Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai | | Cast : | Forest Whitaker, Henry Silva | | Director : | Jim Jarmusch | | Studio : | Republic Studios | | Format : | Color, Widescreen, Closed-captioned | | Released Date : | January 01, 1999 | | DVD Released Date : | October 21, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 21, 2005 | | Summary | A Modern Samurai | Content
 | Ghost Dog is one of the most thought-provoking films I have seen in a while. The script is almost entirely dialouge you will want to quote. Forest Whitaker plays Ghost Dog, a black hit man who works for a small time mobster named Louie in New Jersey (although New Jersey is never named, you can just tell it is Jersey). Louie and his aging mobster pals strut around like old roosters in the barnyard. Ghost Dog could have been called "Ghost Bird" because of his affinity for feathered creatures. His only friends are his tame pigeons, an ice cream man who only speaks French (yet the two understand each other perfectly), and later in the film, a little girl who carries her books in a lunchbox.
The film is two hours, and moves at a SLOW pace. Despite the theme of "samurai," there is no fast-paced martial arts or sword-wielding. Ghost Dog uses his guns in place of swords. Ghost Dog never moves past "amble" mode throughout the film. But the screenplay is so good it is worth sitting through it. The scenes of the lonely Jersey streets at night and the voiceovers (with print) of genuine Zen quotes from an ancient samurai master really touch a part of your soul you have long forgotten or didn't know existed.
The film could be misinterpreted as condoning gang warfare. This understated yet powerful film should especially be appreciated by African-American audiences.
The DVD extras include a Ghost Dog: Odyssey making of the film. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 18, 2005 | | Summary | Movie Review | Content
| Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
The movie was made in the year of 1999. It is rated R for strong language and action scenes. Ghost Dog was produced by Richard Guay and directed by Jim Jarmusch. The genre of the movie is Action-Drama. Composer of the music is The RZA. The characters are Forest Whitaker as Ghost Dog, John Tormey as Louie, and Henry Silva as Ray Vargo. I, Adrian Valles, am the reviewer. I watched the movie on May 10,2005. It was on DVD at my house I watched it.
Summary: A hit man (Whitaker), known as Ghost Dog, must defend for his life after his boss (Tormey) turns on him. Ghost Dog lives in the forgotten way of the Samurai. One rule that Ghost Dog must never forget is a retainer can never kill his master, even if his master betrays the retainer!
I give the movie an eight, from a scale from one to ten. It is because; the action could have been better.
Movies I have seen similar to Ghost Dog are, The Big Hit, Assassins, and Desperado, because the main characters killed evil people and were betrayed by their superiors
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| Rating | | | Date | March 28, 2005 | | Summary | The Way of the Independent Film Makers - GD is a character! | Content
| A film about method and determination, next to the director's "Dead Man" this is everybody at their best, Whitaker's performance stealing one of the coolest role's ever conceived, a wholly original fat black assassin with religious allegory, attitude and good taste in the cars he chooses to steal, I gave it four out of five after watching it in the cinema (wanted more action), now on DVD it comes across as a much better presentation, hip-hop at it's start when it was tolerable, "Ghost Dog" is a hybrid crime drama with low-key action, mostly accompanied with the `ghosting' film effect, the philosophy of the Samurai warrior - Hagakure Code, as text `talkies' that appear now and again in the film, this independent movie is aspiring to be something greater than its art-house origins, succeeds in blasting many A-list actors and director's attempts at similar themes to bits and pieces, by just staying low-key and on target. It is all about being cool and free.
Although the title seems ominous of a darker action waiting to break out, theatrically it tends to impress more than when the fake squibs and dust start puffing out of ancient actor's jacket padding, and to this I say, go see a John Woo movie instead if you want more from that, there is a message in the way, that is very fundamental - `There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. By doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you will still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to all things.' - If you are going to get wet, get wet. So imagine this in the mind of an assassin.
There are many intimate moments between English-less ice-cream salesmen, little girls who can talk to strangers who won't abuse them, mafia hit-men who are so outside of the scene that even their landlord kick's them around - corky throughout, probably in order not to take itself too seriously, ends up doing just that, the director likes comedy elements in his films, here the comic interludes suite the style, but you just wonder how much darker "Ghost Dog" could have been, none-the-less we are blubbering, because it is very dark at times, and for of course for what happens to be one of the best natural characters visualized for the silver screen since Ash in "Evil Dead II", "Ghost Dog" is great in anyone's collection. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 11, 2004 | | Summary | Pretentious | Content
| This is a pretentious film. It tries too hard to be different. The arty existential sequences try to be east European and fail, and the angst-ridden hit man is difficult to swallow. It's worth seeing once if you are interested in films, but that's it. Not worth buying. Borrow it. And then return it. |
| Rating | | | Date | September 27, 2004 | | Summary | A fantastic movie | Content
| I heard about this movie from a friend, who rather emberrased admitted that this was one of is all time favourites. It's a kind of hiphop-movie (not the "BLING BLING!! WIT DA BOOTY AND DA $$$"-kind. I mean the serious, more intelligent hiphop), and my friend was quite the opposite of a hiphop fan, but still he saw the brilliance in it. Some "Josh Leman" wrote a review here giving it 1 star, and from what he wrote it is obvious that some people just don't get it. If you are one of the people who actually have some sense of appreciation for life philosophy however, disregard whatever slaughters you read of this movie completely. It is not only a brilliantly made movie with regards to the emotions it brings out (I am a macho kind of taekwondo-instructor that hadn't cried to a movie since I was below ten, but I found myself weeping and hurting at the end of it), it also gives you profound perspectives of an ancient japanese philosophy you are probably not familiar with, and you are left with the option to sympathise with or pity the main character at the end. You will have this movie in the back of your head for weeks, maybe the rest of your life. If you have an open, functioning mind, this is a masterpiece. |
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