Review of Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) by Justin H — 23 Mar 2010

Are you people serious? Four stars? Five stars? "Ghost Dog" isn't a bad movie really, but I found it awfully damn frustrating. In fact, after it was over, I had to check to see if it was a sequel to something, because you learn so little about the main character during the course of the film. He was saved some years ago from a group of street thugs by a Mafia guy, and now he sees himself as his savior's retainer, a la an ancient Japanese samurai. That's it.

Now, I don't mind a bit of mystery surrounding a main character, but when that character starts busting out finely-honed assassin skills, heavy weapons, and gadgets that it looks like he stole from James Bond, there'd better damn well be some sort of explanation. And there wasn't. A gun or two, I could understand, along with basic street smarts and survival skills. But silencers? Sniper rifles? An electronic gizmo that seems able not only to start any car in existence, but also to override building security? You don't just pick something like that up off of freakin' ebay. And you don't learn how to draw and shoot with pinpoint accuracy from a book about the code of the samurai.

The other characters weren't really fleshed out either, but for the most part that wasn't as egregious. (With the exception of the Mafia guys--the sorriest, most inept, geriatric group of "gangsters" I've ever seen in a movie.) Most of them were just window dressing, so their two-dimensionality wasn't as irksome. But they do help illustrate the major problem with this film: nothing feels polished. It can't take itself seriously (as evidenced by the anemic plot and character development), and yet it expects the viewer to. And that doesn't sit well with me. "Ghost Dog" isn't painful to sit through or anything, but it's awfully disappointing.