How this movie got made with a supposedly $70 million budget and without being completely retooled is beyond me. The storyline and dialogue are beyond amateurish. Characters say things no real person would ever say and almost never react to things that were said before. No one seems to be grounded in the real world. The acting of the leads is fine given that the writing is such a dud...but several actors in supporting roles really drag the production down. The hero's hair probably should've gotten its own credit, it was so oddly attention- grabbing...not to mention that it gave one of the better performances in the pic. Finally, for a movie about L.A. being besieged by giant reptiles, this film is shockingly boring. What a shame! If you do see this, your mind will be constantly racing, thinking up ways that you could have taken the SFX scenes and built a far better movie around them. Sadly, it wouldn't have taken much.
381 Reviews
A review of "D-War"
dee.reid17 September 2007
To review "D-War" (sometimes called "Dragon Wars" or "Dragon Wars: D-War") with any real depth would be an exercise in utter futility. I mean that, really. The film is a big, loud special effects bonanza the likes of which have been seen plenty of times on United States soil, but "D-War" is unique in the fact that it is not an American production, but an Asian one, specifically of the South Korean kind.
But just because it's a South Korean movie with American actors, does that really make it good? It's a yes/no/maybe so type of answer. "D-War" comes to us from South Korean import Hyung-rae Shim, who announced the project back in 2002 and has spent the last five years getting it off the ground. It's received mostly negative reviews here in the U.S. and in South Korea (where it set box office records for an opening week with an estimated five million viewers within a nine-day time-span), but the movie's special effects and action sequences are undeniably stunning. But it's a shame about the story and characters.
Supposedly based on an ancient Korean legend, a 200-meter-long Imoogi (a giant serpent) called Buraki is denied a chance at immortality when two young lovers who are destined to perform the ceremonial rights run away and perish in their escape. 500 years later in Los Angeles, the man is reincarnated as American news reporter Ethan (Jason Behr), who as a child was given a powerful pendant by an elderly antiques dealer named Jack (Robert Forster) and now has to find the reincarnated woman, Sarah (Amanda Brooks), before her 20th birthday.
Sure enough, in special effects sequences that seem right out of any Asian monster flick made in the last 50 years, the dragon Buraki reappears with his seemingly invincible army of demonic warriors to continue his 500-year pursuit of what is rightfully his. Lots of explosions, guns, and destruction as ancient slams head-on into 21st-century military technology, and Ethan and Sarah try to find a way to stop Buraki and his army before he destroys the city.
"D-War" is a film that looks and sounds amazing, in theory, but the execution is so poor that you'll rightfully feel that you've been cheated by the time the credits roll. Make no mistake, Buraki and his minions look pretty cool and plenty menacing, and the destruction they bring about in their action sequences is nothing short of breathtaking. In this regard, Shim has surely done his job in presenting "D-War" as a no-holds-barred sci-fi/fantasy action epic.
On the other hand, the film's human players are drastically short-changed and given cheap, hokey dialogue and scenes that rarely connect. It seems that the only reason they're here is to give us something to root for, which is not in any real way genuine. "D-War" unfortunately comes off as something a lot closer to the poor American adaptation "Godzilla" (1998) than anything that is uniquely Korean. Another problem is that the story seems to take itself a little too seriously, with cheap humor that doesn't get anything greater from us than a weak little laugh. The acting and direction seem mediocre at best (so that you do feel a little sorry for the hokey performances of American heavyweight Robert Forster and up-and-coming Jason Behr), which is a real shame because Hyung-rae Shim is obviously a capable talent who knew what he wanted to do here and surely enough had the means to do it. His head seems full of ideas but the problem is with the execution of those ideas; maybe he was trying to do too much without really working out the material in greater detail. And the ending, a would-be "Raiders of the Lost Ark" special effects showdown, seems pretty cheap too.
I really wanted to like this movie, believe me, but "D-War" is a mediocre attempt at something that really had potential to be spectacular. But maybe it's because I'm an American. Maybe you'd have to be Korean to understand the mythical themes about that classic battle between good and evil. It's just too bad that the finished product of "D-War" appears to be like any other "B"-grade monster movie than the extraordinary idea that the director had in mind.
5/10
But just because it's a South Korean movie with American actors, does that really make it good? It's a yes/no/maybe so type of answer. "D-War" comes to us from South Korean import Hyung-rae Shim, who announced the project back in 2002 and has spent the last five years getting it off the ground. It's received mostly negative reviews here in the U.S. and in South Korea (where it set box office records for an opening week with an estimated five million viewers within a nine-day time-span), but the movie's special effects and action sequences are undeniably stunning. But it's a shame about the story and characters.
Supposedly based on an ancient Korean legend, a 200-meter-long Imoogi (a giant serpent) called Buraki is denied a chance at immortality when two young lovers who are destined to perform the ceremonial rights run away and perish in their escape. 500 years later in Los Angeles, the man is reincarnated as American news reporter Ethan (Jason Behr), who as a child was given a powerful pendant by an elderly antiques dealer named Jack (Robert Forster) and now has to find the reincarnated woman, Sarah (Amanda Brooks), before her 20th birthday.
Sure enough, in special effects sequences that seem right out of any Asian monster flick made in the last 50 years, the dragon Buraki reappears with his seemingly invincible army of demonic warriors to continue his 500-year pursuit of what is rightfully his. Lots of explosions, guns, and destruction as ancient slams head-on into 21st-century military technology, and Ethan and Sarah try to find a way to stop Buraki and his army before he destroys the city.
"D-War" is a film that looks and sounds amazing, in theory, but the execution is so poor that you'll rightfully feel that you've been cheated by the time the credits roll. Make no mistake, Buraki and his minions look pretty cool and plenty menacing, and the destruction they bring about in their action sequences is nothing short of breathtaking. In this regard, Shim has surely done his job in presenting "D-War" as a no-holds-barred sci-fi/fantasy action epic.
On the other hand, the film's human players are drastically short-changed and given cheap, hokey dialogue and scenes that rarely connect. It seems that the only reason they're here is to give us something to root for, which is not in any real way genuine. "D-War" unfortunately comes off as something a lot closer to the poor American adaptation "Godzilla" (1998) than anything that is uniquely Korean. Another problem is that the story seems to take itself a little too seriously, with cheap humor that doesn't get anything greater from us than a weak little laugh. The acting and direction seem mediocre at best (so that you do feel a little sorry for the hokey performances of American heavyweight Robert Forster and up-and-coming Jason Behr), which is a real shame because Hyung-rae Shim is obviously a capable talent who knew what he wanted to do here and surely enough had the means to do it. His head seems full of ideas but the problem is with the execution of those ideas; maybe he was trying to do too much without really working out the material in greater detail. And the ending, a would-be "Raiders of the Lost Ark" special effects showdown, seems pretty cheap too.
I really wanted to like this movie, believe me, but "D-War" is a mediocre attempt at something that really had potential to be spectacular. But maybe it's because I'm an American. Maybe you'd have to be Korean to understand the mythical themes about that classic battle between good and evil. It's just too bad that the finished product of "D-War" appears to be like any other "B"-grade monster movie than the extraordinary idea that the director had in mind.
5/10
Comparisons to Boll and Sci-Fi Channel don't apply
RevengeOfBobRoss19 September 2007
This movie was not good. Let's start off with that. But it wasn't a one or two star movie like people are giving it.
Pretty much, the plot is decent. It's something different. It's totally corny and implausible, but it's DRAGON WARS, it's not trying to win any Oscars. to people who say the visual effects are the worst they have seen, PUH-lease. The effects are about on par with Dragonheart and the Godzilla remake. Of course, this means the effects are ten years old, and films like T2 and Jurassic Park still look like they were made last year, but that's beside the point. The effects aren't THAT bad.
The acting is average. Nothing special. Better than Keanu Reeves or Clive Owen. See, what I'm trying to do here is show you that a movie like "Gryphon" or "Raptor Island" or "Alone in the Dark" are much much worse than this. Stop giving unfair comparisons. The last 20 minutes of the movie actually had some good action, and the final battle was great. Lighten up. Just have sit back and MST3K it if you want. But it's cheesy monster mashing fun.
