Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai

Points for an interesting concept; demerits for the dull execution. Writer-director Jim Jarmusch's first feature since his brilliant DEAD MAN is an uneasy mixture of classic samurai adventure, post-Scorsese gangster drama, hip-hop sounds and stylings, and Jarmusch's trademark brand of deadpan cool. Too bad it doesn't work, even as the postmodern comic book it aspires to be. High atop a dilapidated building in a burned-out, boarded-up urban neighborhood, a hired gun known only as Ghost Dog (a low-key Forest Whitaker) lives in contemplative isolation as a latter-day samurai, a contract killer who follows the precepts set forth in the Hagakure, the 18th century...