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Versus
Japan 2000
produced by Keishiro Shin, Hideo Nishimura (executive) for napalm FiLMS, WEVCO, Suplex Inc, KSS Inc
directed by Ryuhei Kitamura
starring Tak Sakaguchi, Hideo Sakaki, Chieko Misaka, Kenji Matsuda, Yuichiro Arai, Minoru Matsumoto, Kazuhito Ohba, Takehiro Katayama, Ayumi Yoshihara, Shoichiro Masumoto, Yukihito Tanikado, Hoshimi Asai, Ryosuke Watabe, Motonari Komiya
written by Ryuhei Kitamura, Yudai Yamaguchi, music by Nobuhiko Morino
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Two prisoners (Tak Sakaguchi, Motonari Komyia) have just escaped, but when they meet up with the Yakuzas
(Kenji Matsuda, Yuichiro Arai, Minoru Matsumoto, Kazuhito
Ohba) who are supposed to help them get away, they find them to be a
rather incompetent bunch, who have kidnapped a girl (Chieko Misaka) on the
side and who get into fights about pretty much everything. One of the
prisoners (Komyia) is pretty soon shot by one of them, but the
other (Sakaguchi) manages to free the girl and get away ... which is
where the problems start, as this all takes place in the Forest of
Resurrection, a forest on top of one of the Gates to Hell, and here, the dead don't stay dead, but come back as homicidal zombies.
And as if this wasn't bad enough as it is, the Yakuza have used the
forest as a secret burial ground for years, and since they did not
necessarily disarm their corpses (they are dead anyway), most of the
zombies are armed with guns. So it's pretty much prisoner versus gangsters, prisoner and gangsters
versus zombies, and the gangsters fight among themselves as well. But as
if this still wasn't enough, 3 assassins (Takehiro Katayama, Ayumi
Yoshihara, Hoshimi Asai) show up too, so do 2 homicidal cops (Shoichiro
Masumoto, Yukihito Tanikado), and a stranger (Hideo Sakaki), who seems
to know more about the forest than anyone else.
Soon the prisoner as well as the stranger have fought their way through
everyone else, and it turns out the stranger is after the girl's blood
to open the Gate to Hell - and for some reason not even clear to himself the prisoner can't let
him ...
Yes, this film is silly, every bit as silly as my synopsis sounds, it
features at best two-dimensional characters, and the plot more often than
not seems like nothing more than a vehicle for extended action scenes - to
the point where one might argue, the whole film is just an extended action
scene with little beyond as is ... and yet the movie is just GREAT, an anything-goes mix of zombie-schlock,
swordsplay, gunplay, martial arts and gangster film with fast and furious camerawork, well staged action, killings that are as funny as they
are gory, barely a slow moment, and everything done deliciously
tongue-in-cheek and clearly aware of its own silliness. It's really if the
kinetic side of filmmaking is at all your thing, and you want your action
with plenty of (self-)irony, then this one's pretty much a must-see.
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