Ghost Dog 1999

Critics score:
82 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Susan Stark, Detroit News: Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Drily funny. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Ghost Dog does right by fans of gangsters, hip-hop and samurais. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Fascinating but uneven. Read more

Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Compellingly strange twist on the mafia genre Read more

Eric Harrison, Los Angeles Times: Rueful, funny, deliciously off-kilter. Read more

Louis B. Parks, Houston Chronicle: Too whimsically staged to take as serious suspense, too grimly real to be amusing. Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: Ghost Dog can be as now as the latest hit rap disc, with its hip-hop-culture references and remarkably chilly and affecting score by The RZA of Wu-Tang Clan. Read more

Ty Burr, Entertainment Weekly: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai brings the minimalist director who found fame with 1984's Stranger Than Paradise back to the land of the living. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: A handsomely shot, cool-sounding head-scratcher of a film that probably isn't worth the wear on the fingernails. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Jarmusch has introduced historical references ... that have opened up his imagination and extended his thematic and affective range well beyond that of his first five features. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: By turns irritating and inviting; Jarmusch's allusive metaphysics has a sensual glide, but much of what he's doing here is also too, too hip. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Only the most ardent Jarmusch fan will be able to suspend disbelief, and the movie turns into an exercise in ideas rather than an excursion along a stable narrative route. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: By the end, Whitaker's character has generated true poignance. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Deeply hypnotic as well as entertaining. Read more

Bob Graham, San Francisco Chronicle: Surprisingly funny. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: At once a tribute to traditional notions of honour, loyalty, friendship and professionalism, and a stylish, ironic pastiche inspired by the likes of Melville and Suzuki, it's very funny, insightful, and highly original. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Ghost Dog is an impeccably shot and sensationally scored deadpan parody of two current popular modes -- the hit-man glorification saga and the Cosa Nostra family drama. Read more