Versus (film)

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Versus
DVD box cover for the Versus Director's Cut
Directed by	Ryuhei Kitamura
Produced by	Hideo Nishimura
Written by	Ryuhei Kitamura Yudai Yamaguchi
Starring	Tak Sakaguchi Hideo Sakaki Chieko Misaka
Music by	Nobuhiko Morino
Distributed by	Media Blasters (US)
Release date(s)	October 29, 2000
Running time	119 min.
Language	Japanese
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Versus is a 2000 Japanese action/horror film directed by Ryuhei Kitamura. It has a strong cult following both in Japan and overseas. The film is occasionally credited with the alternate title 'The Forest of Resurrection'

The film is noted for its wry sense of humour, numerous nods to other films and a side-plot that is completely irrelevant to the film. It is also praised for its use of choreography to create fights involving martial arts, classical weapons such as katanas, and gunplay. The films soundtrack and cinematography are also highly regarded.

It is regarded by enthusiasts as the only film which manages to mix swords, guns, gangsters, zombies, zombies with guns and swords, zombie gangsters with guns and swords, god-like super-beings, martial arts, assassins and police officers into one film set entirely in a forest on a timeline that spans millennia.

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In the film, several Japanese mobsters are dispatched to pick up an escaped convict in a place known as the "Forest of Resurrection," where the dead have recently become reanimated as zombies. The convict they are sent to retrieve turns out to have a strange destiny involving repeated reincarnations of himself and several other people throughout history.

The film is very violent, featuring explicit gore make up effects, though its popularity is probably just as much due to the over-the-top action sequences, the occasional hammy acting performance and the strange sense of humour that pervades over most of the movie. The film is also notable for having impressive production values compared to its meagre (US$400,000) budget.

A re-release of the film, titled Ultimate Versus, added several minutes of additional action and even more violence and gore. A sequel, Versus 2, is currently in production and will reunite the original cast and crew. Ultimate Versus is scheduled for a February 2007 release in North America.

[edit] Trivia

Among the numerous references to other films are the laser target on the protagonists sword at the end (a reference to the laser sight from Predator), the cops bullet-dodge attempts (a nod to The Matrix) and several gory moments reminiscent of The Evil Dead series - especially those involving the ripped-off hand.

Interestingly, many fans note that the side-plot involving the cops hunting the protagonist serves no purpose for plot. Although the cops do interact with several characters (namely the protagonist, the female 'fighter' and the 'runt' gangster) they have no actual function within the film other than to flesh out the fact that the protagonist is an escaped convict.

None of the characters in the film are named. The protagonist is known only by his serial number - 'KSC2-303', while others are known by their descriptions, nicknames or professions.

The large rifle used in the film by the Protagonist is in fact a sniper rifle based on the M82 series of sniper rifles. In the film the sniper rifle fires an explosive round.

Tak Sakaguchi, who plays the main character, injured himself at several points during filming. An extended cut of one scene - in which he knocks a gun into the air, places another in his mouth by the barrel, catches the other gun and shoots a zombie - originally had him cocking the gun in his mouth when he removes it. During this process he broke one of his teeth and though he understood that it would mean his tooth dying and having to be replaced with a fake, insisted that they just superglue the tooth back together and get on with filming so as to not disrupt the schedule. He also broke several ribs whilst rolling down a hillside and colliding with a patch of rocks in one scene, and had numerous cuts from the sword-fights. The actual breaking of the tooth is captured on film and provided on the DVD during a documentary on the "Dark Hero".

The knife fight that occurs between the protagonist and the green-shirted gangster was a particularly dangerous scene to film because the director insisted on using real knives since the fake, plastic knives did not look correct while moving through the air. Therefore the two actors fought using real knives, at full speed, which resulted in several cuts.

Tak Sakaguchi has been quoted as saying that the sword-fight which occurs at the films climax was particularly frightening for him because they were using heavy metal katanas which, although blunted, still hurt and neither himself nor his adversary used stunt-men. Neither of the actors had any real experience on how to use the weapons, nor any training in fight scenes or martial arts. The make-up for Tak's character also required him to have his left eye completely covered with both latex, fake blood and a hair-style that covered it, whilst his right eye's vision was partially obscured by the contact lens placed in it. His movements were additionally slowed by the weight of the long leather jacket he wore, which meant that he received 'several close calls and a few bad bruises'.

The ending was intended by Ryuhei Kitamura to leave an opening for a sequel, which is currently under production.

10 cast members from this movie would appear in Alive, also directed by Ryuhei Kitamura.

Many of the cast and crew of this film went on to produce Battlefield Baseball.

Hideo Kojima, the producer-director of the Metal Gear series, was an extra in Versus, and a friend of Kitamura. Versus also influenced the swordfighting scenes in Metal Gear Solid 2. Kitamura later directed the cut-scenes for Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, a remake of the original Metal Gear Solid.