Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai should not work, but it does. When you watch it for the first time, there’s something about it that just feels off, like something doesn’t gel. And yet, somehow, it sits in that sweet spot, toeing the line between utter chaos and total order, which honestly fits well with the other Eastern philosophies within the film. Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker) is a hitman in an unknown city (though it’s most likely meant to look like New Jersey, where it was filmed). He’s employed by the Mafia, but he lives by the code of the samurai and reads from the Hagakure. This is the first film scored by RZA from Wu-Tang Clan, which feels very fitting.

Ghost Dog is told by Louie, a mobster and man who saved Ghost Dog’s life years ago, to kill another man, Handsome Frank, because he is sleeping with the daughter of Vargo, the Mafia boss. Ghost Dog kills Handsome Frank before realizing the girl is there with him. Ghost Dog leaves her alive. Vargo and his right-hand man, Sonny, decide they need to kill Ghost Dog to cover their tracks. They approach Louie for information, but Louie doesn’t know much about Ghost Dog as he communicates solely by carrier pigeon. Vargo and Sonny investigate all pigeon coops around until they find Ghost Dog’s cabin, and they kill his pigeons. Meanwhile, Ghost Dog visits a park where his friend, French ice cream vendor, Raymond works. They cannot speak each other’s languages but still establish a friendship. Ghost Dog also befriends a girl, Pearline, who is at the park and he gifts her a copy of the book, Rashomon (I guess people have different interpretations over whether that’s a good gift for a girl or not). Ghost Dog realizes that Vargo will kill Louie if they cannot find him, and so Ghost Dog sneaks into Vargo’s mansion and single-handedly kills everyone inside except for Louie and Vargo’s daughter. He expects that Louie will kill him as an act of revenge for his boss, so Ghost Dog gives all his money to Raymond and Pearline shows up to return Rashomon. He gives her his copy of the Hagakure. While they are in the park, Louie arrives, and though he shows great affection for Ghost Dog, he is intent on killing him. Ghost Dog refuses to kill his master, and so he lets Louie kill him. Before he dies, Ghost Dog convinces Louie to read Rashomon. Pearline picks up Ghost Dog’s gun to kill Louie but discovers it isn’t loaded. Louie leaves with Vargo’s daughter and Pearline returns home to read the Hagakure.

Ghost Dog shares many similarities to another hitman film, the Jean-Pierre Melville movie, Le Samourai. Both films follow a hitman with a personal code who must face off against who hires them and end in a gunfight where they knowingly have no bullets. Where Ghost Dog differs from similar films is in its internal conflict during that final showdown. Ghost Dog may not be in conflict with himself, but Louie sure is. He recognizes that Ghost Dog has seen him as a master and does not want to kill him because of it, but through his own similar code, must avenge the death of his boss. We are left to interpret the depth of his anguish, but we can at least recognize that it’s there. And what the movie does so well is establish that code throughout the entire film with Ghost Dog’s dedication to Louie, so when the ending comes, it’s easy for us to understand.

Ghost Dog is such an odd film, I guess in a way that Jim Jarmusch is known for, but it’s got an emotional center. We feel for all the characters except maybe the Mafia guys, and that’s what will keep you coming back to it.

Bonus Review: Kill Bill

Another film scored by RZA. I guess that’s the connection. I can understand if you haven’t seen or heard of Ghost Dog, but come on. You’ve heard of Kill Bill. Uma Thurman is The Bride, an assassin bent on killing her fellow assassins and their boss, Bill, who tried to kill her and her unborn child. It features references to all the classic Tarantino-isms: blaxploitation, Spaghetti Westerns, and Samurai movies (particularly Lady Snowblood). Quentin Tarantino blends them all into a two-film explosion of cult cinema, and even includes an anime sequence.

The Bride (formerly “Black Mamba”) prepares for her wedding at a small chapel in El Paso. She’s a former member of the Deadly Viper gang and is bearing the child of their leader, Bill. Bill and the remaining Deadly Vipers arrive to the chapel and kill everyone, shooting the Bride in the head last. She wakes up from a coma after four years and kills a hospital worker attempting to do unseemly things to her and steals his car. She decides to kill the entire Deadly Viper gang, and so begins with Vernita, aka “Copperhead”. Vernita has also quit the Deadly Vipers and lives a normal life in the suburbs. The two fight until Vernita’s daughter arrives home from school, then they fight more quietly. The Bride kills Vernita and makes her way to Japan. She approaches Hattori Hanzo (an incredible feat since he’s been dead since the 1500s) to make her a sword, which he agrees to after learning she intends to kill Bill, his former student, with it. With her new sword, she travels to Tokyo to face O-Ren, aka “Cottonmouth”. O-Ren is leader of the yakuza and spends her time at a restaurant with her gang, the Crazy 88s. The Bride kills the entire gang and then she and O-Ren fight in the snowy garden outside. The Bride kills O-Ren then gets information on Bill’s whereabouts from her assistant.

The second part begins with the Bride arriving at the trailer of Budd, aka Sidewinder. However, Budd has been tipped off to her arrival and immediately incapacitates her and buries her alive. We then move to a flashback of the Bride being introduced to the martial arts master, Pai Mei. Bill claims he has a technique called “Five Point Palm Exploding Heart” that allows an opponent to take five steps before they die, but he refuses to teach it to anybody. Overtime, the Bride earns Pai Mei’s respect, and back to the present, we see her use his fighting techniques to break out of the coffin she’s buried in. Elle, aka California Mountain Snake, who wears an eyepatch, arrives at Budd’s trailer to buy the Bride’s sword for a million dollars. However, when she opens the bag containing the money a real black mamba pops out and kills Budd. Elle calls Bill, claiming the Bride killed Budd and Elle killed her. The Bride opens the trailer and fights Elle, plucking out her other eye. Then she travels to Mexico to find Bill. When she arrives at his home, she is introduced to B.B., the child she thought she miscarried. To protect B.B., the Bride spends a “nice” evening with her and Bill. When she puts the girl to bed, she and Bill fight. She ultimately defeats Bill using the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique. She and B.B. make their escape to a brighter future.

Kill Bill compiles both the best and the worst of Tarantino’s tendencies. The seamless blend of different genres that don’t initially feel like they should go together, the eclectic soundtrack, and the snappy and pop culture-filled dialogue, but it also overstays its welcome with some of the fight scenes and the desire to combine all these tropes from these different genres and stuff them into one story sacrifices focus and consistency. The film is still great, but that lack of focus is what caused the film to be separated into two movies. And the two movies aren’t equally weighed. Part One is significantly better than Part Two, and that’s a shame since it hurts the payoff of the whole story. Still worth watching, though.