Pretty much, the plot is decent. It's something different. It's totally corny and implausible, but it's DRAGON WARS, it's not trying to win any Oscars. to people who say the visual effects are the worst they have seen, PUH-lease. The effects are about on par with Dragonheart and the Godzilla remake. Of course, this means the effects are ten years old, and films like T2 and Jurassic Park still look like they were made last year, but that's beside the point. The effects aren't THAT bad.
The acting is average. Nothing special. Better than Keanu Reeves or Clive Owen. See, what I'm trying to do here is show you that a movie like "Gryphon" or "Raptor Island" or "Alone in the Dark" are much much worse than this. Stop giving unfair comparisons. The last 20 minutes of the movie actually had some good action, and the final battle was great. Lighten up. Just have sit back and MST3K it if you want. But it's cheesy monster mashing fun.
How did we get to Mordor, mommy?
curlif19 September 2007
This movie serves as a timely warning to anyone who thinks they can both write and direct their own movie. Face it, you can't. Because that way there's nobody around to tell you when you hack great holes in your plot, have meaningless transitions, trite, unmemorable dialog and manage to turn a fairly cool Korean legend into a steaming pile of celluloid turd.
I wanted to like this movie as a trashy popcorn movie, really I did; I like lots of crappy movies. But once I've been forced to ask myself what the hell just happened and WHY, DEAR LORD, WHY? more than a few times, I really can't take it any more.
Also, I would love for someone to explain how LA became Mordor for the last scene.
I wanted to like this movie as a trashy popcorn movie, really I did; I like lots of crappy movies. But once I've been forced to ask myself what the hell just happened and WHY, DEAR LORD, WHY? more than a few times, I really can't take it any more.
Also, I would love for someone to explain how LA became Mordor for the last scene.
The worst major film I've seen in a long time
JKristine3527 September 2007
I went into this movie with high hopes. Normally, I'm not too picky about my movies and creature movies are *always* fun to watch, or so I thought. I'll list the good parts of this movie: -The creature effects. All of the creatures were well-done, their movements were realistic, and they fit into the other imagery well. To be honest, the creature effects were the ONLY reason I gave this movie a 2 rather than a 1. Now, the bad things: -The acting. Good Lord, I've seen bad acting, but this movie takes the cake. Not a single one of the characters is even *close* to believable. It's like the director sent out a casting call and picked all the worst try-outs from it. I tried very hard not to giggle too loud, cause I didn't wanna upset anyone else in the theatre, but the acting really was THAT BAD. -The storyline: The entire story is full of plot holes from beginning to finish. You can pick at least 5 plot holes out of any given 30 minutes of film. The plot holes, of course, are complimentary with the cheese. This is probably one of the most clichéd, not thought-out, and outright dumbest stories I've ever seen put on screen since I had the grave misfortune of sitting up one night and watching Parasite on the SciFi channel. -The dialogue: This is a world where everyone says the cheesiest and most clichéd thing they possibly can, at every chance they possibly can. In this world, it seems like every line has been spoken before in at least 30 other low-budget creature movies. It is the world of cheese and cliché. -The special effects. While the creature effects were downright awesome, the special effects fail miserably. Yes, they are better than those seen in other movies, but a lot of it is in the presentation. And this movie has no presentation whatsoever. It looks kinda like the special effects used on the Power Rangers TV show, to be honest. To sum up: Dragon Wars is worth neither your time nor your money. The concept is good, but it is trapped in the bad directing, acting, dialogue, and cheesiness of the film. Wait til the next big monster movie comes out. It's gotta be better than this, cause Dragon Wars is absolutely horrible.
Dragon wars sucked
s-hull_199017 September 2007
This movie was horrible.
They didn't develop any of the characters at all and the storyline was played out horribly. It was a definite sleeper. You'd expect the action scenes on a movie like this to be its strong points but D-Wars surprises you with even a let down in that department.
Also, the acting was just a step above the level of a low budget porno flick. And I seriously mean that.
I was actually happy to see the end credits on this one cause it was just that bad!!! Please, whatever you do people, don't waste your time and money on a crappy movie like D-Wars.
They didn't develop any of the characters at all and the storyline was played out horribly. It was a definite sleeper. You'd expect the action scenes on a movie like this to be its strong points but D-Wars surprises you with even a let down in that department.
Also, the acting was just a step above the level of a low budget porno flick. And I seriously mean that.
I was actually happy to see the end credits on this one cause it was just that bad!!! Please, whatever you do people, don't waste your time and money on a crappy movie like D-Wars.
Oh. My. God. Why no rating lower than a "1"?
randytz15 September 2007
This movie is likely the worst movie I've ever seen in my life -- surpassing the previous most god-awful movie, "Spawn of Slithis," which I saw when I was about 10.
Bad acting, stilted and ridiculous dialog, incomprehensible plot, mishmashed cut scenes, even the music was annoying. Did I leave anything out? Well, the special effects weren't bad -- but CGI does not a decent movie make.
I can't believe I actually spent money to see this movie. If anyone has the contact info for Hyung-rae Shim (the director), please forward it to my user name "at gmail," and I'll contact him to personally demand a refund.
Bad acting, stilted and ridiculous dialog, incomprehensible plot, mishmashed cut scenes, even the music was annoying. Did I leave anything out? Well, the special effects weren't bad -- but CGI does not a decent movie make.
I can't believe I actually spent money to see this movie. If anyone has the contact info for Hyung-rae Shim (the director), please forward it to my user name "at gmail," and I'll contact him to personally demand a refund.
One of the worst films I've seen...in a long time
Eye_of_Chaos15 September 2007
First off, I have no idea how this movie made it to the big screen. Its not even the low budget SCI-Fi channel movie, its just awful. Me and my friend who love action movies, Independence day, Jurassic Park, LotR, etc. went to see this movie expecting this movie to me a Transformers with dragons, mindless entertainment. All we got was a mindless hour and a half. The CG was not as bad as I was expecting, but the plot is so awful along with the acting, it made up for it. Its basically a Chinese legged of dragons returning every 500 years...Sounds like a good remake of Rain of Fire? No, The plot tries to be deeper than it should be leaving not only plot holes, but with magic, and a very small actual war between dragons(rather big snakes) it just gets ridiculous. The director attempted to add a bit of humor in the movie which fail. Me and my friend laughed through the whole thing(along with all 5 of the audience), and cant believed we spent money on this. The short trailer on TV makes up for most of the action while crap makes up the rest. I've seen a lot of B movies like Reptilian, The Cave, Spider, and others, but i have to say if you want a non stop laugh for an hour, watch this.
Story: 1/10 CG: 5/10 Acting:3/10
I don't drink...but it would have helped before watching this movie
Story: 1/10 CG: 5/10 Acting:3/10
I don't drink...but it would have helped before watching this movie
It's a bad sign when...
mirjoin30 September 2007
Warning: Spoilers
...there's no one else watching the movie. My husband and I went to watch it last night. It's just a small theater, but there's usually a decent amount of people there. Not this time! My husband and I were the ONLY people watching Dragon Wars last night! Now we know why.
The movie was by far one of the worst I've ever seen. Yes, the CG was good, but that was it. The acting, script & dialog, directing, editing, etc. was God-awful! Since we were alone in the room, we felt free to talk during the movie. That is, we talked about how bad it was, that it reminded us of The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Godzilla, Mortal Combat AND The Lord of the Rings. It was like we expected to see Rita and Lord Zed portraying commanders of Sauron's army.
The creatures were ridiculous. You can't just introduce legions of dino/dragon/lizard things loaded down with cannons without explanation. The Lord of the Rings has a wide spectrum of characters, but it introduces and develops them over 3 movies, not in an hour and a half.
The scene transitions are horrible. I didn't fall asleep during the movie, but even though it was an overly simple plot, I found myself getting lost in the plot holes.
