Versus

TIFF [2001]

(Japan, 2001, 119 minutes)
Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura
Written by Ryuhei Kitamura, Yudai Yamaguchi, based on an original work by Kitamura
Cast: Tak Sakaguchi, Hideo Sakaki, Kenji Matsuda, Yuichiro Arai, Minoru Matsumoto

Movie Review

During a festival that includes a near six-hour documentary on a French commune and a predominance of dysfunctional relationship melodramas, it's awfully heartening to know that there's still a place within the TIFF for a spirited gorefest that aspires to do nothing more than to entertain. Ryuhei Kitamura's "Versus" promises "Freefall Ultra-Violence Non-Stop Entertainment Action", but after offering nearly two full hours of dismemberment and martial arts mayhem, why isn't it more fun?

The story is promising in its simplicity: Prisoner KSC2-303 escapes with a fellow inmate and flees to an anonymous forest to a rendezvous with a group of men who will lead them to a safer place. When the men ultimately arrive with a female hostage in tow and with fueled by more sinister intentions, they kill his partner and KSC2-303 flees with the girl into the woods, which turn out to be the legendary "Forest Of Resurrection", one of 666 portals to "the other side". It's then a non-stop battle against the living dead and cunning assassins to simply stay alive, let alone find freedom.

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On paper, this adrenaline-surged amalgam of Italian zombie programmers and Tsui Hark action yarns can't miss, and admittedly, much of the action is very well staged, mixing athletic sparring with Sam Raimi-styled camera tricks and state of the art gore right out of Peter Jackson's "Dead Alive"/"Braindead". But there's more attitude than invention on display here, and the overlong film becomes bogged down with repetitive action and gimmicky shots that go from "cool" to cloying in record time. In its best moments, "Versus" captures the rush of a Playstation game better than "Tomb Raider" and "Final Fantasy" could combined. But after 45 minutes, the film starts to feel like one is watching someone else have a lot more fun at the game console. It's not that the movie necessarily needs any more plot or characterization--if anything, the film needs more inventive violence. "Versus" is, at best, about 75 minutes worth of material stretched to nearly two hours, and while it gleefully thumbs its bleeding nose at political correctness and the Lieberman/McCain crusade against screen violence, there's simply too little and too much at all the wrong places to secure any longevity on the cult circuit.

- Robert L

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