Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

I watched this movie expecting nothing, and left feeling nothing. The movie is supposed to be about some guy who took up the Samurai way, but if there is ever a movie that belittles violence and glamorizes it, this is the one. (Discussion of the plot follows here.) Just because someone saved his life, this main character goes around and kills people for him, and gets paid for the gangland murders. He meets a girl who he introduces to the way of the samurai. What's the point? There is no moral, and for those who say they don't care, I say: what is art? If just filming the (fictional though realistic) killing of lots of people is art, then I want none of it. What is the difference between liking a movie with lots of senseless murders, and liking some historical figures who did the same?

Ghost Dog certainly is an intriguing film. It breaks some new ground for writer/director Jim Jarmusch, who usually creates simple, funny, and heartfelt black and white films with many underlying themes. Ghost Dog is one of his few color films, and it is also the most out of character picture he has made to date. Instead of a slow-paced comedic drama, Ghost Dog is a slow-paced bloody crime film. The plot deals with Ghost Dog (Whitaker), an expert mafia assassin living in present-day New York City who lives his life according to the ancient code of the Samurai. Jarmusch somewhat reverses what Akira Kurosawa did in Throne of Blood by bringing Eastern culture to a Western setting. It's a rather fascinating idea, but I can't help but feel that Jarmusch kind of falls into a trap he teeters on almost constantly in his films: while he's so busy creating a slow, brooding atmosphere and interweaving subtle underlying themes, he occasionally forgets that this is still a movie. He still needs to keep the audience entertained. Ghost Dog sometimes moves so slowly that one becomes a little bit bored and anxious. Another thing that doesn't work particularly well in Ghost Dog are Jarmusch's signature scenes of off-beat humor that often just come completely out of nowhere. They usually work quite well, such as Iggy Pop's and Billy Bob Thornton's blackly funny scene in Dead Man, but they just feel awkward here. E.g., Jarmusch develops a very peculiar group of gangsters in Ghost Dog, gangsters who think they're straight out of GoodFellas but are so incompetent that they can't even pay their rent nor figure out who they're trying to "whack". This is often quite amusing, but sometimes Jarmusch just goes over the top, such as when he makes one of the fifty-something Italian gangsters begin going on about how he loves rap and even start rapping his favorite verses right in the middle of a meeting of criminals. It's just uncomfortable. Still, there's plenty to like here, and there are quite a few homages for avid film-lovers to spot, such as a cool little nod to the butterfly scene in Seijun Suzuki's Branded To Kill. Also, the acting is often spot-on. Forest Whitaker is absolutely perfect as Ghost Dog - detached, subtle, nuanced, and, most importantly, human. Still, I hesitate to recommend this film. Jim Jarmusch is most definitely an acquired taste, but even his fans may find their patience tried during Ghost Dog.

"Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" is one of those movies that might have seemed like a really god idea on script and in concept idea, but translated to the screen not so much. Why? Well, because the storyline was not overly great and the cinematography even less so. The idea of an Afro-American hit-man who lives by the ancient Bushido code just didn't Work as well as the writers might have intended. Nothing racism or anything here, just an observation on the character and how the character didn't really fit into the Bushido creed. But making matters worse was to have a barrel-shaped man trying to put the art of the Samurai to the screen. With all due respect for Forest Whitaker and his great acting talent, then he was just the wrong physical choice for the role of Ghost Dog. I will say that Forest Whitaker does play well in "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai", despite being wrongly cast for the role, but he ended up looking like a fish out of water. Once the movie ended, I sat with a very bored feeling and thinking 'what was the purpose of this movie?' "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai" wasn't innovative or spectacular in any way. And the overall impression is of a below average movie experience.

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is a film that showed much promise, but delivered none. The tone of the movie attempts to be serious, but at the same time, displays mafia characters who's "Abbott and Costello slapstick antics" discount any validity the film may have offered. This is one of the most loosely framed plots I have ever seen, combined with horrendous acting (aside from Forest Whitaker). I do not recommend this movie to anyone.

