The Ghost Writer Reviews
Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review
A subtle and elegant thriller
Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 22, 2023
Rene Jordan El Nuevo Herald (Miami)
The first impressionable thriller of 2010. [Full review in Spanish]
Full Review | Oct 5, 2022
Stuart McGurk NME (New Musical Express)
It's the kind of film that comes along all too rarely, and you find yourself hoping it won't be his last.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 19, 2021
Jason Best Movie Talk
Watching Blair's thinly disguised surrogate get put through the wringer in The Ghost is probably the closest we'll ever get to see him face retribution for his follies and crimes.
Full Review | Nov 29, 2020
Mike Massie Gone With The Twins
Perhaps the most prominent interest in the film will be for the controversy Polanski has gotten himself into in his personal life.
Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 29, 2020
Sarah Boslaugh TheArtsStl
...succeeds both as a popcorn movie and as a work of political criticism...
Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 30, 2019
Brian D. Johnson Maclean's Magazine
It's an overripe conspiracy thriller knotted with an unlikely twist. But it's certainly compelling enough. The suspense is taut. Riding this hairpin narrative with McGregor at the wheel is a lot of fun.
Full Review | Jul 23, 2019
Mattie Lucas The Dispatch (Lexington, NC)
A good, old-fashioned suspense yarn that culminates with one of the most haunting final shots in years.
Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 7, 2019
Micheal Compton Bowling Green Daily News
A small-scale thriller with a deep cast and a neat twist that makes it a cut above most.
Full Review | Original Score: B+ | May 10, 2019
PJ Nabarro Patrick Nabarro
Polanski navigates superbly the fine balancing act between honouring his story's genuine thriller tension and paranoia, versus its more pulpy, playful bent.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 1, 2019
Amy Ridout CineVue
The acting and script are stilted at times, but The [Ghost Writer]'s central tension and gloomy atmosphere smooth over any clunky bits, resulting in a sophisticated yet brilliantly simple thriller.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 5, 2018
Megan Basham WORLD
The Ghost Writer is a good thriller.
Full Review | Oct 4, 2018
Deborah Ross The Spectator
This isn't a great film. You won't carry it around in your heart for years to come... But it'll keep you with it right to the very end, which has to be worth something. It may even be worth quite a lot.
Full Review | Aug 30, 2018
Ed Koch The Atlantic
The dialogue and suspense created by director Polanski are first rate. You will enjoy this film.
Full Review | Jan 13, 2018
Andrew Sarris Film Comment Magazine
In the total context of Polanski's hard life and grim ordeals ... The Ghost Writer constitutes a miracle of artistic and psychological resilience.
Full Review | Jun 20, 2013
Kevin Carr 7M Pictures
It's a slow build that hints at something big from the beginning but unravels nicely throughout.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 31, 2012
Keith Uhlich Time Out
Polanski has made a genre piece with a verve and vitality that's in sadly short supply.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 17, 2011
Richard T. Jameson Parallax View
The Ghost Writer is tense, unsettling and deeply thrilling because of the way a master filmmaker looks at the world.
Full Review | May 1, 2011
Dave White Movies.com
Polanski's a master of carefully drawing you in that cold gray place where everything is wrong, no one sleeps well and secrets are hidden from the hapless main character until it's too late for anyone to make it out with their lives or souls intact.
Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 4, 2011
Mark Pfeiffer Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema
For all of it's mirroring of real life circumstances, The Ghost Writer's shrouded revelations are ever transitory.
Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Mar 9, 2011