Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

About four years ago, I wrote to my brother, asking:

I've been meaning to see this for a while because Forest Whitaker kicks ass, but have now seen two other Jim Jarmusch films (Down by Law and, actually, am halfway through Dead Man) that did nothing for me. Is Ghost Dog good?

...and Gmail has no record of a response.  So as of earlier this month I'd been meaning to see this for about a decade.  It has always been low enough on the priority list to not get around to it, but high enough that I've never culled it from the queue.  The premise is quite promising, but what could have been Reservoir Dogs**-meets-Léon is largely a mess.  The gangsters are such overly comic caricaturish idiots that they detract from the dignity with which Ghost Dog carries himself.


So now I can whack any other Jarmusch films from the queue, and maybe I can trust the Last King of Scotland to be good?  It also looks like one of those movies where the main character is compelling, but the actual movie isn't so great.

** or pick your choice of films about semi-competent thugs in a situation they can't handle