A plot gone sour

This eagerly anticipated thriller from legendary director Roman Polanski left me with a somewhat bitter aftertaste in my mouth.

When you mention Polanski's name, many things come to mind ... the murder of his ex-wife Sharon Tate, his classic films such as Rosmary's Baby, and most recently his time under house arrest in a Swiss chalet, facing extradition to the US over his 33-year-old sex conviction.

But, whatever your personal impressions of Polanski as a human being, his skills as a director cannot be disputed ... or can they?

That's why this film was such a shock, considering the high calibre of stars involved, some of the big guns in Hollywood, this movie somehow seemed to be firing blanks, especially at the conclusion.

To set the scene, a former British prime minister decided to publish his memoirs but since he was a politician and not a writer, he enlisted the help of a 'ghost writer' to help him turn his boring tales into something mildly entertaining that had a chance of selling.

His first ghost writer met an unfortunate and suspicious end after 'falling' into the sea before finishing the task. So, he hired another writer to conclude the project to make him look good, which was considerably difficult since he had been investigated for war crimes.

As the film progressed, the ghost writer found some shocking information about the former PM which appeared to confirm the war crime charges and revealed questionable links to the US government.

To make matters even more complicated, the former PM's wife appeared to take quite a shine to the ghost writer and they managed to share a night of passion before he decided it probably wasn't a good idea to mix business with pleasure.

As the plot continued down a slippery slope, more and more secrets and half truths about the former PM's life emerged and things were not a black and white as they seemed.

So, here is the part where I tell you what I didn't like about the film (and since I only have one page of GulfWeekly to do so, I'll be as concise as I can) ... in a word, everything!

The acting was two dimensional and that's a shock for a film that stars tremendous actors from amazing films like Star Wars and James Bond.

Also, for a film that's marketed as a thriller, the only time I was thrilled was when it ended and I could go home.

The running time was superfluous for the plot and the same results could easily have been achieved if the film was 45 minutes shorter.

I can see what Polanski was aiming for but he came painfully short of the mark, leaving me to believe his best days as a director are behind him and he should now spend his time focusing on his defence arguments instead of making films.

This film was so dull and drawn out, I'm confident that if it can't be marketed as a thriller it could definitely be sold as a cure for insomnia.