The characters were caucasian Americans, but spoke almost with broken English because of the badly written dialog in the script.
The final scene that could have redeemed some value of the movie...failed. Ethan didn't cry when Sarah died...though he hadn't known her for very long during THIS life anyways. He didn't seem too upset to be left in "Mordor", not knowing where he was or how to get back. We couldn't for the love of God figure out where he was or how he got there either, but if he wasn't upset we shouldn't be either.
Oh, and why did the dress that Sarah's spirit was wearing look like she borrowed it from Queen Elizabeth? One more thing...all 3 of the main hero characters were reincarnations brought back to finish the job. Sarah completes her task and moves on to the afterlife. Jack does this as well. Then why does Ethan get screwed? He's left alone, without the girl, without a map/compass/helicopter to help him get back. What's he supposed to do? Send smoke signals? And IF he gets back home, does he just go back to his job? He should have been given the same mercy of getting killed out of the movie that the other heroes had.
Don't waste your time or money on this movie. We only stayed til the end because we'd paid for it, but as soon as the credits hit, we were out the door.
The movie was by far one of the worst I've ever seen. Yes, the CG was good, but that was it. The acting, script & dialog, directing, editing, etc. was God-awful! Since we were alone in the room, we felt free to talk during the movie. That is, we talked about how bad it was, that it reminded us of The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Godzilla, Mortal Combat AND The Lord of the Rings. It was like we expected to see Rita and Lord Zed portraying commanders of Sauron's army.
The creatures were ridiculous. You can't just introduce legions of dino/dragon/lizard things loaded down with cannons without explanation. The Lord of the Rings has a wide spectrum of characters, but it introduces and develops them over 3 movies, not in an hour and a half.
The scene transitions are horrible. I didn't fall asleep during the movie, but even though it was an overly simple plot, I found myself getting lost in the plot holes.
The characters were caucasian Americans, but spoke almost with broken English because of the badly written dialog in the script.
The final scene that could have redeemed some value of the movie...failed. Ethan didn't cry when Sarah died...though he hadn't known her for very long during THIS life anyways. He didn't seem too upset to be left in "Mordor", not knowing where he was or how to get back. We couldn't for the love of God figure out where he was or how he got there either, but if he wasn't upset we shouldn't be either.
Oh, and why did the dress that Sarah's spirit was wearing look like she borrowed it from Queen Elizabeth? One more thing...all 3 of the main hero characters were reincarnations brought back to finish the job. Sarah completes her task and moves on to the afterlife. Jack does this as well. Then why does Ethan get screwed? He's left alone, without the girl, without a map/compass/helicopter to help him get back. What's he supposed to do? Send smoke signals? And IF he gets back home, does he just go back to his job? He should have been given the same mercy of getting killed out of the movie that the other heroes had.
Don't waste your time or money on this movie. We only stayed til the end because we'd paid for it, but as soon as the credits hit, we were out the door.
Oh... Mah Gawd......make it go away!!!
Mangaperson2319 March 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I'm sorry, my rating is wrong very wrong, it should be a rating of -10, because this movie was just disgusting. It was so bad, that I decided to, in the middle of the night mind you, make a account on IMDb, and write this review about it. I'd been waiting three dang year to see this movie, so yes I had high expectations for it. This could have been so much more.
If I had the money, time, and left over will power(after the battering of a baseball bat done to it by this movie), I would go to Korea, slap the director across the face and ask for a refund. Heck, even a caveman could do better.
Alright, so first things first, some one please explain to me how the U.S. Military and all its 21st century might... was so devastated by some guys with swords, and look like they were copy/pasted from LotR.
And the first scene were the SWAT guys all rope in and charge in like the Persians in there battle against the Spartans. How the heck did some guys with swords blow up FOUR UH-60 Blackhawks. What did they throw their swords at the copters, which then proceeded to fall to their awesome Melee might. And the SWAT guys, no trained soldiers (at least in the US) are going to attack so unorganized, like five year old's in a super soaker battle.
Then the AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, why in the world would any sane pilot, after spending like a solid minute of firing machine guns, and watching them fail to penetrate the serpents hide or do more than annoy the beast, go back to using guns after watch the thing fall from hellfire missiles.
Then there's the inability of the soldiers weapons to penetrate the same armor the enemy soldiers used 500 hundred years ago, I mean come on, armor like that was made obsolete because of firearms.
And the good Imoogi, where the Frick was he, I mean heck the two people are being chased by an army of Evil dudes, yet he just sits back and relaxes. them out of no where, after the main dude (this movie was so horrible i didn't even pay attention to names) 'magically' takes down the entire army of Evil dudes and reptilians, he just pops in out of nothing, in that unnamed place.
As for the fire balls, balls of fire don't blow up like missiles.
Also the 'rocket launching lizard things', where in the world did the bad Imoogi get those 500 years ago. Then having those inferior missiles destroy an M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank in one hit, which is a tank that has been known to be hit by 20 RPG's (Which were made to destroy tanks) and still keep on going, and in one case a tank was hit by fifty RPG's and wasn't destroyed.
Do yourself a favor, don't buy this movie, don't rent this movie, don't even think about this movie.
My favorite character would be the good Imoogi, because he new this movie would suck so bad, that he wanted to get as little screen time as possible. I look forward to seeing him in future movies.
If I had the money, time, and left over will power(after the battering of a baseball bat done to it by this movie), I would go to Korea, slap the director across the face and ask for a refund. Heck, even a caveman could do better.
Alright, so first things first, some one please explain to me how the U.S. Military and all its 21st century might... was so devastated by some guys with swords, and look like they were copy/pasted from LotR.
And the first scene were the SWAT guys all rope in and charge in like the Persians in there battle against the Spartans. How the heck did some guys with swords blow up FOUR UH-60 Blackhawks. What did they throw their swords at the copters, which then proceeded to fall to their awesome Melee might. And the SWAT guys, no trained soldiers (at least in the US) are going to attack so unorganized, like five year old's in a super soaker battle.
Then the AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, why in the world would any sane pilot, after spending like a solid minute of firing machine guns, and watching them fail to penetrate the serpents hide or do more than annoy the beast, go back to using guns after watch the thing fall from hellfire missiles.
Then there's the inability of the soldiers weapons to penetrate the same armor the enemy soldiers used 500 hundred years ago, I mean come on, armor like that was made obsolete because of firearms.
And the good Imoogi, where the Frick was he, I mean heck the two people are being chased by an army of Evil dudes, yet he just sits back and relaxes. them out of no where, after the main dude (this movie was so horrible i didn't even pay attention to names) 'magically' takes down the entire army of Evil dudes and reptilians, he just pops in out of nothing, in that unnamed place.
As for the fire balls, balls of fire don't blow up like missiles.
Also the 'rocket launching lizard things', where in the world did the bad Imoogi get those 500 years ago. Then having those inferior missiles destroy an M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank in one hit, which is a tank that has been known to be hit by 20 RPG's (Which were made to destroy tanks) and still keep on going, and in one case a tank was hit by fifty RPG's and wasn't destroyed.
Do yourself a favor, don't buy this movie, don't rent this movie, don't even think about this movie.
My favorite character would be the good Imoogi, because he new this movie would suck so bad, that he wanted to get as little screen time as possible. I look forward to seeing him in future movies.
It's Fun to Watch...What's the Problem?
charliemarlow200415 September 2007
I see a lot of really negative posts by people who wrote in August, though the movie was not released in the US, at least, until the middle of September. Maybe these are unhappy expats living in S. Korea who saw it early. I am in the US and just saw it today. I thought the special effects were excellent, better than the trailer. The story was non-Western, but I think we are all used to this from many other movies. It wasn't at all hard to follow. The acting by the leads was weak, but other people were quite good. There was humor throughout, too. I rated it at 8 because I had a good time watching it, which is what I went for.
