Versus (Director's Cut)
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Movie Reviews of Versus (Director's Cut)
Movie Review: Very Cool
Summary: 5 Stars
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. And since it's Kcin's policy to give just about everything 5 stars, I went with the 5 star rating.I first heard about this movie some time ago, and I can't help but wonder why I didn't see it sooner. The plot synopsis alone seemed a virtual guarantee that it would be entertaining, whether or not it was good or bad. It turned out remarkably well considering it had absolutely no budget. Thus, production values suffer, and the acting is frequently a bit amateurish. (but still generally fairly appealing) But if you are even looking at this film you probably aren't the sort who can't live with the natural concessions that come with a low-budget films, and this probably won't bother you too much.
The Evil Dead is the film that seems to come up the most when discussing this movie. This is a bit confusing and deceptive, as although I would be absolutely shocked if the makers of this film weren't highly familiar with Raimi's ouevre, it's primarily just a modern action-martial arts film. Which naturally leads to the question, is the action any good? Personally, I thought it was thoroughly entertaining, from beginning to end. It's got a great volume of action, and mixes up the styles, starting with gun violence and zombies moving to hand to hand fighting concluding with sword fighting. They do it all well, though I like the hand to hand fighting best.(The sword fight at the end is quite sweet as well, though it's hurt a bit by the use of wacky future swords.) Also, although they use some interesting visual and editing styles in the film, they don't over do it on the action scenes and actually let us see what's going on. The action here probably isn't all that different from what you've seen in a lots of the movies, though you probably haven't seen all this type of action in a single movie before, which is worth something. It's got lots of frequently silly and exaggerated gore as well, which makes the already odd film all the more surreal. This once again reveals the low budget, but it seems as if they wouldn't have wanted more realistic gore anyway, even if they could afford it, so it works out alright. The zombies are perhaps a bit primitive, but I really like 'em, particuarly the samurai zombies from the opening scene. Too bad they didn't bring the regular zombies back later in the film, but oh well.
Critic's of this film frequently say something like, 'I don't know how anyone could take this movie seriously'. Well, I gotta tell you, I don't think you're really supposed to take this all that seriously. It's not self-parody, but it's got a ton of conventional humor, along with some gore-related humor.(which is always a dead give away that a film isn't all that serious) Surprisingly, most of the humor comes off well. The stuff with 2 police officers is generally pretty good, albeit not all that varied. Panicky Guy and Crazy Yakuza guy are both fairly entertaining as well, though I can't tell how seriously we are supposed to take the latter. He's still amusingly overdone, whether it's intentional or not. The protagonist is merely okay. He doesn't have much personality, but I don't really care. The main villain is better. He doesn't have much personality either, but he's real cool, to put it vaguely.
Even the non-action scenes are passably interesting. They never go on for too long with out having any fighting, so they at least don't get in the way. There's no dialogue I'm gonna be quoting or reflecting on anytime soon, but it moves the plot along anyway, and, as I said before, never really bored me. The only time they falter seriously is in the scene where they introduce the Yakuza guys. It's trying too hard to be cool and they can't pull it off, so it just comes off pretty cheesy. This tendency to overdo it comes up every once in a while, adding packets of cheese infrequently throughout the film, but as I said before, it's not all that serious anyway, so it doesn't disrupt the mood too much.
Well, this review is pretty crappy so I better wrap it up. In summary, it's got a low budget, lots of cool violence, zombies and martial arts, is pretty funny at times and really never gets boring, although it isn't much for character development or plot and is occasionally a bit cheesy. What can I say, I liked it. A lot.
Movie Review: It's Endless
Summary: 5 Stars
Oh Versus...
To set up the small semblance of plot for this movie, on Earth there are 666 portals that connect this world with the world of the dead. The 444 portal (number is irrelevent) is located in Japan in a place called the Forest of Ressurection. Here the dead are allowed to come back to life. And that's where the main plot basically ends. And that's what I admire about Versus: The fact that they don't even pretend to make this about plot. Of course to give it some fair shakes, there is a bit more. An escaped prisoner meets up with a group of strange yakuza and when he sees that they have a woman he feels connection with. He runs off with her in the Forest of Ressurection after killing a couple gangsters. Unfortunetly the Forest of Ressurection allows these guys to return. Along with all the others the yakuza have killed over the years. A massive battle begins allowing the characters to show off their skills to audience before the real fun begins. When the main villian arrives, hell breaks lose. We learn that the prisoner, the woman, and the rest of the characters are somehow connected to events of the past. And that's where plot ends.
No, plot is secondary to action in Versus, and there are no punches pulled about this. If you follow the story you may find yourself confused about the circumstances of the past, and it can make you think a lot. But if you want to focus on the incredible amount of gore that went into this, you shouldn't have a problem. The movie is a non-stop fight between all the factions: the prisoner, the yakuza, the assassins who arrive, and the rogue cops hunting the convinct. The violence can be compared to the Evil Dead movies, in that there is a lot of tongue in cheek humor with the violence. Some of the dialogue is incredibly funny, especially with the subtitles. I understand enough Japanese to recognize that the translation isn't the best, but is above par with the kind of movie it is.
