Everybody's a Critic Dept.
There comes a time when a critic needs to take a step back from art-film analysis and reflect on whether or not they got their seven bucks' worth. My friends and I spent a great deal of time on this question, along with "Why in the hell did we stay for this whole movie?" I think the two questions are related.
I have never bothered with film critic reviews that I disliked before because I realize they are simply opinions of the author. That plus the fact that the other critics, Coury, Zak, etc. have already written enough bad reviews of good films for anyone to take them seriously. Jesse Fox Mayshark is new to the Pulse reviews as far as I can tell, and someone might actually read his review, believe it, and go see the film ["Culture Vulture," Vol. 10, No. 18]. It is with this thought in mind I feel compelled to write this letter.
Ghost Dog is one of the worst films I have ever paid money to see, period. It is an art film gone very wrong. Like Jesse, I tried to justify shelling out the money to see this film in a first-run theater. Unlike Jesse, I lack the imagination to make up these deep hidden meanings like the "failure of tribalism in a world of blurry borders." Huh?
In some cases Jesse appears to have missed the point entirely. He asks, "Where did he (Ghost Dog) receive his Samurai training?" What Samurai training? Ghost Dog kills with a gun and opens and starts cars with some high-tech device. His training is the book Hagekure: The Book of the Samurai, which appears to have brainwashed him. The director stops the film to put up what seem like endless quotes from this book, while Forest reads them at a third-grade tempo. These were appropriate times for the audience to do a time check on their wristwatch, or maybe make a cell call. While some quotes appeared philosophical, others mention putting on rouge when the Samurai wakes up to keep him from looking pale. How interesting.
Even worse were the attempts to make the film break the 90-minute mark (it seemed MUCH longer). On several occasions Forest would steal a car and drive slowly through the city streets for the entire duration of a RZA track. While perfect for late-night MTV, if they still played music videos, these scenes take the film tempo from slow to comatose.
The attempts to lighten the mood with humor were bombs also. The lack of communication between the Haitian and Ghost Dog basically interpreting each other was only funny once, yet it goes on and on. The Italian gangster rapping along to Public Enemy was silly and well over the top, especially in the presence of the mob boss. The only real laughs I got were seeing Forest twirl his gun like a sword before holstering it after each kill. I don't believe this was intended to be funny.
The showdown between Ghost Dog and Louie was anti-climatic at best. Why didn't Ghost Dog disembowel himself like real Samurai do? That would have been much more entertaining.
I'm not sure why film critics give so-called art films so much more room to be blatantly bad and stupid than the big Hollywood productions. Jesse seems to have bought into this hook, line, and sinker.
If I sound harsh, It's only because I would like to spare Jesse the pain of hundreds or thousands of people hunting him down for their seven bucks back. I suggest to movie goers to save the $7, go to the video store, and rent a great hit-man-with-a-conscious film like The Professional, or hell, even Gross Point Blank.
Jesse Fox Mayshark gave Ghost Dog an "Enlightening" rating. I'll have to agree with this one. It enlightens the public to how bad a film can be and still make it to first-run movie theaters. I was a sucker this time, never again.
Scott Wilkerson
Knoxville
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