« I sort of miss having a PDA | Main | Review : Mozilla Firebird Web Browser »
Review : Verses on DVD
Two weeks ago I purchased the DVD of the Japanese film Versus. It looked like a kick ass action movie that had over the top fighting and a mixture of horror and samurai genres. I had planned on surprising BBQ with this movie but it ended up that he saw it weeks before and did not mention it to me. Damn there is just no way to surprise him with a zombie action movie.
The director Ryuhei Kitamura is a well researched director and action movie fan. In the Director's commentary track he credits the influences of Sam Rami, John Carpenter, and George Romero as well as countless older samurai movies. He is currently working on the game Metal Gear Solid : Twin Snakes.
The director wanted to make a new Samurai action film for the new millennium that melded modern ultra violent Asian action cinema with Western splatter horror movies and classics Japanese Chambara samurai action movies.
Verses is thin on plot and set but it is almost pure kick ass action and extreme violence that is stylish and pure eye candy. There is no digital work done on this movie and all the horror visuals and special effect fights were done chemically or with traditional practical special effects. It has zombies blown apart with guns, cut up with swords, even the bad guy ripping out a guys heart and taking a bite.
There is not much of a story but it is a tale of an escaped criminal meeting a group of cool bad as Tokyo gangsters out in ancient woods. One of the gangsters gets killed in a fight and the comes back to life briefly as a killer zombie. He then rescued a psychic girl that the gangsters have kidnapped and the gangsters try to hunt them down and capture them for their boss who will arrive later in the film. The gangsters realize that this is the same woods where they stashed the bodies of their victims and a cool Zombie vs Gangster combat sequence ensued. There is massive fight scenes every couple of minutes in this movie. It is by US standards a low budget production but they spent the entire budget on really cool spatteriffic horror effects and kick ass action of all kinds. The entire movie takes place out in the magical "Forrest of Resurrection" where the immortal bad guy can use the blood of the Psychic girl to open a door to the underworld. Our Hero is going to stop this and about a hour and a half of pure violence occurred as the result. But it is not just mindless slaughter the director knows what he is doing.
The DVD is really well done with two different commentary tracks and a good English language track.
The director is a true gourmet of cinema violence and the courses are varied and seasoned well enough that the audience is kept entertained with out getting bored. There is some dark comedy with some bungling gangsters and rouge cops. Verses is the most pure kick ass action movie to come out of Japan since the Days of Sonny Chiba and The Street Fighter movies. It has got samurai action, gun ballet, martial arts that puts The Matrix to shame and more zombie gangster action than is normally recommended by the USDA.
If you find this DVD and you like your action movies well over the top than this flick will have you muttering "Hell yeah" over and over again. Booya Beeotch!
Jake at September 30, 2003 
Reviews
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.8bitjoystick.com/cgi-bin/mtype/mt-tb.cgi/396
Comments
I've been looking at this one for a long time but haven't felt strongly enough about it to buy me one. I'm looking forward to his other film "Azumi" with Aya Ueto which should be in (Japan) stores soon.
Posted by: Richie at September 30, 2003 2:15 AM
How does the gun action compair to John Woo's stuff? And not his american crap but the good stuff with Chow Yung Fat.
Posted by: Dave at September 30, 2003 5:48 AM
The gun violence was much more Hong Kong than California
Posted by: Jake at September 30, 2003 9:20 AM
What surprised me about this movie, was that it was actually pretty funny as well. If you want another good action/comedy/no plot flick, check out "Attack the Gas Station" from Korea.
Posted by: dE at September 30, 2003 2:41 PM
does any one know where i can buy this movie from? if so e-mail me!!!
Posted by: Ashley at January 26, 2004 11:35 AM
Amazon.com has it
( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000095J2Y/ )
Posted by: Jake at January 26, 2004 11:41 AM
just wanted to say nice site!
free business grants: http://business-grants.org
Posted by: free business grants at February 23, 2005 2:59 PM
thank you, i just wanted to give a greeting and tell you i like your blog very much.
government grants: http://government-grants.org
Posted by: government grants at February 23, 2005 2:59 PM
You can get this movie at almost any suncoast. If not go to Boarders they can order just about anything in print. i own it, and every action fan should BUY it.
Posted by: mike at July 29, 2005 11:06 AM
this movie rocked
Posted by: eddie at October 26, 2005 6:27 PM
