Saturday, November 23, 2024

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

starring Forest Whitaker
directed by Jim Jarmusch

116 minutes

Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker), a hired assassin who lives by the code of the samurai, runs afoul of the local mob, and finds himself hunted by the people who used to pay him to kill.

Thoughts

There are things here that I like but there are some fundamental things about this movie that seem to be missing. I like the tone of the movie. I like the idea of a movie about a killer who follows a code although this is not an original idea. I like the interactions between Ghost Dog and some of the other characters, especially the ice cream man, who only speaks French.

Ghost Dog has a magical device that helps him to unlock doors and steal cars. I'm not sure what to make of this device which looks electronic but seems magical. Is it analogous to anything in the real world? Even if it was "magic" it seemed out of place in this movie.

I really didn't understand why the mob bosses wanted Ghost Dog killed. He fulfilled a contract but something went wrong, or at least that the impression I got, but it wasn't clear to me what that something was. I think this part of the movie could have been handled better. It didn't need to be anything complicated. I just wanted it to be a little clearer.

This movie is a hard pass for me. There isn't enough here for me to recommend this movie. I don't understand why it gets such a high marks from so many people.

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