Mindless action? Check. Incomprehensible plot? Check. Weird sense of humor? Check. Versus is a great example of what is going on in Japanese cinema these days. Don't pick this up unless you are expecting nothing less then endless fights. Literally, the battle between Good Vs. Evil goes on and on.
Movie Review: Amazing!
Summary: 5 Stars
Don't listen to anyone who tells you this movie is anything less than great. A solid story backs up beautiful cinematography and the most outrageous zombie action on film. Japanese filmmakers have a great eye for compostiton and this film works it better than most. There's a lot of thought put into every shot and every part is connected. It's something you don't see in the quick-cut American action films or the long shots of gore in the Italian films (and their imitators). When a zombie's head is chopped off it flies out of frame and into a second shot where it bounces off someone else. Likewise with spraying blood. A fight between two individuals cuts to a second set of characters fighting. These two are momentarily seperated and one of the combatants from the first fight stumbles backwards between them. In print it's hard to describe, but on film it brings a sense of connection to scenes that are really utter chaos. It allows the action to go non-stop without boring or confusing the viewer. And that makes the chaos so much more delicious.
What really makes this film is the action. It barely stops for more than a couple of minutes at a time. There's no crappy computer effects (there is wire work)- the fights are fast, fast (yes that's 2x fast), and perfectly choreographed. Some zombie purists might bemoan the fact that the zombies aren't the traditional stereotypes, but you forget all that as soon as an approaching zombie akwardly works the slide on his pistol and starts firing. Though I'm not sure why the Yakuza would bury their victims with guns, it really doesn't matter. Zombie fans with open minds will love this. There's so many bullets flying and swords swinging you never have time to look away. Also, I've never seen a movie where the heroine is punched-out by the hero so many times.
Even though the story is a little bit predictable (except for the plot twist at the end), you never know what to expect next and the filmmakers deliver like you can't believe. It's not just a zombie movie, by the way. When you add it all up, the cinematography, the action, the comedy, and the excellent musical score make this one of the most entertaining movies ever put to film.
Movie Review: Gore, martial arts, zombies, and cheese... everything I ever wanted in a movie (and a sandwich!)
Summary: 5 Stars
Who knew macho posturing and dumb tough guy dialogue could be so much damn fun?! Versus is a movie that I had been hearing about for what seems like forever. The gore, the violence, the overall coolness... you know what? Everybody was right about this too, I SHOULD have seen it a long time ago! There's over 125 reviews on here so it probably isn't real necessary to go into the plot much (or even write the review at all, but...), although I will say that Versus is the type of flick that's plot could be categorized as either deep and hard to comprehend OR flat out non-existent... you decide! You see though, the beauty of a movie like this is that the plot just doesn't really matter much because ultimately it's used for the sole purpose of shifting the movie from one bad_ss action set piece to another, in all of their sword swinging, gun wielding, heart eating, zombie slaying, eyeball losing, awesomeness! You might not always know exactly what's going on, but you'll be so glued to the action and mayhem on the screen that you won't care much either. Tons of quirky and memorable characters, crazy stylish camera work and direction, and Tak Sakaguchi as the pinnacle of cool in the leading role all add up to one of the most entertaining cinematic spectacles I've ever seen (and I've seen some spectacles in my day). Obviously this won't work for everybody... I mean, if 2 hours of near straight action (including gun-toting zombies!)only occasionally broken up by riveting dialogue like characters telling each other to "shut the hell up" while a camera spins around 360 degrees over and over again sounds repetitive, then yeah, you may want to steer clear (although that is an exaggeration... only mildly though!). Versus is truly an experience to behold as a low-budget and genre-blending instant cult masterpiece, that even if you don't like (but really, what's not to like?)... I guarantee you won't forget!Movie Review: ultra-violent and self-effacing glee
Summary: 5 Stars
Ryuhei Kitamura's VERSUS is a terrific blend of staple crowd-pleasing genres such as chambara swordplay, yakuza gunfights, and the vengeful undead. VERSUS plays out to the hilt with ultra-violent and self-effacing glee.
When two escaped convicts meet for a mysterious rendezvous with a group of yakuza thugs, their unfortunate encounter happens to occur in the Forest of Resurrection-one of the 666 portals to Hell that exists in our domain. Throw a kidnapped girl into the mix, and watch as one of the cons declares his allegiance to feminist dogma before blowing away one of her captors. When his felled foe rises from the dead, chaos ensues. From here, the story runs in high gear and gives the audience little chance for a breather except during the occasional over-stylized "poses" from the actors. Other than these manga-influenced tableaus, Kitamura's camera never stops: zooming, panning, and spinning with dizzying speed.
In what becomes typical for this film, just when things seem like they can't get any crazier, they inevitably do. The set pieces pile up in a savage collision that proves surprisingly satisfying. While too many action films run out steam in their conclusion, VERSUS manages to stay on track and in overdrive for its two exhaustive hours. An intense action pastiche, VERSUS raises the bar for all future chambara yakuza zombie flicks.