Polanski's film of the book written in the aftermath of the prime minister's 2007 resignation is as taut as Gordon Brown's grin, writes RUPERT BASHAM

ROMAN Polanski's latest offering is a taut, bold thriller, in which Ewan McGregor's unnamed ghost writer is hired to write the memoirs of Pierce Brosnan's former British Prime Minister Adam Lang.

The Ghost (15), as McGregor is known, has a bad feeling about taking the job from the start and he probably should have followed his instinct, but then we would have missed out on a highly enjoyable ride.

He is flown out to meet Lang, who is holed up in his publisher's seafront house in Massachusetts, and has the task of finishing Lang's highly anticipated memoirs in four weeks.

The Ghost's predecessor died amid suspicious circumstances and within a day of arriving, Lang is publicly outed by a former cabinet minister for authorising suspected terrorists to be tortured at the hands of the US government and the CIA.

During his stay, The Ghost uncovers few clues that may link Lang to the CIA in a much deeper, more sinister, conspiratorial way than just being over-friendly with the American president.

Along the way, he gets himself involved in car chases, ferry chases and has an unpleasant encounter with a superbly menacing Tom Williamson, all against a cold, unnerving and isolated backdrop.

Based on the 2007 book by Robert Harris, it is hard to ignore the Tony Blair comparisons, especially when you consider the author dropped everything he was doing when Blair resigned to sit down and write it.

However, instead of it becoming The Chilcot Inquiry: The Movie, Lang's supposed war crimes are left on the back burner and are reported in the background, thanks to 24-hour news channels, with Polanski focusing his energies on McGregor's Ghost and the murky fictitious world that he has become involved in.

As always, McGregor is excellent and Brosnan is convincing as a charming, slightly confused ex-PM. However, it is Olivia Williams as Lang's wife Ruth who really steals the show.

A Lady Macbeth-type character, she wanders the dark corridors of the New England mansion, showing guilt for her husband's crimes, but at the same time playing McGregor off for her own needs.

The Ghost is a tense political thriller that provides enough excitement and jolts to enable you to brush aside some of the sillier aspects of the plot.

A thoroughly enjoyable watch.