Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

A simple story delivered in an unusual. I have never seen Whitaker so cool before and the dialogue scenes between the main characters are fantastically intense. You can see that the director is an old hand. A simple, TV-looking, yet excellently crafted piece, tailored for a narrow audience. (09/01/2010)

I’ve been too manhandled by extremes like Romeo Must Die or The Last Dragon to find the fusion of African-American and East Asian culture all that refreshing anymore. Apart from the atmosphere of a tidy American ghetto, what I enjoyed most was the notion that all the characters in the film – the mobsters, the samurai, and the ice cream vendors – are so passionate and exaggerated in their roles that the whole inner universe is kind of a perpetual LARP or, better still, a children's game where kids pretend to be adults. The film proves, among other things, that we simply choose what we are and no one can assign it to us unless we want it. (05/10/2022)

Fars recommended Ghost Dog to me and, after reading his great review, I decided to set out on the Way of the Samurai. Too bad that Fars fell asleep and didn’t watch to the end, because I think that he would have liked the movie much more. Forest Whitaker slipped hand into glove into his role and he truly is one of the most charismatic killers I have ever seen. The quotations from the code of honor were deep and I already know what I don’t ever want to be. A Samurai. It’s just not the life for me. Even though they could certainly give me a couple of tips. The picture is also full of snappy lines and also the methods of “executing contracts". Such precision is hard to find these days. Bourne would certainly be jealous. (20/09/2007)

Ghost Dog is my third encounter with Jim Jarmusch's work, and I still haven't managed to come around to his directorial (and screenwriting) approach. Forest Whitaker was convincing as the unconventional samurai and won my sympathy, despite his "profession". The biggest problem I had was with the overly slow build-up of the plot, which, while corresponding with the "clean and quiet work of the samurai", I found it unrewarding in places. I liked the snippets about the samurai and was intrigued by the ice cream man and his interaction with the main character (EN vs. FR). I believe that if I were a hip hop fan, I would have enjoyed the film more. (11/07/2022)

For me, hands down, the best Jarmusch. If it weren't for his unearthly direction, the film would have been lumped in with dozens of others on a similar theme and in a few years no one would even remember it. But he made an almost cult-classic with a compelling story, a simple yet unique ending, and last but not least, an excellent Whitaker, who doesn't say much, but his acting mastery stands out all the more. Some of the wisecracks are disarming, the storyline with the chatty French ice-cream man is absolutely brilliant, and the strange music by RZA underscores it all beautifully. But the best is the final quote, which aptly characterized the whole film and its thinking. Or not? :) Right between four and five stars. (01/03/2013)