If you are under 13 or above 13 and intoxicated...
aachikong18 August 2007
If you are under 13 or above 13 and pretty intoxicated, you'll enjoy D-war. If you are a seriously dedicated fan of all kinds of brainless action films, you'll enjoy D-war. Otherwise, don't bother! I saw the movie today with my nephews and 3 of their friends. They really loved it and that made me feel good. After the movie was over, all the kids(my nephews and their friends)could not stop thanking me for taking them to the theater.
The CG is good. Acting and directing are horrible. Storyline is extremely simple. But, since the half of the audience was kids, they were screaming, shouting and cheering every time the dragons appeared on the screen. This made the viewing experience far more exciting than it should have been.
It's a good movie to take your kids to, but except for the final battle sequence, D-War is disappointing. I give this film 7 out of 10 mainly because the kids loved it so much.
The CG is good. Acting and directing are horrible. Storyline is extremely simple. But, since the half of the audience was kids, they were screaming, shouting and cheering every time the dragons appeared on the screen. This made the viewing experience far more exciting than it should have been.
It's a good movie to take your kids to, but except for the final battle sequence, D-War is disappointing. I give this film 7 out of 10 mainly because the kids loved it so much.
Pick a cliché
steveb4825 August 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I went in to see D-War on a whim and with very low expectations. The movie failed to meet them.
I don't mind stories that stretch credulity - remember Reign of Fire? - but I do expect them to be internally consistent. This film leapt from howler to howler without pausing for breath, all interspersed with special effects that lagged far behind the likes of LOTR or even Godzilla.
A shape-shifting mystic warrior from Korea, curiously metamorphosed into a Caucasian antique dealer and popping up like deus ex machina to get the hapless protagonists out of their latest mess. A special agent from the FBI who seems to be completely boned up on ancient Korean folklore because of the Fed's excellent "paranormal division" - which has gone unremarked up to this point. Lovers kissing on deserted beaches where one exclaims "I never meant for this to happen." A reincarnated pair of long dead Koreans who "died like star-crossed lovers." Mystic pendants, faceless hordes of robotic soldiers (that owe a lot to Peter Jackson's orcs) and a serpent who wastes so much time roaring that every time its chosen prey is within reach something comes along to distract it.
The dialogue is appalling, the acting wooden and the effect of the whole was, to be honest, tedious. However, for me the crowning moment was at the end, after the finale, when the music for the closing credits was - Arirang! This is rather like Akira Kurosawa closing "Ran" with a karaoke rendition of My Way - and let me be clear that I am in no way comparing director Shim to Kurosawa.
In short, a self indulgent, lackluster collection of clichés and narrative non-sequituurs which may appeal to the sense of the melodramatic so prevalent in Koran popular culture but should not be worth the price of the ticket to any serious movie goer - or even a not so-serious movie goer. I would suggest that this bypass the movie theaters altogether and go straight to video, but I'm not even sure that it's worth that much.
I don't mind stories that stretch credulity - remember Reign of Fire? - but I do expect them to be internally consistent. This film leapt from howler to howler without pausing for breath, all interspersed with special effects that lagged far behind the likes of LOTR or even Godzilla.
A shape-shifting mystic warrior from Korea, curiously metamorphosed into a Caucasian antique dealer and popping up like deus ex machina to get the hapless protagonists out of their latest mess. A special agent from the FBI who seems to be completely boned up on ancient Korean folklore because of the Fed's excellent "paranormal division" - which has gone unremarked up to this point. Lovers kissing on deserted beaches where one exclaims "I never meant for this to happen." A reincarnated pair of long dead Koreans who "died like star-crossed lovers." Mystic pendants, faceless hordes of robotic soldiers (that owe a lot to Peter Jackson's orcs) and a serpent who wastes so much time roaring that every time its chosen prey is within reach something comes along to distract it.
The dialogue is appalling, the acting wooden and the effect of the whole was, to be honest, tedious. However, for me the crowning moment was at the end, after the finale, when the music for the closing credits was - Arirang! This is rather like Akira Kurosawa closing "Ran" with a karaoke rendition of My Way - and let me be clear that I am in no way comparing director Shim to Kurosawa.
In short, a self indulgent, lackluster collection of clichés and narrative non-sequituurs which may appeal to the sense of the melodramatic so prevalent in Koran popular culture but should not be worth the price of the ticket to any serious movie goer - or even a not so-serious movie goer. I would suggest that this bypass the movie theaters altogether and go straight to video, but I'm not even sure that it's worth that much.
A sloppy translation from Korean to English
planktonrules26 May 2019
Apparently "D-War" was originally a Korean film. But instead of simply translating it into English (either with captions or dubbing), they separately filmed some American actors and inserted them into the movie. Then, during portions where the Koreans talk, occasionally the narrator summarizes what they said...no captions, no dubbing...but a LOT of confusion. This is a case where a film bombed and much of it simply was because the film wasn't translated well to English-speaking audiences! It fel much like watching a film in a foreign land and understanding nothing until, on rare occasions, someone sitting behind you explains a BIT of what is going on! I think the filmmakers would have been kept the film in Korean...period.
The story, because of the way it's told, is pretty confusing and I'm not going to bother recounting the script. Suffice to say that there are a lot of CGI monsters, explosions and wire fu.....all set to a story that just left me baffled. And, it left me wondering what non-Korean speaking person would sit through the movie.
Overall, there is some nice CGI, some lovely acting by Korean folks and nothing of any value for non-Korean speakers! Next time you want to market a film abroad, do a better job of it! And, in light of this, I can understand why the film is #68 on the IMDB Bottom 100...at least the international/English speaking version. Pretty much unwatchable....but at least it looked nice.
The story, because of the way it's told, is pretty confusing and I'm not going to bother recounting the script. Suffice to say that there are a lot of CGI monsters, explosions and wire fu.....all set to a story that just left me baffled. And, it left me wondering what non-Korean speaking person would sit through the movie.
Overall, there is some nice CGI, some lovely acting by Korean folks and nothing of any value for non-Korean speakers! Next time you want to market a film abroad, do a better job of it! And, in light of this, I can understand why the film is #68 on the IMDB Bottom 100...at least the international/English speaking version. Pretty much unwatchable....but at least it looked nice.
Cut and Paste Cinema
brent-3088 October 2007
Everyone does things that they later regret. Things that they wish they could blame on drugs or alien possession. Things that although seem rational at the time, later reveal themselves to be engraved invitations for suffering and endless recriminations of stupidity.
For some people it is signing the note for the new Hummer, for others it is picking up a homicidal hitchhiker, for still others it is sending their bank account information to third world millionaires mysteriously strapped for cash.
For me it was a film.
D-War: Dragon Wars In hindsight, I should have guessed how environmentally friendly and thoroughly recycled this movie would turn out to be from its stuttered and repeating title. But with my willing suspension of disbelief intact, and a naive faith stemming from the cool looking poster in the lobby, I really wanted this film to work. Sadly, by the time the old man in the pawnshop explained the entire backstory, fifteen minutes into the picture, I had the sudden, sinking revelation that comes from knowing every plot point of a still unseen film. And worse: I knew just how badly every point would all suck.
Let me be perfectly clear here, the English language lacks sufficient nuance and depth in the field of ultimate evil to properly describe just how bad this film really is.
As for knowing all the twists of movie, I was wrong. In the spirit of the old Godzilla films, whose scales this one is not worthy to fill, it conveniently sprouted extra sub-plots every time the main characters were threatened by the specter of meaningful dialogue.
It was infested with close calls, miraculous escapes, and concentrated deposits of poorly explained angst.
This film is what would happen if you gave the produces of the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers access to the national defense budget. And lots of liquor.
Let me try to explain.
Imagine you could get a hold of all the coolest-looking set pieces from successful action movies of the last decade: First take the rasta-talking army of amphibians from Star Wars Episode One and remove their Prozac until they are ready to club Navy Seals.
Next, take close approximations of Kira Knightly and Tom Cruise (You can even call him Ethan as a "subtle" nod to the Mission Impossible franchise.) and give them lots of film noir narration, so no one get confused while trying to follow the wading-pool depths of their thoughts.
