?THE GHOST WRITER? is a movie for adults in the true sense of the word?a thriller that sees no need for in-your-face thrills. This is a Roman Polanski movie, after all, and no one else layers tension and paranoia quite as skillfully as he does.

Based on Richard Harris? novel, ?The Ghost,? the film stars Ewan McGregor as the titular character who has just been hired to jazz up the stolidly written memoirs of former British Prime Minister, Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). The first hint of greater disquietude to come starts in the production?s first scenes, where we see why McGregor?s character had to be hired in the first place.

Replacement

It turns out that he?s a replacement for the original ghost writer who has just jumped off a New England ferry and gets washed up on a beach in Martha?s Vineyard.

The possibility that he might have been pushed off, instead?which no one in the film voices initially?only adds to the atmosphere of foreboding that grows stronger as the movie progresses.

The ghost writer, who is never named, is uneasy about the job from the beginning. He knows nothing about politics, there?s a one-month deadline, and the press is abuzz with allegations that Lang collaborated with the US government and the CIA in the torture of detainees.

He can?t say no to the huge amount of cash being offered, however, and flies off to the States to join Lang and his retinue, which includes Lang?s wife, Ruth (a superb Olivia Williams) and his assistant, Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall). Once he gets there, his uneasiness only heightens as things get increasingly more disquieting.

McGregor does a good job playing his Everyman character, who?s as unequipped as any ordinary person would be to deal with the dangers and complexities of international politics and espionage. Brosnan is spot-on, as well as the charming, slightly oily Lang, whose smooth grin masks a harsher personality.

Marked by a vague sense of menace that rises and subsides but never really goes away, the film is the kind of finely-crafted thriller that is becoming increasingly rare in Hollywood.

Polanski is subtle and respectful of his audience?s intelligence. Here, he builds suspense, not by speeding up the action or by quick, choppy cuts, but by carefully layering everything?the setting, the actors? movements, the dialogue, the score?to create that uneasy sense of something disastrous just waiting to happen.

Polanski is a master of mood and rhythm, and his expertise is evident throughout ?The Ghost Writer,? where all the elements have been carefully considered, from how the winds and waves pummel a bleak, wintry beach to the way the actors are angled in a shot.

The movie is set mostly in Martha?s Vineyard, and Polanski uses a palette laden with desolate, brooding hues.

The springy score by Alexandre Desplat, which satirizes the often overwrought rhythms of typical thrillers? scores, helps to maintain the tone and adds a dash of tongue-in-cheek humor.