Versus - Special Edition

 

 

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Zombies. Escaped convicts. Mobsters. An ancient battle between two men. And a forest that seemingly grants eternal life... one way or another.

More questions than answers are raised in the oblique, shifting storyline of the cult hit "Versus," since director Ryûhei Kitamura seems intent on winding eerie, bizarre plot twists all around the seemingly simple plot. It has plenty of gore, fighting and a brilliant debut performance by Tak Sakaguchi -- as well as a timeless battle between good and evil that apparently lasts throughout multiple reincarnated lives. And we're not quite sure which is which.

According to the movie, there are 666 portals concealed in this world, which connect to the "other side." One of these is in Japan, called the Forest of Resurrection -- which apparently is connected to a long ago priest and samurai's fight.

Present day: Prisoner KSC2-303 (Sakaguchi) and his fellow escapee are met near the Forest by a gang of mobsters, but the already-tense atmosphere rapidly degenerates into a bloody war. And then dead bodies start getting up and savagely attacking people. The prisoner escapes with a mysterious girl (Chieko Misaka) whom the mobsters had been ordered to bring there -- he's compelled to protect her, and she seems strangely familiar to him.

The mobsters pursue the girl and the prisoner into the Forest, intending to kill them both -- but the prisoner and their crazy leader both cause even more deaths... and more gun-toting bloodthirsty zombies. So what exactly is going on here? Apparently a neverending battle throughout the centuries in this very Forest, over a young woman with a mysterious power -- and it brings Prisoner KSC2-303 up against an ancient enemy (Hideo Sakaki) whom he's fought in endless prior incarnations.

"Versus" is one of those movies you should watch at least twice -- a lot of its cryptic twists and eerie explanations fly over your head on the first viewing, and you're likely to not really understand the underlying plot. While it's a cool horror/action flick on the surface, it becomes even more than that as the story of the Man versus the Prisoner is slowly unpeeled like the layers of an onion. Flashbacks, hints of familiarity, and a brilliant twist ending that turns everything upside down.

If there's a problem with "Versus," it's that many of the questions raised are left unanswered -- while some are best left to the imagination, others are just headscratchers.

And Ryûhei Kitamura does a great job directing, with lots of gritty action, circling cameras and sharp jagged cuts from down on the ground. He also liberally slathers the entire movie in vast gushers of blood, dismembered body parts (Sakaguchi bisects a guy in the first scene), and savage fights with guns, swords and fists.Tak Sakaguchi spins through the movie with savage grace like a blood-spattered ballet dancer, and he manages to make constant mayhem and destruction look easy and uncomplicated.

And Kitamura gives the whole movie a certain gruesome sense of humor -- there's a knife-swinging mobster who is absolutely cackling-bugnuts, and the zombies produce plenty of over-the-top gore. And Sakaguchi has a brilliantly tongue-in-cheek scene where he strips off a dead man's clothes, and poses coolly in a long sweeping leather coat (while the girl tells him, "You're crazy!").

This was only Sakaguchi's first movie role, but the gorgeous guy handles it beautifully -- he's all cool, sharp-eyed intensity, and manages to hint that there's something strange underneath the callous criminal exterior. Sakaki has an equally dangerous, lean vibe as the mysterious Man who serves as the prisoner's counterpart, and Misaka holds her own as a psychic damsel who is trying to stay afloat in a situation where nobody can be fully trusted.

"Versus" is a brilliantly layered, twisting tale with plenty of gore, dismemberment and razor-sharp action scenes -- and if it didn't leave some of its questions unanswered, it would be the perfect cult flick. Definitely catch this one.

I basically bought this movie 'cause I thought the front cover was pretty cool (I even have a T-shirt with that logo on it). I read the reviews here, and figured I'd give it a shot.

First thing "Versus" started up, I was already groaning. The film quality was retro "my neighbor's camcorder", the acting was REALLY bad and it wasn't really living up to anything special. The music was okay, but I have a history of liking some strange music... also, sometimes the music is loud enough to where it's kind of hard to hear what is being said clearly.