Finally add a raspy-voiced villain in pointy armor worthy of a Lord of the Rings yardsale and a couple of giant cobras, angry at having their scenes deleted from latest edition of King Kong, and lay them all out in no particular order in modern day Los Angeles.
Now run to the drugstore to find something for your sudden migraine. When you return, puree these ingredients until any overlooked hint of originality is dissolved into a homogenized mass of cheese and serve semi-gelatinous.
At several points during this picture, I found myself saying out loud, "Make the bad movie stop," and breaking into tears.
To call this a B-movie would be giving it an undeserved promotion. After summer school, and a lot of physical therapy, it might possibly pass for a C level film if you could somehow sleep through most of it.
In short, if you ever find yourself with money and brain cells to burn, and the need to punish yourself for hideous, unspoken sins against humanity, Dragon Wars might just be the film for you.
For some people it is signing the note for the new Hummer, for others it is picking up a homicidal hitchhiker, for still others it is sending their bank account information to third world millionaires mysteriously strapped for cash.
For me it was a film.
D-War: Dragon Wars In hindsight, I should have guessed how environmentally friendly and thoroughly recycled this movie would turn out to be from its stuttered and repeating title. But with my willing suspension of disbelief intact, and a naive faith stemming from the cool looking poster in the lobby, I really wanted this film to work. Sadly, by the time the old man in the pawnshop explained the entire backstory, fifteen minutes into the picture, I had the sudden, sinking revelation that comes from knowing every plot point of a still unseen film. And worse: I knew just how badly every point would all suck.
Let me be perfectly clear here, the English language lacks sufficient nuance and depth in the field of ultimate evil to properly describe just how bad this film really is.
As for knowing all the twists of movie, I was wrong. In the spirit of the old Godzilla films, whose scales this one is not worthy to fill, it conveniently sprouted extra sub-plots every time the main characters were threatened by the specter of meaningful dialogue.
It was infested with close calls, miraculous escapes, and concentrated deposits of poorly explained angst.
This film is what would happen if you gave the produces of the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers access to the national defense budget. And lots of liquor.
Let me try to explain.
Imagine you could get a hold of all the coolest-looking set pieces from successful action movies of the last decade: First take the rasta-talking army of amphibians from Star Wars Episode One and remove their Prozac until they are ready to club Navy Seals.
Next, take close approximations of Kira Knightly and Tom Cruise (You can even call him Ethan as a "subtle" nod to the Mission Impossible franchise.) and give them lots of film noir narration, so no one get confused while trying to follow the wading-pool depths of their thoughts.
Finally add a raspy-voiced villain in pointy armor worthy of a Lord of the Rings yardsale and a couple of giant cobras, angry at having their scenes deleted from latest edition of King Kong, and lay them all out in no particular order in modern day Los Angeles.
Now run to the drugstore to find something for your sudden migraine. When you return, puree these ingredients until any overlooked hint of originality is dissolved into a homogenized mass of cheese and serve semi-gelatinous.
At several points during this picture, I found myself saying out loud, "Make the bad movie stop," and breaking into tears.
To call this a B-movie would be giving it an undeserved promotion. After summer school, and a lot of physical therapy, it might possibly pass for a C level film if you could somehow sleep through most of it.
In short, if you ever find yourself with money and brain cells to burn, and the need to punish yourself for hideous, unspoken sins against humanity, Dragon Wars might just be the film for you.
Black Snake Groan...Or... Do You Have the Balls?
doom-of-our-time19 September 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I knew it wasn't gunna work out between me and D-wars from the moment we met. First its title was lazy. D war. Like writing out Dragon was too much for them. Also... you really can't be that blatant with your title unless your Blue Monkey. Blue Monkey can do whatever the hell it wants.
The second sign of a rocky relationship between us was the story's insane progression. Here's the film, dreamy reporter guy reports on big snake tracks, flashes back to a time he and dad wandered into what must have been the competition for the store in gremlins and dreamy kid reporter finds a box that glows. Old shop keep reveals several terrible truths. That Bauraki a supposedly evil snake was cheated out of his chance to be a god. tells the kid that he's a reincarnated warrior and that somewhere in LA is his reincarnated lover and gives him a junk piece of jewelry. Shop keep also reveals that despite his obvious whiteness he's a 500 year old Asian.
fifteen years later dreamy reporter remembers this perfectly and starts acting half crazy trying to find this random girl. cgi hijinks follow and in the last ten minutes my brain melts out of my nose. Why? Continue on dear reader if you have the Balls.
so Sarah, the reincarnated lover, has her own flashbacks. I have the benefit of having an Asian best friend and in the scene where she starts to freak out and make a bunch of posters with Asian characters on them he tells me that whoever made this movie has no idea what their doing. Its a Korean legend and she's reincarnated from a Korean princess but everything is in Chinese. Later that night her dragon tat starts to hurt, she calls the police cause it looks like she's having a heart attack. See, in this mixed up crazy world they apparently handle heart attacks differently because the next time we see her she's locked in her room with a guard outside and a nurse claims she's crazy. I have a new phobia now, and its that if i'm ever in trouble the first responders will just assume i'm crazy.
I have another point of contention with my harsh mistress, Dwar. There is a scene when Patrick Dempsey Jr (Dreamy Reporter) is in a café' with sassy black friend. In the scenes prior Miffed Near divinity Bauraki has killed an elephant, slithered through a suburb and killed one of Sarah's friends. See, people were afraid to come out after 9-11 happened but we must have all toughened up after that deciding coffee and pastries were worth risking our lives for. Business as usual, no way a giant snake will stop me from getting my caffeine on. If i stay inside and fear for my life the terrorists and serpentine divinities win.
After being given a satisfying dragon on Helicopter battle my cruel lover Dwar treats me to a pi$$ and vinegar filled scene to end it all with. Bauraki has a fortress of his own and its right under LA i guess. They don't really say but Dreamy Reporter and Sarah get knocked out in a car crash that would kill lesser men and when they wake up, yep dragon palace. some retarded dialog later a good dragon snake god pops out of nowhere and the snakes wrestle/make love whatever. And i'm not kidding good snake out of nowhere. Maybe you think i'm blowing it out of proportion, i'm not there is no mention of this thing in the movie then suddenly... there! Few seconds later and good dragon becomes dragon god, sets Baurki on fire, Sarah turns into a ghost and goes with Dragon-god, dreamy reporter left in the middle of nowhere roll credits... thank god
Now our relationship as rocky as it was had its good times. There was a guy that look like shredder from turtles and talked exactly like a tuskan raider from star wars. I'll call him Tuskan Shredder. He could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted to it just could never be useful. He could walk through a wall in a scene where that wasn't helpful. He could go in your dreams when that wouldn't do any good and he could light ten random soldier guys on fire but not when it mattered. He was also allergic to touching that junk jewelry. I like him cause he was hit by a car twice in the same scene and made fantastic tuskan raider noises.
The actors for the most part were great... if great somehow meant terrible. Jason Behr, whom i thought was awesome in Roswell i slowly find out can only act one way and that's pretentious, spacey and Patrick Dempsey"ish".
The one thing i love about this filthy prostitute Dwars is its lead actor, Bauraki. That Giant snake acted his heart out. I'd dare to say that he was better at playing a cgi serpentine demi-god of evil then John Barrymore was at playing Richard the III or Hamlet. There was emotion in every scene, stealing the thunder from his lesser mortal supporting cast. When he ate an elephant i felt like no one past, present or future would ever eat an elephant with as much feeling. He was more then an actor, he was a force of nature and he put his heart and soul into every second of this cursed project. Yes damn it, my favorite actor in this film was a cgi snake. I've got the balls to admit that, do you?
Here's to hoping Bauraki get's more work and isn't type cast, that Jason Behr finds a range of emotion other then dreamy stare, and that i never have to watch Blue Monkey again.
