Versus (2000)

[AlbertV]

Take The Fugitive, mixed it up with Sam Raimi's Evil Dead, and add some blistering martial arts action and gunplay and this is the result, one of Ryuhei Kitamura's best known films.

I thought this was a pretty good action/horror film. Tak Sakaguchi plays Prisoner KSC2-303, who has just escaped from prison and run into Yakuza members in a nearby forest. After an argument over a young lady, one of the gangsters is killed but what no one soon realizes is that the forest brings back dead spirits. The dead gangster becomes zombified and goes after his old buddies and when they become zombies, all hell literally breaks loose. This is all of the master plan of a black magic wizard (Hideo Sakata).

Yuji Shimomura, who was worked on Donnie Yen's Stunt Team, was the action choreographer and he did a nice mix of martial arts action and gunplay. One of my favorite fights in the film pits Tak Sakaguchi against Takehiro Kateyama, who is a pretty good superkicker, but brings flair to the persona as a red haired assassin zombie.

Many will complain about the ending of the film, which yeah, has that French New Wave-esque element to it, but its brings about you always wondering...will there be a sequel. I have not seen The Ultimate Versus edition, which is 10 minutes longer.

Well, I mentioned this movie because director Ryuhei Kitamura announced some major news this week. He is polishing up an American version of the film, I guess a Hollywood remake that he plans to direct himself, and then he will submit it.

Versus rating: 4 out of 5

[Alex]

fun movie, a lot of surprisingly subtle humor that parodies action conventions

[DeathFuMaster]

Anybody seen the original Down To Hell or know where to get it?

[blue_skies]

I've got the ultimate edition and found it even more enjoyable than the previous version. Given this post was made back in June last year is there any news on this?

I honestly can't see this working as a Hollywood movie. No doubt the majority of the action would be lost and inferior as the film is probably going to allow short periods of time for martial-arts/action sequences to be filmed.

I am actually not even sure if I would want see a sequel given the directors directing efforts since. I have not been impressed. I kind of like Azuma but feel disappointed by the quality of action. Don't get me wrong the girl really tried but she just didn't have what a more skilled actress would have had.

[Tosh]

I tried to watch this and turned it off halfway through, it didn't make any sense, I have it on dvdr, I need to give it another go at some point.

[One Armed Boxer]

I am actually not even sure if I would want see a sequel given the directors directing efforts since.

Agreed, Ryu Kitamura is up there with the Pang Brothers as directors that showed so much potential and creativity with their breakthrough movie, but have failed to live up to the original promise.

Blue_skies, if you liked Versus then you should definitely check out Death Trance, which is also available as an untimate edition! It also stars Tak Sakaguchi and is directed by the guy who did the fight choreography for Versus, Yuji Shimomura.

It very much has the same feel to it as Versus, in that it's set in a forest in an unknown place and time...but serves simply as a means for Tak Sakaguchi to beat the hell out of anyone he comes across. It's definitely more of an action driven film than Versus, with rocket launchers, vampires, coffins, and Steven Seagal's son all being on the check list!

[LeRolls]

I definitely preferred Versus over Death Trance which I found to be a little too cheesy for my tastes. Even though it'll probably be a very small upgrade in picture and audio quality I'll most likely pick up the Blu-Ray for Versus when it gets released.