I have wanted to do this review for a long time, but every
attempt ended up feeling as if it was not the right time.
Lets put VERSUS in a certain context – Asian cinema had been
thought of, to the masses, be mainly composed of action films. After the Shaw
Brothers’ wuxia boom in the 60’s and all that followed because of it, Asian
cinema became a market for a niche underground market. Bootleg tapes were sold
at conventions, and the films lucky enough to reach American borders were films
that stood out based on the most basic aspects of the production. RIKI-OH, the
films of Takeshi Miike, and BLACK MASK are two examples. Meanwhile in Japan, a
post-modernism was rising in the new Millenium, immediately seen in films like
WILD ZERO in 1999, which the kaiju genre would soon follow. Sam Raimi had left
his mark, independent filmmaking was on the rise, and filmmakers were mixing
elements together. Out of this avarice came Ryuhei Kitamura’s masterful VERSUS.
Kitamura’s visionary directing (brought together by the
editor) is just grand. Not even THE MATRIX, which had come out a year earlier
and set a kind of bar, can touch VERSUS. Every form of combat a human can
subject themselves to is represented here. Swords, knives, guns, bigger guns,
hit and runs by car, all of it is here short of military warfare or giant
monsters (though the epilogue of VERSUS visually reminds reviewers of such).
Such violence is not shot in a gratuitous way like a Tarantino film or a Brian
De Palma way. VERSUS is equally gratuitous, but it is all fantasy and all for
vissal pleasure. While the writing isn’t the most complex, but Kitamura doesn’t
give us eye candy, its eye protein. In the battle which is choosing composition
vs. kineticism in a series of shots that make up a scene, Kitamura can eat his
cake and have it too. In particular to the cut of VERSUS which I prefer –
ULTIMATE VERSUS – (because the film gets a better melding together synth
soundtrack with an ethereal feel), the use of color filters is great. In the
using of colors to symbolize ideas or concepts, you can focus on a particular
color present in the environment you are depicting or you can color the whole
film, and the latter is what Kitamura went after. VERSUS ends up being a very
moody film – but not moods that bog down the viewer. Moods ethereal as the
music that accompanies the film. A continuous sense of awe, of something big
happening, something important.
As far as the writing is concerned, one could go and say
that the film makes a point of fighting being a constant in humanity’s course
through time, but this is a rare case where I would rather not dig deep. To
point out a theme by connecting certain scenes would take away from a
particular function of said scenes. You learn about the characters by their actions.
They all have a personality, and because of tribalism, their means are simple
enough, with drama coming from the motivation of the means. This is expanded
upon with VERSUS being a muti-generational film. Part of the film looks like
its taking place during the sengoku era, part of it taking place in more recent
times, and a part of the film taking place sometime in the future.
Resurrected
versions of characters change motivations overtime, which makes characters
stand out even more. Even deeper are the little (sometimes big) quarks in the
character’s actions or clothing style. Only one character has an identifiable
label (Prisoner KSC2-303). Attentive viewers who do not mind a film being out
of order (or are even people clever enough to absorb a film that is out of
order) will find Versus to be great.
The other great part of the film to talk about is the music.
VERSUS contains a synth score. One of the best attributes to an electric score
is that it can cover a greater range than an orchestra playing instruments. The
score for VERSUS does something that is almost uniquely Japanese and yet rare
all around. Drawing attention to the scene where the character dubbed “The Man”
starts killing those who he has hired on, the music gives that ethereal feeling
of almost a holy action is taking place, complete with an air of hopeless
desperation. The music for the final action sequence in the film and on
perfectly captures a zen kind of patience in battle, when the fight slows down
and so much could be said: thinking ahead for the battle in the couple of
seconds, taking a breather, a sense of awe the characters, ect. The end credits
track brings it all together, that this is an eternal battle.
These three cogs working together is what makes VERSUS the
war machine of a movie that it is. VERSUS, I would hope, will be talked about
for a long, long time. There is too much artistry in this film which has stood
the test of time, truly having excelled the genre. The film has a goofyness to
it, but the film takes it seriously (maybe not the characters, but the people
behind the camera take it seriously). VERSUS is quite possibly the best action
film ever.