So, D-War its over. I want my CDs back and let's just be friends
The second sign of a rocky relationship between us was the story's insane progression. Here's the film, dreamy reporter guy reports on big snake tracks, flashes back to a time he and dad wandered into what must have been the competition for the store in gremlins and dreamy kid reporter finds a box that glows. Old shop keep reveals several terrible truths. That Bauraki a supposedly evil snake was cheated out of his chance to be a god. tells the kid that he's a reincarnated warrior and that somewhere in LA is his reincarnated lover and gives him a junk piece of jewelry. Shop keep also reveals that despite his obvious whiteness he's a 500 year old Asian.
fifteen years later dreamy reporter remembers this perfectly and starts acting half crazy trying to find this random girl. cgi hijinks follow and in the last ten minutes my brain melts out of my nose. Why? Continue on dear reader if you have the Balls.
so Sarah, the reincarnated lover, has her own flashbacks. I have the benefit of having an Asian best friend and in the scene where she starts to freak out and make a bunch of posters with Asian characters on them he tells me that whoever made this movie has no idea what their doing. Its a Korean legend and she's reincarnated from a Korean princess but everything is in Chinese. Later that night her dragon tat starts to hurt, she calls the police cause it looks like she's having a heart attack. See, in this mixed up crazy world they apparently handle heart attacks differently because the next time we see her she's locked in her room with a guard outside and a nurse claims she's crazy. I have a new phobia now, and its that if i'm ever in trouble the first responders will just assume i'm crazy.
I have another point of contention with my harsh mistress, Dwar. There is a scene when Patrick Dempsey Jr (Dreamy Reporter) is in a café' with sassy black friend. In the scenes prior Miffed Near divinity Bauraki has killed an elephant, slithered through a suburb and killed one of Sarah's friends. See, people were afraid to come out after 9-11 happened but we must have all toughened up after that deciding coffee and pastries were worth risking our lives for. Business as usual, no way a giant snake will stop me from getting my caffeine on. If i stay inside and fear for my life the terrorists and serpentine divinities win.
After being given a satisfying dragon on Helicopter battle my cruel lover Dwar treats me to a pi$$ and vinegar filled scene to end it all with. Bauraki has a fortress of his own and its right under LA i guess. They don't really say but Dreamy Reporter and Sarah get knocked out in a car crash that would kill lesser men and when they wake up, yep dragon palace. some retarded dialog later a good dragon snake god pops out of nowhere and the snakes wrestle/make love whatever. And i'm not kidding good snake out of nowhere. Maybe you think i'm blowing it out of proportion, i'm not there is no mention of this thing in the movie then suddenly... there! Few seconds later and good dragon becomes dragon god, sets Baurki on fire, Sarah turns into a ghost and goes with Dragon-god, dreamy reporter left in the middle of nowhere roll credits... thank god
Now our relationship as rocky as it was had its good times. There was a guy that look like shredder from turtles and talked exactly like a tuskan raider from star wars. I'll call him Tuskan Shredder. He could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted to it just could never be useful. He could walk through a wall in a scene where that wasn't helpful. He could go in your dreams when that wouldn't do any good and he could light ten random soldier guys on fire but not when it mattered. He was also allergic to touching that junk jewelry. I like him cause he was hit by a car twice in the same scene and made fantastic tuskan raider noises.
The actors for the most part were great... if great somehow meant terrible. Jason Behr, whom i thought was awesome in Roswell i slowly find out can only act one way and that's pretentious, spacey and Patrick Dempsey"ish".
The one thing i love about this filthy prostitute Dwars is its lead actor, Bauraki. That Giant snake acted his heart out. I'd dare to say that he was better at playing a cgi serpentine demi-god of evil then John Barrymore was at playing Richard the III or Hamlet. There was emotion in every scene, stealing the thunder from his lesser mortal supporting cast. When he ate an elephant i felt like no one past, present or future would ever eat an elephant with as much feeling. He was more then an actor, he was a force of nature and he put his heart and soul into every second of this cursed project. Yes damn it, my favorite actor in this film was a cgi snake. I've got the balls to admit that, do you?
Here's to hoping Bauraki get's more work and isn't type cast, that Jason Behr finds a range of emotion other then dreamy stare, and that i never have to watch Blue Monkey again.
So, D-War its over. I want my CDs back and let's just be friends
Great story poorly done
jastpeel24 September 2007
I am sooooo happy that we went to a matinée. I would have been really p.o.'ed if I had spent a bunch of money on this one.
The story line is great and would possibly have been able to have been saved if they had used real actors who could really act. The plot development went on for -- ev -- er and I wish I could have even that 50% of my money back.
The effects and graphics were good but if you are looking for a movie then wait until it comes to a Red Box near you so you will only waste one dollar.
As movies go, this one should have been left in the can.
The story line is great and would possibly have been able to have been saved if they had used real actors who could really act. The plot development went on for -- ev -- er and I wish I could have even that 50% of my money back.
The effects and graphics were good but if you are looking for a movie then wait until it comes to a Red Box near you so you will only waste one dollar.
As movies go, this one should have been left in the can.
a waste of $9 and 90 minutes.
kodiak975 August 2007
left me speechless at the end of the movie.
overall, in my opinion, the movie gets 5 out of 10. 1 because i'm a Korean. plus 1 because i want Korean movies to succeed overseas. plus 1 because the CG is not too bad. plus 1 because it's little better than the previous movie by Shim. last plus 1 is added because i'm a Korean.
now about the movie.. storyline interruptions and inconsistency between the scenes are not really noticeable due to bad actings. also i've never seen director's comments(documentary) in the ending credits. only good part about the movie are the in-city fighting scenes.
since i consider myself to be a patriot, i refuse to comment more in detail about the movie.
only warn others to not have high expectations before going to see the movie.
overall, in my opinion, the movie gets 5 out of 10. 1 because i'm a Korean. plus 1 because i want Korean movies to succeed overseas. plus 1 because the CG is not too bad. plus 1 because it's little better than the previous movie by Shim. last plus 1 is added because i'm a Korean.
now about the movie.. storyline interruptions and inconsistency between the scenes are not really noticeable due to bad actings. also i've never seen director's comments(documentary) in the ending credits. only good part about the movie are the in-city fighting scenes.
since i consider myself to be a patriot, i refuse to comment more in detail about the movie.
only warn others to not have high expectations before going to see the movie.
Do yourself a favour and don't bother ...
Regina_Philange19794 August 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Well, on a whim my friends and I decided to see this. Mistake.
The movie kind of starts of interesting, talking about a Korean legend of Dragons. Fair enough. But when the villain came in with mythological beasts that were a poor man's rip off from movies such as LOTR, I lost interest. That and the fact that despite it being set (in this part) in medieval times, the beasts could launch rockets. Yes, rockets.
Then we cut to the present day, I thought at least with Jason Behr I'd have some eye candy. I'm shallow at times, but even this couldn't save it for me.
The snake/dragon had now been transported from Korea to being a fossil in Los Angeles. Of course. And Jason Behr just HAPPENED to recognise it. Because he had an ancient Korean medallion that led to a long and windy flashback, culminating in him being the reincarnation of the protector of a girl who had to be sacrificed in order for a GOOD serpent/Dragon to absorb her special energy thing and thus save the world. Riiiiiiight.
He manages to locate the reincarnated girl, and after 5 minutes together they're on a beach and having an obligatory kiss. He just HAPPENS to know a doctor who can help her to regress, to understand her dreams about the past.
Meanwhile, the FBI are searching for the girl. They eventually locate Jason Behr and the girl, they know all about the serpent because 'The FBI have a very good paranormal section' (Guess Mulder and Scully are still working?).
Anyway, they have to get to this cave, but before they do the bad nasty serpent and its owner find Sarah (the girl) and Mr Behr, transporting them to this magical realm (sooooo the point of the cave?) ...
The medallion grows a pretty colour, but Mr Behr doesn't really save the day. The girl does, it's horrendous and basically the movie made me groan.
