in handing over certain terrorist (suspects) to CIA to be tortured. There are also protestors camped outside Adam's gated complex. Anyway, Adam decides to fly to Washington against the advice of Ruth, where he is greeted warmly by the secretary of state and where he will be safe from prosecution. In the meantime, the Ghost discovers in the room of the former ghostwriter, a telephone number and some photos of Adam's school days in cambridge. He also decides to check out the beach where the previous ghostwriter was found washed up and is told by locals that the current couldn't have been strong enough to wash up the body and that the woman who saw flashlights on the beach on the day of the drowning is now in a coma. Ruth goes to look for him and they have dinner where she tells him that Adam used to listen to her but now rarely and in turn he tells her his suspicions. She goes out for a walk in the rain and looks for him in the night when she is all dripping wet. He goes to the bathroom to get her a towel and finds her naked in his bed. In the morning, the Ghost packs his things to leave as he is horrified that he has slept with a client's wife. He gets in the car that the housekeeper told him once before was used by the previous ghostwriter and drives to the hotel. However the built in GPS system keeps pointing him in another direction and he decides to follow the GPS. It takes him to the main island and to the house of a Profesor Paul Emmett, whom he identifies as one of the people in Adam's photos. Paul agrees to meet him and denies any association with Adam. When shown the photographs, he says that that summer was a blur and too long ago. When The Ghost leaves, a black car follows him all the way to the ferry. The Ghost flees his car and stays in a hotel on the main island. He calls the number on the previous ghostwriter's effects and is met by a former minister whom Adam Lang sacked. Adam also calls him to say he is flying back and wants to meet The Ghost. On board Adam's private jet, The Ghost confronts Adam with his suspicions that Paul had recruited Adam to work for the CIA. Adam laughs and the denies it all angrily - saying that every political decision he had made was done on his own. When they get off the plane on the tarmac, Adam tells The Ghost they need to have a meeting later and right after that, is shot and crumples to the ground. The shooter is one of the protestors whose son was killed in Iraq and the shooter gets gunned down by Adam's men. The Ghost is taken in for questioning as a witness reported Adam shouting at The Ghost on the jet. It is later revealed that Adam died and the Ghost completes the memoirs which goes to print. At the book launch where he meets with one of Adam's previous assistants, Amelia, she says something about beginnings which triggers The Ghost to take the original manuscript written by the previous ghost writer and go through the first page of each chapter. He underlines the first word of each page and discovers that Ruth Lang is a CIA agent who was recruited by Paul Emmett. The Ghost passes a note to Ruth revealing that he knows the truth and on his way out of the book launch, is run down by a car.