Versus (2000)

You want a film that's slick, has interesting camerawork, no logic whatsoever (let alone a real story), but tons of fighting and zombies thrown in the mix?

Then 'Versus' is probably right up your alley.

Two escaped prisoners encounter some gangsters somewhere in a forest. Turns out that this particular forest is a 'Forest of Resurrection', which basically means it is one of the portals to hell. There are 666 (because of course) and for some reason this one is the 444th. Our protagonist (played by Tak Sakaguchi, who underacts so much, you'd think he was dead already) turns out to be a reincarnated samurai who has to try and save a reincarnated princess from some evildoer who has waited 500 years for his new chance at gaining immense powers. Seems to me that if you can live for 500 plus years without ageing, that such a thing might be power enough. But who am I to judge?

Like I said, there's not a lot of logic in this one. It's mainly characters running from one part of the forest to another simply to start a crazy gunfight, fistfight or swordfight. Or all of the above at the same time. And then they run off again. The story - or what little there is - is just the thinnest of threads designed to get us, the viewer, from one scene to the next. Leave your brain at the door. Occasionally there's humour to be found, but you have to be sort of acquainted with the Japanese style in order to fully appreciate it. You know, the completely overacting buffoon who never has any luck whatsoever? Fortunately, this guy is not in the film that much that it becomes annoying.

About the acting... that's terribly uneven at best. Sakaguchi never seems to flinch and he's supposed to pla the cool guy, but he might be a little too cool and uninterested to be engaging. The main villain is a lot better, even though it takes a while for him to show up and do something. Most of the characters are pretty hit and miss, to be honest. It doesn't help that the film grinds to an excruciating halt whenever there is dialogue. The conversations are bland, boring and do nothing worthwhile for the film.

What does make this one, are the action sequences. They are mostly shot in inventive ways, with fun camera-angles and fast paced movement. But not fast paced as in 'choppy' (usually). I can not confirm this, but it seems as though directer Ryuhei Kitamura is a big fan of Sam Raimi. Heck, some of the cameramoves are lifted straight from the 'Evil Dead'-series.

Also, this is located in a forest and there are undead, with some offbeat humour. The plot thickens...

Don't be fooled by people telling you this is a zombiefilm. Technically, it is, but it is way more about the action than it is about suspense or gore. There is some gore, but it's the flipping, jumping, kicking and shooting that will draw you in.

'Versus' might not be for everyone and you have to get through the dialogue scenes, but it is an entertaining action film with some cool ideas. I still recommend it!