Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai
Live By The Code. Die By The Code.
East meets West in this hip-hop infused samurai-gangster pic in which Forest Whitaker plays a professional killer who goes by the name of Ghost Dog and who lives by the age-old code of the Samurai.
When Ghost Dog's code is dangerously betrayed by the dysfunctional mafia family that occasionally employs him, he must find a way to defend himself without breaking the code of the Samurai.
Member Reviews
Strange, Slow Movie - nightwalker
I'd heard the name of this movie for years and kept seeing posters and pictures around and finally got around to renting it.
It was very much not what I was expecting. It was part gangster film, part Leon: The Professional, with a little samurai film thrown in to the mix.
The action pieces aren't huge, but well executed and very to the point, in keeping with the samurai philosophy. Don't go into this expecting a movie with wall-to-wall action, and crazy fights and shootouts. It has a slower, more meditative pace, interspersed with bouts of violence.
I shudder to think of the horrors of this movie being remade with the likes of Ice Cube in the lead role.Interesting, but poorly executed - Shue
Ghost Dog is a very interesting attempt to fuse different genres, styles and themes It succeeds in bringing plausability to an implausable protagonist; a modern day gangster hitman who is a samurai warrior. There are very compelling themes that permeate the story. Unfortunately, I found myself searching for these themes more than would have been necessary if the story was a little tighter.
The director (or editor) seemed to think that repetition was necessary for the audience to truly understand Ghost Dog for who he was. I felt that having established the rules that Ghost Dog follows, and the environment in which he functions, too much time was spent rehashing the same elements again and again. Other scenes simply felt too long, and far more explicit than necessary. Finally, the writing was someone unnatural and stilted. I found the majority of the performances were well done, but especially with the mafia, the dialogue was forced.
I really wanted to like this film more but I found the pacing was off due to poor editing and dialogue. All the points go towards the concept.It Is A Good Viewpoint To See The World As A Dream ... - Al_Stech
Why am I seven years late to this party? Forest Whitaker was fantastic. This adaptation of "Le Samourai" was great, and Jarmusch's direction was top notch as usual. The scripting for the scene where the mob bosses are trying to get information on Ghost Dog will forever be burned into my mind -- "Did you say he contacts you through a f'in bird?". RZA's soundtrack was pretty much perfect for the movie too. I'm already excited to watch this again sometime.
Note -- if you enjoyed this movie, I'd highly recommend "Le Samourai", the film it was based on. This is not a straight remake, but you'll see where Jarmusch drew a lot of inspiration, and "Le Samourai" is simply a fantastic film in its own right.
Member Reviews
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Strange, Slow Movie - nightwalker
I'd heard the name of this movie for years and kept seeing posters and pictures around and finally got around to renting it.
It was very much not what I was expecting. It was part gangster film, part Leon: The Professional, with a little samurai film ...Interesting, but poorly executed - Shue
Ghost Dog is a very interesting attempt to fuse different genres, styles and themes It succeeds in bringing plausability to an implausable protagonist; a modern day gangster hitman who is a samurai warrior. There are very compelling themes that permeate ...It Is A Good Viewpoint To See The World As A Dream ... - Al_Stech
Why am I seven years late to this party? Forest Whitaker was fantastic. This adaptation of "Le Samourai" was great, and Jarmusch's direction was top notch as usual. The scripting for the scene where the mob bosses are trying to get information on Ghost Dog ...