Anton - Night Watch and Wanted star Konstantin Khabensky - is a writer on the slow path to self destruction. Once a highly acclaimed author Anton's latest work was poorly received and his publisher considers hi slatest work fit for nothing but the garbage can. The obvious culprit is the bottle, but his drinking seems sympotmatic of larger problems that also turn up with his overly-tolerant girl friend Vika and his son, Pascha, who lives in a full time medical facility. Once a force to be taken seriously Anton has descended to writing pulp, churning out novels loosely based on the life and exploits of a real life hitman known as The Ghost, a hitman believed to have died in a police take down some years before.

The course of Anton's life seems fairly set when we meet him, he seems destined to simply slide deeper and deeper into the bottle until he disappears but that all changes one fateful day. A strange man approaches Anton at a book signing and asks the author if he has ever killed someone before casually stepping outside and executing a man - the key witness in an upcoming trial - and his bodyguard in plain view of the shocked author. But shocked as Anton may be he is even more invigorated, returning home to write furiously later that night.

Days later the man makes contact again. He is - you guessed it - the notorious Ghost, very much alive and well and taking an interest in the man who has been writing about his life. The problem, the killer explains, is that you write well but obviously have no experience. And so Anton's education begins, the killer taking the writer through a mock assassination from start to finish. But what is really happening here? Surely there must be more at play than a killer shaping his own legend?

On the surface it appears as though The Ghost has absolutely everything going for it. The premise is clever and original, a unique spin on the always-popular hitman film. The characters are satisfyingly complex and, in Khabensky, the film sports one of Russia's most reliable leading men. There is ample opportunity for action and the film is visually and technically flawless, positively littered with beautiful shots that go well beyond what is necessary and constantly surprise with these little moments of artistry.

But for all of the positives The Ghost completely fails to connect, the emotional arc of the film is completely, entirely flat. The romance between Anton and Vika fizzles. The relationship between Anton and his frail son flops. Even the action sequences and police interrogations are completely devoid of any spark of life. With its jazzy score it seems like the film was aiming for a sort of ironic coolness, it aspires to noir detachment, but it pushes so far beyond cool that it is simply drained of all life. You're left not caring about anyone or anything that happens; all you can really do is sit and wonder how the film could start from such a strong premise and yet go so very wrong.