Versus (2000/II)

Director:

Ryûhei Kitamura

Writers:

Ryûhei Kitamura (writer)
Yûdai Yamaguchi (writer)

Release Date:

20 February 2002 (France)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Fantasy | Horror

Tagline:

Witness a battle no one has ever seen

Plot:

There are 666 portals that connect this world to the other side. These are concealed from all human beings. Somewhere in Japan exists the 444th portal.... The forest of resurrection.

Plot Keywords:

Forest | Escaped Convict | Gruesome | Samurai | Back From The Dead

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Tak Sakaguchi	...	Prisoner KSC2-303
Hideo Sakaki	...	The Man
Chieko Misaka	...	The Girl
Kenji Matsuda	...	Yakuza Leader with butterfly knife
Yuichiro Arai	...	Motorcycle-riding yakuza with revolver
Minoru Matsumoto	...	Crazy yakuza with amulet
Kazuhito Ohba	...	Yakuza with glasses
Takehiro Katayama	...	Red-haired assassin
Ayumi Yoshihara	...	Long-haired female assassin
Shôichirô Masumoto	...	One-handed cop
Toshiro Kamiaka	...	Samurai warrior
Yukihito Tanikado	...	Cop with Barrett
Hoshimi Asai	...	Short-haired female assassin
Ryosuke Watabe	...	Yakuza zombie in alligator-skin coat
Motonari Komiya	...	Other prisoner

Also Known As:

Down to Hell 2 (Japan: English title) (working title)
The Ultimate Versus (Japan) (director's cut)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong pervasive violence and gore, and language.

Runtime:

119 min | Australia:115 min | South Korea:102 min

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Germany:18 (cut) | Germany:Not Rated | South Korea:18 | Australia:R | France:-16 | Japan:PG-12 | New Zealand:R18 | UK:18 | USA:R (cut) | USA:Unrated | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Company:

KSS

Trivia:

The cast, crew, and director (who call themselves Team Versus) had so much fun making this film that director Ryûhei Kitamura purposely filmed the movie with no ending, with hopes that they would be able to make a sequel. The DVD has proved to be a cult success in both the U.S. and Japan, so Japanese film companies have green-lit the sequel and given it (supposedly) an exponentially higher budget. Team Versus plans on principal photography in mid-2005.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: One of the detectives says (in the subtitled version) that he was trained at FBI HQ at Langley. Langley is the headquarters of the CIA, not the FBI. This fits the character, though, who seems to lie about his abilities throughout the movie.

Quotes:

Undead Thug: Why is nothing happening?

Movie Connections:

References Highlander (1986)

God bless the crazy guy in the green shirt!

Some people are insane! I mean, what were you expecting? The English Patient? I for one love a good gorefest and awesome if its done out of Hollywood. The plot had holes, I guess, I can't really think of anything that really had me come out of the movie. If you rented or bought this and thought, "Hey, that couldn't have happened, like, oh my Gawd how fake!" Why would you watch a zombie/sci-fi movie to begin with? You did read the synopses right? The acting was good, watch the original undubbed one please before you blast the flick! The characters were priceless, I loved the "Charlie's Angels"-esquire stances the yakuza guys made! Tre cool. I loved the fighting as well, every ten minutes or so someone was getting the crap beat out of them. It was also very refreshing to not see so much wire-flying, the one part I can recall that did sort of do that was shot tightly so it didn't seem so exaggerated. I'm a chick and I LOVED how Prisonor KSC2-303 kept hitting the annoying chick over the head, classic! No out of nowhere love scenes here my good people! The "villian" was also top-notch. I thought the casting was great. Tak Sakaguchi, wow, baby don't be so mean! :P I can't wait to see him in more things or in the sequel. Please don't watch this if you're cynical or hard to please. ITS A ZOMBIE/GORE/SCI-FI INDIE FILM! Yeah just don't buy it, let someone else who appreciates such fineness get a copy.

*By the by, this review is based on "The Ultimate Versus" edition.