May '00 : Ghost Dog
Three Outta Four Stars!

Get at me Dawg! Whassup Dawg? Deputy Dawg! It seems the terms dog, dawg and dogg are tossed around like the Washington Wizards. Excuse me Mike but you know what I’m sayin. In the film Ghost Dog from Indie powerhouse Artisan Entertainment, Forest Whitaker plays Ghost Dog – a contract killer that you see but never understand. Simple yet complex. Brutal and humble. Silent yet violent. He knows The Way - The Way of The Samurai.

Contract killer Ghost Dog is no ordinary hit-man and neither is his relationship with his Mafia Boss. The problem arises for Ghost when he makes a hit and the made-guys don’t like it. Ghost is immediately hunted in a rather sophomoric fashion but they are intent on getting their man. You hear me? They wants him dead! Yes, wants!

Whitaker’s performance is almost surreal as he practices the way of the samurai with dead-pan precision and silent power. The performances by others will shock you and make you laugh. The Mafia crew is not as
slick and gritty as Tony Soprano, but they get the job done. And be prepared for a slick talking Frenchman with a fro!

CRITIQUE

This film is fresh and engaging. It is not a movie by any stretch of the imagination. It truly embraces the ideas of the Samurai lifestyle and delivers a film with quality storytelling. At one with the world yet ever aware that death is as real as life. That is The Way. As much as it can, this film turns the tables on the traditional gangster film and makes you say, "damn, that was pretty good." See it, and listen – you will learn something. Just listen to the film closely.