The special effects, whilst I suppose I should commend them, are light years behind other movies.
Overall it's a bad, bad movie that hopefully will NOT be released in other countries.
I wonder if Jason Behr regrets making it .. because I know I would if I were in it.
The movie kind of starts of interesting, talking about a Korean legend of Dragons. Fair enough. But when the villain came in with mythological beasts that were a poor man's rip off from movies such as LOTR, I lost interest. That and the fact that despite it being set (in this part) in medieval times, the beasts could launch rockets. Yes, rockets.
Then we cut to the present day, I thought at least with Jason Behr I'd have some eye candy. I'm shallow at times, but even this couldn't save it for me.
The snake/dragon had now been transported from Korea to being a fossil in Los Angeles. Of course. And Jason Behr just HAPPENED to recognise it. Because he had an ancient Korean medallion that led to a long and windy flashback, culminating in him being the reincarnation of the protector of a girl who had to be sacrificed in order for a GOOD serpent/Dragon to absorb her special energy thing and thus save the world. Riiiiiiight.
He manages to locate the reincarnated girl, and after 5 minutes together they're on a beach and having an obligatory kiss. He just HAPPENS to know a doctor who can help her to regress, to understand her dreams about the past.
Meanwhile, the FBI are searching for the girl. They eventually locate Jason Behr and the girl, they know all about the serpent because 'The FBI have a very good paranormal section' (Guess Mulder and Scully are still working?).
Anyway, they have to get to this cave, but before they do the bad nasty serpent and its owner find Sarah (the girl) and Mr Behr, transporting them to this magical realm (sooooo the point of the cave?) ...
The medallion grows a pretty colour, but Mr Behr doesn't really save the day. The girl does, it's horrendous and basically the movie made me groan.
The special effects, whilst I suppose I should commend them, are light years behind other movies.
Overall it's a bad, bad movie that hopefully will NOT be released in other countries.
I wonder if Jason Behr regrets making it .. because I know I would if I were in it.
Terrible
Zachman300120 January 2008
Warning: Spoilers
I'm a big dragon fan and when I saw the previews for this movie I was a little excited to see it. Wow, was I disappointed. For starters, there was no character development to speak of. The characters were just introduced, badly, and boom, we have a problem. Somehow the main character, Ethan, knew that he needed to meet this certain Sarah. No explanation of how he knows he needs to meet her, he just does. The old man in the movie, who apparently is a shape-shifter, and can fly, and can use magic, and is hundreds of years old, seems as though he could have handled everything by himself. So why search out all these other people? And Sarah, wow. I have bad dreams, so something bad is going to happen. That's it. That's her. Now run. Thank you, your scenes are over.
The bad dragon somehow amasses an army from no where in particular. Even though they are ancient creatures they have rockets on their backs and blow up anything in their path. And I mean anything. Cars that are on streets that aren't in the way, buildings that happen to look like they need some reconstruction, just whatever. And then there's some guy with a sword that can disappear....awesome. He can also make fire shoot out from the ground by swinging his arm, and it looks exactly like someone put pyrotechnics in just the right spot for him, it was ridiculous.
So this leads us to the end of the movie. Sarah and Ethan get caught by some flying creature, and when they wake up they're at a huge castle. Uh, okay, list that under one of the most random things I have EVER seen. Ethan is tied up on a pole, the bad guys didn't see a reason to kill him I guess, and Sarah is tied up on a sacrificial table. It all looks so bad for our "heroes" but then Ethan yells, "No!" and some stupid amulet he's had for half his life becomes shiny and kills everyone except him, Sarah, and the "badass" with the disappearing sword. Well well, why the hell didn't he just yell "No!" in the very beginning? Then he's about to get killed by disappearing sword guy but Mr. Badass deems it necessary to hit the amulet that just killed EVERYONE instead of somewhere else and *poof* he dies too. Who saw that coming? Finally you see the good dragon, and there's a lame fight and, well, I'm sure you can guess what happens. Overall, just a terrible movie with bad writing, acting, script, and everything in between. Save yourself the pain and rent something else, anything else.
The bad dragon somehow amasses an army from no where in particular. Even though they are ancient creatures they have rockets on their backs and blow up anything in their path. And I mean anything. Cars that are on streets that aren't in the way, buildings that happen to look like they need some reconstruction, just whatever. And then there's some guy with a sword that can disappear....awesome. He can also make fire shoot out from the ground by swinging his arm, and it looks exactly like someone put pyrotechnics in just the right spot for him, it was ridiculous.
So this leads us to the end of the movie. Sarah and Ethan get caught by some flying creature, and when they wake up they're at a huge castle. Uh, okay, list that under one of the most random things I have EVER seen. Ethan is tied up on a pole, the bad guys didn't see a reason to kill him I guess, and Sarah is tied up on a sacrificial table. It all looks so bad for our "heroes" but then Ethan yells, "No!" and some stupid amulet he's had for half his life becomes shiny and kills everyone except him, Sarah, and the "badass" with the disappearing sword. Well well, why the hell didn't he just yell "No!" in the very beginning? Then he's about to get killed by disappearing sword guy but Mr. Badass deems it necessary to hit the amulet that just killed EVERYONE instead of somewhere else and *poof* he dies too. Who saw that coming? Finally you see the good dragon, and there's a lame fight and, well, I'm sure you can guess what happens. Overall, just a terrible movie with bad writing, acting, script, and everything in between. Save yourself the pain and rent something else, anything else.
Unbelievable a masterpiece of its time
insanechickendog17 September 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I have never seen such a movie before. I was on the edge of my seat and constantly laughing throughout the entire movie. I never thought such horrible acting existed it was all just too funny. The story behind the movie is decent but the movies scenes fail to portray them. I have never seen such a stupid movie in my life which is why it I think its worth watching. I give this movie 10 out of 10 for being the most pathetic movie ever created, this movie seems like it was solely created to become trash. I mean the scenes seem so fake and the actors act like "the camera is in front of them". You will get a kick just watching how lame this movie is, me and my friend could not stop making jokes during the movie, the darthvader guy who tries to get the girl got ran over not once but twice and the second time he got ran over it sounded like he said sh!# although he doesn't speak English lol. If you watch this movie you will think to yourself that all those other movies you didn't like you took for granted they are way better than this. This movie should be seen out of curiosity as well as what kind of movie DEFINES lame. The evil serpent encountered the girl so many times it was ridiculous, the evil serpent just roared and roared and let her get away every time. The evil serpent had so many chances it was like god was trying to say hurry up and eat the girl how many miracles do you want. The transition between scenes leaves you wondering did I miss something? So many plot holes from scene to scene. I was laughing like crazy when they decided to "Escape To Mexico" to get away from the serpent. Hmmmm hopping the border will save you from a serpent from Korea? interesting... very interesting.... I guess hopping the border solves all problems. Another scene that completely stupified me.. they met for the first time and had a romantic scene at the beach they kissed and didn't even know each other... the scene was so clichéd and the was no substance at least in other movies it might seem logical afterwhile but i mean they JUST MET even though they are reincarnations there feelings were like they instantly loved each other instead of it rather developing. Anyways this movie is worth watching for the sake of opening your eyes and seeing the light. Bad Hollywood movies will seem like heaven when compared to this. In the end its worth watching you wont get bored you will be occupied criticizing every moment, every scene in your head.
It's happening here too?
zephyransys6 August 2007
Warning: Spoilers
First of all, let me remind you people that I'm not affiliated to this film, neither directly nor indirectly, therefore there is no reason for me to dress up my comment in any direction, which in turn enable me to put an impartial comment about this film.
Second, I also watched the film, being a Korean (living in Korea of course) and the film being shown in nearby theater, so I might be able to seek out the Cons and Pros of the film more accurately than some people who just speculate on other's comment only.
That being said, let me tell you what's really happening in Korea concerning D-War OK, the facts first.
As of Aug 6th (Korean local time), D-War viewer counter surpassed 3 million. That's right. This movie is a huge hit in Korea, whether it is a masterpiece or crap. The increase rate of total viewer number is such that there is saying that D-War will surpass the total viewer record of 13 million, a record set by last year's The Host.
