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Versus (2000)

DVD Cover (Tokyo Shock Ultimate Edition)
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> Zombie Classics
Overall Rating 65%
Overall Rating
Ranked #4,103
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Connections: Versus

Set in the present where a group of ruthless gangsters, an unknown woman and an escaped convict have met, unwittingly, in The Forest of Resurrection, the 444th portal to the other side. Their troubles start when those once killed and buried in the forest come back from the dead, with the assistance of the evil Sprit that has also come back, come back from ages past, to claim his prize. The final standoff between Light and Dark has never been so cunning, so brutal and so deadly. This is where old Japanese Samurai mysticism meets the new world of the gangster and the gun. Gruesome, bloody and positively bold. --IMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: August 6, 2004
Throughout the world, there are 666 portals to the "other side", and it just so happens that portal #444 is located in Japan, that being the forest of resurrection. Prisoner KSC2-303 and a partner of his have just escaped from a maximum-security prison, and are to meet up with some Yakuza henchmen at a designated spot in said forest. When the henchmen arrive, they say that they must wait for their boss to arrive before continuing onwards. While they're standing around waiting for the boss to arrive, one of the henchmen pull a young girl out of their car; apparently, the boss had told them to kidnap her and bring her here as well. KSC2-303 doesn't particularly care for their treatment of this lady and warns them to let her go, which yields no results. A gun-fight ensues, leaving the main guy in this group dead and a lot of guns pointed at everybody in the location. Suddenly, the guy who had been shot and killed gets up and starts attacking everyone, only to be put down yet again by a very large number of gunshot wounds. KSC2-303 and the girl escape, but the henchmen are quick to chase them through the woods, leading to numerous fight scenes involving guns, swords, and even a severed head.

There's a major storyline twist around the midway point of this film which keeps things going from there, but revealing such would be too much of a spoiler; therefore, I'll leave the description at that. However, in the grand scheme of things, there's really not a whole lot to the storyline... some pieces will be uncovered, a fight-scene will occur, some more pieces will be discovered, and back to another fight-scene. Normally, this would lead to boredom very quickly, but oddly enough, it didn't in this case due to the successful migration of a good storyline and excellent fight-scenes. It seems as though the film-makers knew that the storyline wouldn't work out well over the course of a full-length film, so they stretched it out with plenty of action and sub-plots... which again, would normally have came off as being quite high on the lameness scale, but it worked out great here.

Those fight-scenes were a thing of beauty, and really made the film. Since there's so many of them throughout the movie, I was expecting that they would start to get boring and redundant eventually, but the originality and thought put into each scene kept things fresh in each scene. Imagine, if you will, the great back-and-forth martial arts exchanges from one of the better Bruce Lee films, mixed in with some great swordplay, with a hearty helping of Matrix-inspired gun-scenes (though none of the cheesy slow-motion bullet dodging) and then top things off with some Evil Dead-style black comedy and gallons of gore. A very odd combination, but that would be about the best example I could come up with. As I mentioned, these scenes all had a lot of thought put into them, which came off great on screen; you never see the same trick pulled twice, there's tons of surprises thrown into the action, and the camera-work involved here was top-notch.

Overall, this movie was lacking a bit in the storyline department (in quantity, not quality), but more than made up for that with lots of great action sequences. I'd suggest the viewing of it, definitely. 8/10 from myself.
Clarence Bodicker #1: Clarence Bodicker - added July 30, 2004 at 2:10am
I've been eyeing this movie in Blockbuster for about 2 years now. I still can't decide whether or not to rent it.
Christopher #2: Christopher - added August 7, 2004 at 10:08pm
Two years, huh? It hasn't even been one year since its U.S. release.
Deadwired2 #3: Deadwired2 - added August 8, 2004 at 2:03pm
Looks and sounds very interesting. Definitely going to rent.
Clarence Bodicker #4: Clarence Bodicker - added August 16, 2004 at 7:23am
Excuse me for hitting the 2 instead of the 1. Sorry to offend.
Christopher #5: Christopher - added August 22, 2004 at 2:15am
That's the best you can come up with?
lostprophet #6: lostprophet - added August 22, 2004 at 2:21pm
ok.. well this is the most mindblowingly brilliant film i have ever seen.. i mean whos gives a shit about story. The action sequences and random gore factor put this movie in a category of its own, you don't need a big budget to produce unadulterated entertainment..

characters ooze with random factor e.g the guy with the suit and green shirt a.k.a. fancy pants (they don't have real names) he's in a league of his own as far as villians are concerned, his facials and fucked up mannerisms make ace ventura look like a cnn news reporter.

The fight scenes are awesome, mixed with humour, gore and with enough guns to arm a small country, it makes zombie killing that much more entertaining. add in huge blades and lightning fast martial arts scenes and you have the epitome of excellence.

Fucking outstanding. 10/10
Sho #7: Sho - added September 29, 2004 at 2:24am
I did love the action in the movie, but I thought the acting was too bad to give it more then a 7/10. I think my main problem was the gangster lostprophet mentioned. Every time I would start getting into the movie he would pop up and completely ruin the scene for me. Other then that gripe though, great movie to rent and see if it's worth adding to your collection.
Ginose #8: Ginose - added September 9, 2005 at 5:32pm
This was an action packed slaughter, blood and guns flew everywhere. For martial arts fans and action fans, no doubt in my mind.
thrasher #9: thrasher - added June 2, 2006 at 1:03pm
I saw this movie quite awhile back, after hearing a lot of fairly positive reviews. I liked it to an extent, probably what would be no more than a 6/10. Maybe it was a taste thing, but the movie didn't really keep my interest completely through it, and I think its runtime could've been trimmed down at least 20 minutes or so. Like everyone has said before, there were some well shot action sequences, and some good gore, but in the end I guess I actually did want a bit more of a story.
Edd #10: Edd - added March 31, 2008 at 9:56am
Zombies plus the Matrix plus guns and swords? Uwe Boll couldn't have fucked this one up. 10/10
Kezia Vadimas #11: Kezia Vadimas - added July 13, 2008 at 9:05am
Great movie! Blood, gore, martial arts, guns, swords, zombies, comedy, who could ask for more? Fun, fun, fun!
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