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Okay, so I admit it, I’m a little late to
the party. I’m about seven years late to the party that is “Versus,” but
cut me some slack, I’m busy. “Versus” is an action zombie film, and one
that I really consider a guilty pleasure in the end. Granted, the
zombies are cheesy, and I was forced to watch the dubbed version, but
overall, “Versus” is a B horror entry that borders on action more often
than it does horror. A small group of criminals out in the middle of the
woods discover that the woods actually can resurrect the dead, and
really have no idea what to do. Do they fight one another, do they band
together, do they seek others, warn the world, escape, or take on the
walking dead to prevent the spread?
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Decisions, decisions. Plot? We
don’t need any stinking plot, “Versus” really just makes it
up as it goes along. Other than that, Kitamura sets us up
for basically nothing but dialogue that really does nothing
but introduce the next action sequences, and over the top
gore that works. “Versus” is a piece of trash cinema, one
that’s usually embraced by American audiences mostly, but it
works even at its worse. |
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Our hero takes up the typical leather
trench coat garb, characters are immensely over the top, and two
cops track our heroes and are included for the sake of merely
providing some laughs. Meanwhile, it’s never fully explained
why the dead are rising, a la Romero. There’s some insinuation of
the forest being the cause, but I could never really understand why.
And did I mention the zombies here can operate fire arms, and
swords? The choreography helps the film with some sleek action
scenes that I really enjoyed watching in the beginning, and “Versus”
is the guilty cinema that makes up a lot of cult classics, and this
is no different.
For those unprepared, “Versus” gets old
really fast. I’d suggest doing something else while watching, because
only in the first hour does the movie suddenly get extremely repetitive,
and when repetition enters, so does boredom. Films don’t necessarily
have to have a plot all the time, but what can be asked for is a
consistency that’s fresh and hopefully follows some sense of cohesive
flow. “Versus” really just gets boring, it’s a montage of endless fight
scenes that really don’t always lead anywhere, and the writers (there
are writers for this?) just fill the screen up with endless fight after
fight, in spite of the great choreography, and any dread or suspense is
instantly lost in a sea of monotony.
It’s not worth a re-watch, but as a guilty
pleasure “Versus” is an entertaining bit of trash cinema that left me on
the fence in the end. Over the top gore, and tight choreography help the
otherwise cheesy and forgettable attempts at comedy, and repetitive
action scenes.
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