Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai by Jim Jarmusch (Review)

If Jim Jarmusch wants people to stop calling his movies “quirky,” then maybe he should stop directing films like Ghost Dog. Here, Forrest Whitaker plays a modern-day hip-hop samurai, a hitman who serves as a retainer to the man who saved his life. Like most hitman movies, the major plot point involves a hit gone wrong, and now the organization that Ghost Dog works for is out to kill him and put things right.

Naturally, this means something hits the fan and Ghost Dog goes on a rampage, taking the mob out before they can reach him. What sets this above your average “hitman” flick, though, are the samurai traditions of loyalty and honor to one’s master that Ghost Dog incorporates into his way of life. His entire life revolves around these concepts. Another difference is that less emphasis is placed on the actual action. It’s certainly there, but action scenes are few and far between, which makes the outbursts far more effective. The rest of the film moves rather slowly, as we get a sense of Ghost Dog’s life and isolation, and his peculiar rhythm of life.

Whitaker moves through this film like a force of nature, a huge bear of a man who lives by an ancient code. I’m reminded of Beat Takeshi’s films, like Hana-Bi, which also move at a snail’s pace and are punctuated by sudden displays of violence.

The movie certainly has its idiosyncrasies, enough to label it “quirky” in some ways, and it probably runs about 20 minutes too long. Even so, I found it a fairly refreshing take on the typical “hitman” film, what with the old rapping mobsters and whatnot.