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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Reika Kirishima

Directed by
Ryûhei Kitamura

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ryûhei Kitamura		writer
Yûdai Yamaguchi		writer

Produced by
Hideo Nishimura	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Nobuhiko Morino

Cinematography by
Takumi Furuya

Film Editing by
Shuichi Kakesu

Makeup Department
Susumu Nakatani	....	special makeup effects artist

Sound Department
Matt Hovland	....	assistant sound engineer
Kenji Shibazaki	....	sound

Stunts
Hiroyuki Yoshida	....	utility stunts

Other crew
David Beinlich	....	video encoding
Christian Alexander Moran	....	post-production project manager
Yûji Shimomura	....	action director

Production Companies

• KSS
• Suplex
• WEVCO Produce Company
• napalm FiLMS

Distributors

• AV Channel (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• Lolistar (France)
• Madman Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (all media)
• Media Blasters (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Media Blasters (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Millennium Storm (2006) (Italy) (video)
• Miramax Films (USA)
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Tartan Video (2003) (UK) (DVD)
• Tokyo Shock (2009) (USA) (DVD) (blu-ray)
• WE Productions (2007) (Japan) (DVD)
• e-m-s the DVD-Company

Special Effects

• Kid's Company (special makeup effects)
• NTT Media Lab

Other Companies

• U'Den Flame Works  stunts

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:

Video game producer-director Hideo Kojima (of "Metal Gear" fame) was an extra in the film. Kitamura, as a friend, was later handpicked to direct Kojima's remake of "Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes." Versus is attributed to heavily influencing the sword-fighting scenes in the game.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the English dubbed version, one of the characters explains that he grew up in Yellowstone Park in Canada. Yellowstone Park is in the United States and since it's a national park, no one could be from or have "grown up" there. This fits the character, though, who seems to lie about his abilities throughout the movie.

Quotes:

Fighter: You'll never hit me with a bullet that slow.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2004) (VG)

Highly entertaining film!

I came across versus by chance, and thought that the premise described on the back of the DVD sounded interesting. I enjoy watching all kinds of film genres, so I thought "why not?! If it's bad I'll just stop watching". I popped it in my DVD player and was thoroughly entertained for the next two hours or so.

The gist of the story is: Two convicts who manage to escape their police escorts, run into a forest to meet up with some shady looking Yakuzas, who they believe will take them to a safe place. The lead character who is only known as Prisoner KSC2-303 (please note none of the characters have names) doesn't quite trust them, especially when he finds out that they have brought a kidnapped girl along for the ride. There is a stand off. Insults are exchanged (I especially enjoyed Prisoner KSC2-303's comments).Guns are fired, and one of the yakuzas as well as the other convict are shot, and consequently come back to life as zombies. We later find out that the head yakuza that shows up a little later in the film, is a five hundred year old demon/vampire/sorcerer who wants to open the gates of hell and thus gain incredible power. In order to do so, he needs the girl's blood (isn't that always the way?). It seems that the forest they are in, is the 444th portal to hell.It is also known as the forest of resurrection where the dead come back to life. It's also a popular burial ground for people the yakuzas have bumped off over the years. So as one might guess, there are a whole bunch of zombies walking around (with loaded guns I might add). What follows are a lot of fights; knife fights, gun fights, hand to hand combat, fights with big samurai swords. Everybody in this film fights. Even the girl who is supposed to be completely helpless manages to hit a few people. There are many more details that I have left out, as that would give away all the plot twists. IMHO, the less you known about the film the more likely it is that you will enjoy it.

As well as action and gore (there is plenty of gore) the film has a lot of humorous moments that I think work really well (they had me giggling). The action is great. The fight choreography is well executed, particularly the final fight between prisoner ksc2-303 and the main "bad" guy. The acting was also quite good. I liked the performances from the two male leads. However, there was one performance that to begin with was rather amusing, but went slightly over the top towards the end (if you watch this film, then you will know who I'm talking about).

Overall, this is a really fun, funny and enjoyable film, which manages to blend a whole range of genres rather competently.It may not be everyone's cup of tea,but I think if you're an open-minded film viewer, who enjoys watching films that are a little quirky and unconventional,you may like it. I've watched this film many times and still enjoy it as much as I did the first time I watched it. I look forward to Versus 2.