All The Reviews Claim That "This Is The Best Movie You Have Never Seen" And They Are Right ... Whitaker (An Excellent Actor) Is A Hit-man For The Mob Who Calls Himself "Ghost Dog" And Lives His Life According To The Philosophy Of The Ancient Samurai ... The Idea Of The Movie (In My Opinion) Is To Give The Newer Generations A Way To Understand And Relate To The Ancient Customs Of The Samurai ... The Movie Brilliantly Achieves This Goal ... The Movie Is Full Of Subtle Innuendos That Are Marvelous If You Take The Time To "Watch" The Movie ... Directed With A Care That Is Rarely Seen In Movies ... A Must Seen On Any List ...

Once in a while a film comes along that is so profound, that you actually feel a better person for watching it. GHOST DOG is one such film, a totally unique movie experience that carries out a familiar story in a way that has never been filmed before or will ever be filmed again. An art-house movie masquerading as a conventional thriller, this effort from director Jim Jarmusch is outstanding in every department. Of course, as is usually the case with the best films, it seems to have totally slipped by the mainstream audience for a small, unadvertised video release where it can be savoured by those wise enough to pick it out from the trash.Forest Whitaker is awesome in the leading role of Ghost Dog, a literature-loving hit-man who has been reborn as a samurai and leads his life according to strict rules which must be obeyed at any cost. Ghost Dog's home is on the roof of a building, surrounded by his beloved pigeons. His best friend is an ice cream vendor who can't speak English, just one of the many deeply human and interesting characters in this atypical thriller. Although the plot is simple and straightforward, the characters involved in the story are deep, thoughtful and all too realistic in some cases. Drama and social interaction is blended nicely with the thriller aspects of the story. Here's a film where long talk about books is just as exciting as a violent shoot-out and I don't think many movies can achieve that effect.Aside from Whitaker's excellent turn in the lead (it really is a once in a lifetime performance), there are a dozen other great performances in the movie. The mafia family who act as the villains of the piece (refreshingly the black community isn't portrayed as a violent, hate-ridden society) are actually fleshed out; instead of being hard men, ruthless killers, they are instead ageing, tired, very human characters who have to act the way they do. Just like Ghost Dog's Samurai, the Mafia for them is a way of life. Henry Silva makes a surprising appearance as the mafia don and his performance is also superb, I loved his impression of an elk. Despite Silva's advanced years he's still capable of giving great performances and it's a shame we don't see him in more mainstream movies these days.GHOST DOG also fulfils itself as an action thriller with some irregular but fascinating action scenes which are magnificently shot; the pinnacle being the shoot-out at the country mansion. These bloody gun battles remind me of the climax of CARLITO'S WAY, De Palma's similarly excellent crime drama. But such action is only part of the story and the best bits are those which don't have violence or even dialogue; witnessing Ghost Dog's interactions with his best friend (the two characters brought together through common understanding rather than speech) and his almost tutor-like interactions with the young black girl. The ending is surprisingly poignant but also very fitting. A great movie which deserves a wider audience, GHOST DOG is a fascinating and intelligent piece of art which easily transcends the boundaries of film-making itself. I don't think I've seen a film in which every single shot has been beautifully composed before.

Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker), is a hired assassin for the Italian mafia, who follows the code of 'The Way of the Samurai'. When a hit goes wrong the mafia points the finger at Ghost Dog, and so continues a little game of war between a skilled assassin and his former Italian mafia employers. Directed by Jim Jarmusch, (one of the greatest independent directors of all time) this film was made for 2 million dollars and grossed 9 million dollars in the box office. The film was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and best picture at the Independent Spirit Awards. Most people were most likely turned off by the title of the film as I was at first. And it is a true shame because this was a fantastic film; as weird as the plot of the story may be the film is a blend of hip hip, rap, and ghetto with an Eastern Asian, assassin story. It's an odd blend that works and makes for an interesting story. The character of Ghost Dog, played beautifully by Forest Whitaker, reads the 'Way of the Samurai' and follows it's codes and rules as a way of life. Ghost Dog lives off the grid on the roof of a banged up apartment and has no communication other than his messenger pigeons which he uses to contact his employers. Ghost Dog's only friend (his best friend), is Raymond (Isaach de Bankolé), a man who sells ice cream in his ice cream truck. Raymond speaks French, and can't even utter a word of English, which is quite comedic when Dog and he attempt to communicate with each other. Even though they don't understand what each other say they share a hobby in chess, and like ice cream. Their uncommon friendship is very beautiful, and made me think about the relationships I have with others around me. Jarmusch delivers a great film that needs to be seen. "Ghost Dog: the Way of the Samurai" is one of those film that's so unique and original that it stands out in the crowd out of dozens of other movies.

I appreciate the fact that Ghost Dog was an attempt to experience something different in a film. It combines quite a bit of cultures into one movie. I can appreciate that but I believe that the execution of this was poor, the acting was sub-par and the dialog left quite a bit to be desired.Forest Whitaker is great in just about every role he has. This was one of the exceptions to that rule. He looked awkward doing samurai moves on a rooftop as the moves were all there but he wasn't as fluid as you might expect from someone that was supposedly training to be a samurai for so many years. Whitaker did a very strange move every time he put his gun away. It was an attempt to show him sheathing his weapon like a sword but it was distracting and awkward. Whitaker delivered a good performance but the movie as a whole just wasn't that great. He was, however, the best thing about this movie with Camille Winbush as Pearline coming in a close second.The character of Ghost Dog is one that develops over the course of this film. Whitaker does a fine job in delivering a complex and developing character as Ghost Dog is always looking to improve himself and help those around him based on the code he lives by. As the movie progresses, you learn that the story is not so much about Ghost Dog but mostly about this code he reads. The more he reads, the more you understand his character, what the character has to do and most importantly why the character does what he does. The film progresses into a clash of codes that leads into a clash of characters. Without saying too much, this film shows what happens when one code is put against another code in the most extreme of circumstances in the large city of Jersey.The writing was a bit strange at times and came off as trying too hard to inject humor into this otherwise dramatic action film. One of the best examples is when one of the characters is rapping in his bathroom. The scene feels a little goofy and changes the tone of the film as there are some other goofy parts between serious scenes that follow. I could not tell at times whether Jim Jarmusch wanted me to take the film seriously or not because of some of the silly lines and goofiness of the delivery of lines by the mobster bosses. Another example is when Ghost Dog shoots one character in the arm twice and that character makes a point to mention it excessively as to tell the viewer how good Ghost Dog is at shooting. This is something the viewer can figure out for themselves if the filmmaker thinks they are intelligent enough. That is a prime example of poor writing as Jarmusch clearly thinks that the audience needs to play to a less educated crowd.Another problem I had that was fairly minor but equally as distracting was the character of Raymond. Isaach De Bankolé plays a charming character that seems quite unnecessary. It almost seemed as if Jarmusch was attempting to inject even more diversity into this already diverse film by adding this French speaking Haitian, Raymond. I liked the character but he could have spoke English and it would have worked just as well. The French was a bit odd and felt like a way to add filler. It didn't do much for me but I do understand why the character was there and why he would want to add someone like this. Again, it felt like a distraction more than anything.Ghost Dog was a potentially awesome film that, in my opinion, lacked in execution. If it were done with better acting by the supporting roles and if the filming of the movie didn't feel so dated, this movie could have been great.