Saw this movie last week. It has been hyped a bit what with the whole combo of Roman Polanksi directing and it being about contemporary British politics. I hadn't read the Robert Harris book before seeing the movie so I had no plot expectations. Friends tell me there have been some changes.
Usually I love hyped films and find them as good as the blurb. I have to confess to being disappointed here. I didn't find the characters convincing, found Ewan McGregor surprisingly wooden, especially in a scene where he interviews a local (to the ex PMs home) about a recent murder and speedily extracts more information than a police investigation had.
It bobbed along quickly enough but I couldn't bring myself to believe that the British press, who are very good at digging out scandal, could have missed something as massive as the concealed truth here.
If you had bumped off a ghost writer of your biography because he had found out too much, and if you treated his manuscript with such care it could not be removed from one room in a secure house, would you really not have searched that writer's bedroom thoroughly before inviting the replacement in?
Fun way to pass a couple of hours. Only two stars from me though.
2 comments:
I haven't seen the film yet but read the book last year. I think your reflections on the film reflect similar thoughts I had on the book - great tempo and fun but a few serious logistical questions!
I read the book and conceived an instant lack of desire to ever see the film!
It's well below Harris' usual standards, and I can;t help feel it's a luvvie's wounded amour propre that Tony listened to other friends instead of him.
Harsh, eh!
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