review

Versus

Special Edition and Directors Cut

Review By: Matthew Anderson

Cinema: Japanese

Company: Tokyo Shock

Running Time: 120 minutes 

Region: 1

Rated: R for violence, gore, and language

SHORT VIEW

In the world, there are 666 portals to Hell.  In Japan is number 444, The Forest of Resurrection.

Converging in this forest are two criminals, five gangsters, three assassins, two cops, one kidnapped girl, and a wizard who seems to know everything.

Now, the battle for humanity will be determined by these people.  Who ever survives can either open the portal to hell, or leave it closed forever.

They just have to take care of some zombies first.

THE LONG VIEW

VIDEO: The DVD quality is very, very good. There were no color bleeds, pixels or digital garbage.  The image was clean with only some minor film grain.  This is the best looking transfer of the film I have seen to date.

AUDIO: We have 5, count them 5 audio tracks on this one.

Number one is an English 2.0 dub, the weakest of the five.  There is very little surround sound, and the volume is pretty low.  The dialogue is center speaker based, with limited sound effects from the side speakers.

Number two is the Japanese 5.1 audio, and boy does it knock your socks off.  The sound hits you from everywhere during the action scenes.  You can really make out the little details of Nobuhiko Morino musical score.

Number three is a Japanese commentary track, done in 2.0.  Like most commentary, the voices are center and front speaker based, with the movie in the background.  The same goes for number four, an English commentary track in 2.0

Number five is a Japanese 2.0.  Not as powerful as the 5.1, but it comes close.  The music, dialogue and sound effects are pretty evenly distributed across the soundstage.  The gunshots and swordfights are pretty loud here, and at times overpower the dialogue.

EDITS: Not a singe thing has been edited.  This is the movie in all its visceral glory!

EXTRAS: On the Directors Cut, none.  With the special edition, plenty.  The second disc in the SE version contains:

STORY: There is quite a bit of characterization and back story tightly woven into the action.  Ryuhei Kitamura and Yudai Yamaguchi managed to give the action fans a thrill ride, while giving us who enjoy an interesting plot a chance.  Not to say that there are any deep messages to be found here, but... does every movie have to teach a lesson?

ACTING: According to Director Kitamura, the acting for the Japanese cast is horrible.  They only sound cool because they are speaking in Japanese.  I think the entire cast does a fantastic job.  Usually in movies with a large ensemble cast, it's easy to forget some of the characters.  Not here.  Every single actor leaves an impression.  You know who they are, even if they barely speak a word.

While the Japanese cast thrills me, the English dub drives me nuts.  It is absolutely horrible.  Not a single voice matched the character, and their delivery was flat and dull.  This shows why live action films should never be dubbed.

FAN SERVICE: References to classic movies like Highlander, Evil Dead, and the Matrix.  There are homage's to the films of George Romero, John Carpenter, and John Woo.  You even have some Samurai Eiga thrown in as well.

Robocop fans, take a look at the really, really big gun the cop uses.

THE 2 VIEW

There are some movies that are destined to become cult classics because of their coolness factor (Highlander), their off the wall humor (the Evil Dead trilogy), or its gore factor (the Zombi series).  Versus is one of those films.  With it's over the top action, hip humor, and zombies, it is a cool entry into the small world of cult films.

Everything about this movie is cool.  From the way they fight to the way they get out of a car, it's cool.  None of the characters have names, which is also cool.  The only one who has any kind of  "identification" is our hero KSC2-303, which is really cool!

Another thing that makes "Versus" cool is the zombies.  Unlike the zombies in "Resident Evil", these zombies shoot back. They can also jump from trees and do kung-fu.  Then we have Hyper-Zombies, who are even cooler than the regular type.  These guys can fly, tunnel underground, and do "Three Stooges" impressions.

Director/writer Ryuhei Kitamura (remember the name kids) is right up there with John Carpenter, Sam Rami, and Paul Verhoven as a true independent film maker.  Like his predecessors, he took his nothing budget, with no name actors, and made a film that puts many "Hollywood" movies to shame.  There is not one single CG element used here.  Everything, from the bullet holes to the flying hyper zombies are done with wires and old school special effects.  Listen to the English commentary.  You will learn about everything that went into this movie.

Media Blasters was kind enough to send us the Directors Cut and the Special Edition.  I found the quality on both Tokyo Shock releases excellent.  The video is clean, and the sound on the Japanese 5.1 will knock your socks off.  The only difference between the Special Edition and the Directors Cut is the inclusion of the extras disc.  If you don't care about all the behind the scenes stuff, you should save yourself a few bucks and get the Directors Cut.

Everything you wanted to know about Versus is packed into the extras disc.  How the film went from being a sequel to a full fledged movie, how the number one editor in Japan became attached to the project, and even how Tak Sakaguchi broke his tooth during filming is covered.  You also get to see the trailers, meet "Team Versus" and even learn why one of the two cops hates being called "officer".  

The only thing I don't like about the extras disc is that it's in a sleeve, not in its own bracket.  It can be easy to loose, if you are not careful, or have kids that like to hide stuff.

Now that I have spent five paragraphs raving about how great this DVD is, there are a couple of down points.  First is the awful English dub.  Not only is the acting bad, but the sound is so low, I have to turn up my TV to hear it.  Second, I would have liked it if they changed the color of the subtitles for each speaker on the Japanese commentary track.  With so many people talking, it was hard to figure out who was speaking.

If you loved Highlander, Evil Dead, or Hong Kong films, then "Versus" is the right movie for you.  So grab your sword, your gun, and your girl and go get this movie! 

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