About twenty minutes in (do try to last that long), the mood changes and it becomes more bearable, and then the story kind of comes together. It starts becoming interesting (which until then, I felt I had just wasted thirty bucks to see this movie).

The main character emerges (first twenty minutes will leave you going "uhh... who am I suppose to be rooting for here?") and they begin to develop what personality he has.

I really feel that this movie would have been better left in Japanese with subtitles. The voice-overs, where-as they match up okay were fairly annoying in general (the bad guy and the good guy were done pretty well, but everyone else sounds like the old Hong Kong flicks from the 70s with the whiny voices)

What I had envisioned was kind of a dark-souled samurai fighting the undead... What it ended up being was more of good/evil battle with the zombies being more of an excuse to fire off a bunch of bullets and to explain later events. Also, don't hold your breath for the sword-fighting, it comes kind of late in the film.

The ending was fairly thought provoking, and aside from the fact blood is applied with a fire-hose, and none of the zombies are really "zombie-ish" (they're live people with a lot of blood on 'em and it shows) Versus really wasn't that bad.

I'd probably suggest renting it, if you can find it at your local video store. This film is more for your die-hard martial arts/horror B-movie fan...

The story is good but the way they filmed it sucked. Starts off in the past and is very cool with costuming and plot then...well basically after that it's slap stick humor and a bunch of fighting in the woods which is not very good, especially after you see the same fight over and over again with 3 different charachters...booorrring...

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1.0 out of 5 stars Embarrassingly awful.
I rented this, based on the quote on the front cover from Moriarty of Ain't it Cool News. This "film" is unbelievably bad. Lisez davantage

Published on July 2 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Cool
I wanna open by saying that I was torn regarding the star rating. I'd say this is a 5 star action movie, but only a 4 star movie overall. Lisez davantage

Published on Jun 20 2004 by General Zombie

3.0 out of 5 stars R-rated version, Stinks!!
Watch out for the R rated Version, Why it exist? I have no idea seeing that the gore is just the same as Evil Dead, Riky Oh, or Army of darkness, it's funny. Lisez davantage

Published on Jun 8 2004 by Rafael Amado

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Japanese Film
They tried hard (a little too hard in places) to be artsy and dramatic. What I liked most was that everything about it reminded me of a japanimation film-the characters... Lisez davantage

Published on Jun 1 2004 by japril78

5.0 out of 5 stars Good wholesome fun
This is a very fun and enjoyable movie. This is the type of movie that you put in the DVD player after feeling depressed after watching Schindlers List or if your having a tough... Lisez davantage

Published on May 29 2004 by Brett Kochenower

3.0 out of 5 stars Looks Awful, Good Story
A more accurate title for this film would have been "The Blair Matrix Project." It really brings up some serious issues and makes you think... Lisez davantage

Published on May 28 2004 by Joshua D. Thompson

3.0 out of 5 stars "10 skinny guys doing Kung Fu fighting in a haunted forest"
"This movie is simply 2 hours of 10 skinny guys doing silly Kung Fu fighting in a haunted forrest."

Thus spake another reviewer. And it is. Lisez davantage

Published on May 28 2004 by Brian P. Hudson

1.0 out of 5 stars A RUN THROUGH A FOREST . . .
That's what they should call this movie. Blaah . . I read so much good stuff about this movie. No one mentions that the background scenery doesn't change until the about the last... Lisez davantage

Published on May 18 2004 by A. Martinez

4.0 out of 5 stars Blood, gore, and a love story gone wrong...
Overall this movie was excellent. It actually had a plot line that was understandable unlike movies like Juon and the Ring, which seem to never answer your questions. Lisez davantage

Published on May 15 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Proof a low budget action movie can work!
Do you watch action movies for the intence story and deep personal relationships? I don't. But getting the money to make all the empire states building blow up takes money. Lisez davantage

Published on May 12 2004 by Ryan McCauley

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