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| Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai | 
 enlarge | Director: Jim Jarmusch
Actors: Forest Whitaker, Henry Silva, John Tormey, Cliff Gorman, Dennis Liu
Studio: Artisan Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy New: $4.59
You Save: $5.39 (54%)
New (44) Used (31) Collectible (2) from $3.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  223 reviews
Sales Rank: 8631
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 116
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: D11489D
UPC: 012236114895
EAN: 0012236114895
ASIN: B00005QCVX
Theatrical Release Date: 1999
Release Date: August 14, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Forest Whitaker makes an unlikely modern samurai with his laser-sighted pistols, shabby street clothes, and oddly graceful gait--but then Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is an unusual film. Quirky, contemplative, and at times absurd, it's just the kind offbeat vision we've come to expect from the fiercely independent Jim Jarmusch (Stranger than Paradise, Dead Man). Whitaker is Ghost Dog, a mysterious New York hit man who lives simply on a tenement rooftop and follows a code of behavior outlined in Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai (passages of this book are interspersed throughout the film). When the local mob marks him for death in a complicated code of Mafiosi-style honor, Ghost Dog sends a cryptic message to his foes. "That's poetry. The poetry of war," remarks mobster Henry Silva, with sudden respect upon reading the verse. He could be describing the ethereal beauty of Jarmusch's vision, full of wonderful imagery (a night drive across town seems to float in time) and off-center humor. Though it briefly stalls in a series of assassinations (Jarmusch is no action director), it settles back into character-driven drama in a quietly epic showdown, equal parts samurai adventure, spaghetti western, and existential crime movie. The film is likely too unconventional and offbeat for general audiences, but cult-movie buffs and Jarmusch fans will appreciate his idiosyncratic vision. He finds a strange sense of honor in the clash of Old World traditions, and salutes his heroes with a skewed but sincere respect. --Sean Axmaker
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| Customer Reviews: Read 218 more reviews...
 complete waste of attention August 17, 2008
Jarmusch is one of the most overrated directors, can't imagine how he is taken seriously. Read all the one star reviews and believe them fully. Dead editing, lifeless acting, derivative soundtrack, stapled-on topheavy pointless samurai nonsense; nothing here to see except a very dull man blathering on about how deep and oh-so-cool he is. WORTHLESS.
Pathetic garbage July 13, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
This movie would be laughable if it wasn't so insulting to the audience's intelligence. It was obviously written and directed by a couple of ghetto trash mediocrities. The use of both the term "samurai" and the extensive quotes is a pathetic, transparent, contemptible trick to make the film appear respectable (or have some worth) in what is otherwise cinematographic toilet paper.
 Wanted to Like It...... June 30, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Is this a great movie?.... No. Is this a horrible movie?.... No, but close. I really wanted to like this movie going in, but it didn't deliver for me. I was expecting a fairly offbeat cult movie similar to Dead Man with J. Depp or Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East and something where I could watch it over and over and pick up something new. I couldn't bare to watch this movie more than once. I did like the music in Ghost Dog but am hard pressed to find any scene in the movie that I really liked. If it wasn't for Whittaker this movie would never get off the ground. Of course your mileage may vary since a majority of reviewers did like it... Go figure!
Ghost Dog May 4, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Peace to the Gods and Earths and/or any divine beings who has knowledge of self. This movie is right and exact filled with gems and jewels of a highly intelligent nature. Whether you want discipline and principle or have it and are seeking an understand through the Samurai sciences. This movie is for the third eye of the godly type. So the 85% need not apply because this movie is not for the deaf, dumb, and blind.
Infinite Self Allah (Isa)
The Modern Day Samurai April 11, 2008
"Ghost Dog" is a fascinating film. Rarely do I use this word to describe a person or a book, let alone a non-documentary film. But here I must, simply because of what Jarmusch has crafted here a contemporary samurai film which mirrors oh so perfectly the lives of samurai of ancient Japan given the context of the year 1999, in a seemingly decrepit city, in the USA.
Forrest Whitaker is an exceptional actor and here he does not disappoint. He IS a samurai, walking each step with compassion, yet keeping to his duty with calculated grace.
For the independent-minded, taking this entire film as a whole, RZA's fantastic score, the intriguing, Isaach De Bankole, the Dutch cinematographer's, Robby Mueller's, dizzying yet serene art direction, you simply must see this film.
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