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Versus (Director's Cut) Director: Ryuhei Kitamura Number of Items: 1 Format: Color Audience Rating: Unrated Studio: Media Blasters, Inc Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-07-29 Buy from Amazon

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 93 Average rating: 3.5 "This is awful and extremely boring" An incredibly boring awful movie. I regret having wasted $4.50 to rent it, based on its advertising hype. "Good, evil, and the undead" Welcome to the Forest of Resurrection: the violentest place on Earth! Set in this wooded locale, Ryuhei Kitamura's "Versus" is a bizarre, yet strangely entertaining, two hours of camp that may well be destined for cult-classic status. More a pastiche of styles than a traditional horror or action movie, "Versus" combines constant ultra-violence with some outrageously hammy overacting, tons of humor that may or may not be intentional, and dozens of zombies that don't serve much of a purpose but look really cool. I can't say this is the best movie I've seen lately, but I can say without reservation I've never seen anything quite like it. Kitamura certainly can't be criticized for wasting any time getting to the meat of the story. "Versus" opens in the aforementioned forest, as two escaped criminals meet up with a gang of stylishly dressed yakuza thugs who have taken along a cute young woman whose role in the proceedings isn't immediately clear. The problems begin right away, as the characters start bickering and it quickly becomes clear that a couple of the yakuzas are a bit unbalanced (one guy looks like he could have a nervous breakdown any minute, and has practically descended into a feral state by the movie's halfway point). One of the yakuzas and one of the criminals are soon dispatched, and then things get really interesting when they suddenly come back to life and require a few dozen more bullets before they finally decide to stay dead. After this tense standoff, the remaining prisoner (known only by his number, KSC2-303) and the woman flee into the woods, but things are just getting warmed up. A team of assassins arrive on the scene, and they're accompanied by the movie's nameless arch villain, a steely-glared guy in a leather jacket whose youthful looks belie his age (more on that later). Oh, and he just happens to be apparently invincible and able to punch through people with about as much effort as you or I might open a door. Providing comic relief is a pair of cops, one of whom is miffed about his missing hand, the other of whom keeps making outrageously hyperbolic comments about his training and skills. These guys also have their own motives, although what exactly they are is a bit unclear. All this sets the stage for carnage on a grand scale, punctuated by some truly spectacular action sequences. While "Versus" may be a bit lacking in the area of plot development, there's no denying that Kitamura knows how to create a set piece. The movie's memorable moments range from a raging gun battle in a clearing with a small army of zombies, to a series of tightly filmed martial-arts showdowns, to the concluding epic swordfight between the two protagonists. Kitamura's tense, often frenetic directing style reminded me a lot of another, much better movie that I saw recently, namely John Woo's "The Killer." While "Versus" doesn't quite match up to that classic, the abundance of great action, combined with lots of blood and some stunning cinematography, still makes for an entertaining view. Interestingly enough, "Versus" also reaches beyond the constraints of the action and horror genres to incorporate some mystical elements that might be out of place in an American movie but seem just right coming from Japan. It turns out that the showdown in the Forest of Resurrection is merely the continuation of a struggle that goes back at least 500 years, with the forces of good lined up on one side and those of evil on the other. The forest contains a portal to another dimension, and at stake is the villain's desire to enter the darkness on the other side. The players remain the same, owing to the miracle of reincarnation, so there are some very old scores to settle. And they will be settled before the movie ends. By the time "Versus" does end, and in a rather surprising fashion at that, I was pretty drained, but I definitely got my money's worth. I've seen some pretty mixed reviews of this movie, and I must say that I myself was rather unimpressed the first time I watched it. I've given it a couple more viewings since then, and it seems to me that the movie is something of a grower, so you might want to give it some patience. Some of the weirder elements in "Versus" might put you off a little bit, but it does have its own unique charm. So check it out, if you've got the stomach for it. "Horrible....Horrible....Horrible" This movie is simply 2 hours of 10 skinny guys doing silly Kung Fu fighting in a haunted forrest. The worst thing about this movie is that there is absolutely no story!! I repeat, no story!! The viewer is thrown into a forest and watches as a few minor incidents lead to punching and kicking. The zombies in the haunted forest are not even scary. They hardy attack the bad guys, the zombies main purpose is to be used as shooting targets for the bad guys. I recommend you buy "The Returner" or "The One". Those are two excellent martial arts movies. Waaaaaay better than Versus. "Potentially cool - But ultimately disappointing" Although the concept of a Zombie/Kung-Fu/Martial Arts/Shoot-em-up movie sounds freakin' awesome on paper, there were several things that held this movie back. For starters, the version I rented didn't have subtitles, and the casting of the American voice actors was HORRIBLE! Totally didn't match up with the looks of the characters, which made it hard to get into it. Although the movie picks up pace near the end, the beginning is painfully slow. Also, since the ENITRE movie is shot in the same forest, the scenery and setting are VERY monotonous - VERY repetitive. In terms of the story, many characters were introduced with vague if any introduction, and it was difficult to figure out who/what they were. On the plus side, some of the action scenes were cool and shot with interesting angles. Some nice camera work and unexpected wire worked helped out. However, in the end, I was ultimately dissapointed by the pace of the movie. If you're more into the low-budget comic Evil Dead sort of flick, this might be for you. But if you're lookng for an Ultra-Violent Japanese movie, check out Ichii the Killer instead. "loved it loved it loved it." this Japanese mobster movie takes place in an enchanted forest populated by gun-toting zombies and a 500-year-old evil Samurai wizard of DOOM. no, seriously. and it's great. imagine *Reservoir Dogs* meeting *Night of the Living Dead*--with lots of really kick-ass asian people wearing leather and carrying very big sharp things that go "swish." i absolutely adored it.