The first time I saw this film, I couldn't quite work out if it was one of the best, or one of the worst films I'd seen in ages. I knew it had to be one extreme or the other, which does count in it's favour, as I'll take awful over mediocre any day. It seemed to be made up of really great, and really cringe worthy scenes, but lots of the greatest films ever are like this, "Brazil" and "The Man Who fell to Earth" spring to mind. Put "Apocalypse Now" in the flawed masterpiece category as well while you're at it. Weighing up the good and the bad in "ghost Dog" produces a different result though. Bad points include Jarmusch's insistence on studding the film with such toe curling moments as when the main protagonist is greeted respectfully by the gang of "Bloods" and you just have to wait for the other shoe to drop, for him to be greeted equally by, yes you guessed it the "Krips". You pray it won't happen, because it would just be too corny, and excuses involving irony won't help, but no, there it is,the money shot ...."S'up G-Dawg". Another shocker the "we's gonna shoot uz a big BLACK Bey-ah Ezeikiel" scene. Jesus what did they put that in for ? It bears no coherent or cohesive relevance to the film in any way, and is another "waiting for the other shoe to drop" moments. You're Jim Jarmusch for God's sake. Don't be predictable. That scene really annoyed me though, because it follows a lecture about the ways of Bushido, about how the samurai serves with honour, and cannot be distracted by a) personal emotion and b) superfluous tasks such as shooting cartoon hillbillies The other really bad point, was the films signposting of its cultural references, and assuming that the audience know nothing. ....Yes there's a girl on a sofa reading "Rashomon" we all know what it is, we've all seen the Kurosawa, some of us have read it, some of us have read "in the shady grove" etc. But they can't leave it at that. I really expected and wanted to like this film. It stars the mighty Forrest Whittaker, a true great. It's by Jim Jarmusch, another titan, and that alone made me enter the film with a feeling of goodwill that it was impossible to lose entirely however bad it might be. The other point was the bird landing on the gun sight, and the plug-hole sink assassination. OH how I loved them, how I hugged myself with smug glee knowing that they were a homage to "Koroshi No Rakuin" I even looked around, wondering who else recognised it, and trying to spot those who didn't..... ho-ho, the saps. I later realised though, that all the film was doing, was massaging film-nerdy egos, giving us a cheap thrill of semi-obscure film recognition, and I think I hate the film more for doing that. There was nothing original in the whole ghost dog film, it was just a hotch potch of direct lifts from other films,literally, stylistically and thematically.Lifting good scenes from a good film, and splicing them whole sale into a mediocre one is not really homage, nor does it make a bad film good. It just gives nerds something to get excited about, and possibly makes you think "Shouldn't I just watch "Koroshi No Rakuin" instead ? Like Mick Jagger so nobly said "what's the point of listening to us playing 'I'm a King Bee', when you can listen to Slim Harpo doing it ?" Exactly. Why watch pseudy references to other films, when you could be watching something with its own ideas. I give this film 1 star, not because it doesn't deserve more, but just to lower it's overall average

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source: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

I can't believe the comments i have read here! The movie is absolutely stoning in the way is dealing with the communication problems. Because this is what is about this movie. Not about samurai, not about mob or any of these problems. It is about the way the world around us is constructed and about what do we have to do in order to understand each other. It's about what should we be doing when we meet somebody that we don't understand: not to kill but try...try to understand what makes him diffrent...and try not to see in him an enemy. The movie is not at all overrated is more like underrated and the people should not forgot that this is Independent movie category, that means that there are movies that have something to say...ar at least try to say something not like the other movies.

I can see why people may say this movie is dull or confusing, ´cause it´s abit of a melting pot, but people in real life r much more strange and contradicting than this. Some people always scream out loud whenever a movie character is more complicated than donald duck. If your feet are itching prior to loading the vcr/dvd/whatever - go for a run or sumthin - then chill out.. If u can handle life u can handle ghost dog..I luuuuuved it, and have seen it 10 times in 3 yrs. 9/10 The score I also like - RZA is wicked

Typical of "artsy" movies from indy filimmakers, this is an example of how substituting mood-piece scenes and lengthy broodings during car drives, overlain by dull rap music, is supposed to be "thoughtful" and "insightful" when it's notthing like that at all. It's just dull. Forest Whittaker is a fine actor who's completely wasted in this silly film. We've seen enough of pseudointellectual musings on oriental ways and culture from Americans who understand nothing of it, and we could have done without this slow and boring film, full of cliches and uninvolving non-action scenes.