NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (October 2020): Criterion have transferred Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai to Blu-ray. It's on a dual-layered disc with a high bitrate and is cited as a "New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Jim Jarmusch". Colors take quite a shift from the 2003 Artisan SD transfer that is on a single-layered DVD with a puny bitrate. Colors move from blues to grays and flesh tones also lighten. The 1.85:1 aspect ratio 1080P shows slightly less information in the top and bottom of the frame as compared to the 1.78:1, opened-up, DVD. I don't know what the colors are supposed to look like, but I can say this is a significant improvement (over 5X the bitrate), detail and contrast take huge strides and the 4K-restoration move the HD presentation to a more film-like feel. Jim Jarmusch's supervision also gives a sense of confidence in the resulting image. All good. 

NOTE: We have added 68 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Criterion use a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track (24-bit) in the original English language. There is plenty of gunfire in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai but often with a 'silencer' or 'suppressor' so the impact is not floor rattling - although there are times where it gets 'explosive' with sawed-off shotguns etc. and that can showcase some impressive separation magic. The film's score is by RZA (Kill Bill Vol. 1), and is also offered as an isolated lossy Dolby stereo option. Criterion offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Criterion Blu-ray has plenty of supplements (and new ones) beyond the alternate isolated stereo music track that was also offered on the 2003 DVD. There is a new 1.5 hour audio Q&A with Jarmusch, in June 2020, where the Criterion Collection invited fans to send in questions about Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai for director Jim Jarmusch to answer. The questions came in from cities around the world. There is a new 1/2 conversation between actors Forest Whitaker and Isaach De Bankle is moderated by film scholar Michael B. Gillespie, author of Film Blackness: American Cinema and the Idea of Black Film, and was recorded using an online video-conference-call application in summer 2020. There is a new 1/4 interview with casting director Ellen Lewis and a new 5.5 interview with Shifu Shi Yan Ming, founder of the USA Shaolin Temple. Flying Birds: The Music of “Ghost Dog,” a new 1/4 hour video essay on RZA’s score by filmmaker Daniel Raim. This 2000 program The Odyssey: A Journey into the Life of a Samurai features interviews with director Jim Jarmusch, composer RZA, and actor Forest Whitaker on the making of the film. There are deleted scenes and outtakes plus a trailer. The package contains a liner notes booklet with essays by critics Jonathan Rosenbaum and Greg Tate, a 2000 interview with Jarmusch, and quotations from Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai, by the early-eighteenth-century monk Yamamoto Tsunetomo.

Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai has a huge following. It's a film that is all at once challenging, philosophical while extremely violent with frequent cold-blooded murder commonplace. It's both exciting and carries depth. It has a Neo-Noir-ish morally-bankrupt protagonist and evokes the unsentimental practicality of Michael Mann's Collateral to some degree. It's so nice to have it in this vastly improved Criterion Blu-ray with the endless new and valuable extras. Strongly recommended!

Gary Tooze