For this particular film, there are ongoing struggle between two sizable forces. The Korean orthodox film-making faction, represented by 'Choong Moo Ro' the Korean version of Hollywood - is the major force of film-making in Korea. This is where almost all Korean movies were born.
And there is an unorthodox film making faction. In fact, it is so small in size and force to compare fairly with the other side. Therefore it is treated not as much as a faction, but just a time-to-time phenomenon that pops up once in a while.
Director Shim belongs to the latter and his film D-War is the single most successful (as of yet, in Korean market) case.
Shim was (and I believe he still is) one of the most famous (therefore successful) comedian in Korean of all time. That is a fact everyone (even the Choong Moo Ro faction) acknowledges.
However, the fact that he is a successful comedian worked against his transition to a film director.
I don't know about other countries, but in here, the comedian used to be treated as 'low class job' because what they do looked silly, so when he became a director, he was ruthlessly criticized by the orthodox faction.
Those criticisms still exist today, as you can find those in Korean film related sites.
So what happened? Almost, um... no, that's a wrong word. All of the critics rated D-War at the bottom end, sometimes even lower than some of the real crap film which did not survive in domestic market for more than a week. (Their rating was very simple. If a for-real crap film made by the orthodox faction has terrible plot, they would shrug and say, 'it's creative.') This in turn fueled the rage of people using the internet (called Netizen here), and they took their fight to the orthodox faction, creating a BIG MESS as a result.
With such a huge struggle going on, general population overheard the news of it and many of them became more curious about the film of issue, the D-War I suspect this event ironically played a big role D-War getting this record breaking sale in domestic market.
Now, about the film itself.
As I've seen it, I don't think it is a knockout that some people say, but I don't think it's such a bad movie that some others say.
The plot is there, however lacking it's smoothness in transition between the scenes. And the plot itself is not bad.
The problem is how the film weaves the story. In that part, there is a major 'Whoopsie,' that in turn creates three major (serious, but not totally lethal, I think) problems.
The fact that total running time is about 90mins may have affected it, but since Shim must have played a part in editing, it might not be a good excuse.
First, it brings some confusion in understanding the storyline.
Second, it affects the actors and actresses, making their acting look awkward and out of place sometimes.
Third, it makes the first half of the movie quite boring, since that part is where the film explains the overall plots and develops them. Actually, there was some good humor evenly placed, the director Shim's trademark sort (He used to be a Comedian, if you have forgotten) to ease the boredom, but it's quite 'Korean thing,' so I doubt it might work in off-shore market.
Okay, so is the D-War really crap? I wouldn't say so. Personally, I was bored to hell in the first half of the movie, but was mesmerized to the CG scene in the second half.
The second half of the movie, where the action really starts is where the 'fun' begins. (That is, if you endured the first half without major outburst of anger and exited the theater by kicking the door open) Well, the battle scene is quite good, considering its CG was all domestic (I mean Korean) technology and it was really their first shot at it.
Compared to Transformer? In evaluation of absolute term, Transformer is better. I mean, c'mon, what did you expect? The total cost for D-War is around 70 billion won, which is approximately $75 million. How much did the Transformer cost? I don't know. But I don't think it's anywhere near $75 mil.
That fact in mind, CG in D-War is not half bad. It's even impressive in some way, as long as you don't measure it with major Hollywood block-buster film standard. I mean, you don't compare Lamborghini and Ford Mustang by same standard, do you?
So, there you have it.
D-War is not a 'record-setting' block-buster, but it's not a 'Straight to DVD shop' crap.
Some of you might quite enjoy it, while some of you won't.
Second, I also watched the film, being a Korean (living in Korea of course) and the film being shown in nearby theater, so I might be able to seek out the Cons and Pros of the film more accurately than some people who just speculate on other's comment only.
That being said, let me tell you what's really happening in Korea concerning D-War OK, the facts first.
As of Aug 6th (Korean local time), D-War viewer counter surpassed 3 million. That's right. This movie is a huge hit in Korea, whether it is a masterpiece or crap. The increase rate of total viewer number is such that there is saying that D-War will surpass the total viewer record of 13 million, a record set by last year's The Host.
For this particular film, there are ongoing struggle between two sizable forces. The Korean orthodox film-making faction, represented by 'Choong Moo Ro' the Korean version of Hollywood - is the major force of film-making in Korea. This is where almost all Korean movies were born.
And there is an unorthodox film making faction. In fact, it is so small in size and force to compare fairly with the other side. Therefore it is treated not as much as a faction, but just a time-to-time phenomenon that pops up once in a while.
Director Shim belongs to the latter and his film D-War is the single most successful (as of yet, in Korean market) case.
Shim was (and I believe he still is) one of the most famous (therefore successful) comedian in Korean of all time. That is a fact everyone (even the Choong Moo Ro faction) acknowledges.
However, the fact that he is a successful comedian worked against his transition to a film director.
I don't know about other countries, but in here, the comedian used to be treated as 'low class job' because what they do looked silly, so when he became a director, he was ruthlessly criticized by the orthodox faction.
Those criticisms still exist today, as you can find those in Korean film related sites.
So what happened? Almost, um... no, that's a wrong word. All of the critics rated D-War at the bottom end, sometimes even lower than some of the real crap film which did not survive in domestic market for more than a week. (Their rating was very simple. If a for-real crap film made by the orthodox faction has terrible plot, they would shrug and say, 'it's creative.') This in turn fueled the rage of people using the internet (called Netizen here), and they took their fight to the orthodox faction, creating a BIG MESS as a result.
With such a huge struggle going on, general population overheard the news of it and many of them became more curious about the film of issue, the D-War I suspect this event ironically played a big role D-War getting this record breaking sale in domestic market.
Now, about the film itself.
As I've seen it, I don't think it is a knockout that some people say, but I don't think it's such a bad movie that some others say.
The plot is there, however lacking it's smoothness in transition between the scenes. And the plot itself is not bad.
The problem is how the film weaves the story. In that part, there is a major 'Whoopsie,' that in turn creates three major (serious, but not totally lethal, I think) problems.
The fact that total running time is about 90mins may have affected it, but since Shim must have played a part in editing, it might not be a good excuse.
First, it brings some confusion in understanding the storyline.
Second, it affects the actors and actresses, making their acting look awkward and out of place sometimes.
Third, it makes the first half of the movie quite boring, since that part is where the film explains the overall plots and develops them. Actually, there was some good humor evenly placed, the director Shim's trademark sort (He used to be a Comedian, if you have forgotten) to ease the boredom, but it's quite 'Korean thing,' so I doubt it might work in off-shore market.
Okay, so is the D-War really crap? I wouldn't say so. Personally, I was bored to hell in the first half of the movie, but was mesmerized to the CG scene in the second half.
The second half of the movie, where the action really starts is where the 'fun' begins. (That is, if you endured the first half without major outburst of anger and exited the theater by kicking the door open) Well, the battle scene is quite good, considering its CG was all domestic (I mean Korean) technology and it was really their first shot at it.
Compared to Transformer? In evaluation of absolute term, Transformer is better. I mean, c'mon, what did you expect? The total cost for D-War is around 70 billion won, which is approximately $75 million. How much did the Transformer cost? I don't know. But I don't think it's anywhere near $75 mil.
That fact in mind, CG in D-War is not half bad. It's even impressive in some way, as long as you don't measure it with major Hollywood block-buster film standard. I mean, you don't compare Lamborghini and Ford Mustang by same standard, do you?
So, there you have it.
D-War is not a 'record-setting' block-buster, but it's not a 'Straight to DVD shop' crap.
Some of you might quite enjoy it, while some of you won't.
If only this movie had stopped after the opening credits.
kiawa772 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Someone asked, "Is D-WAR really as bad as everyone says it is?" Yes. Yes, it is.
The fact that I saw this on the Sci-Fi channel was a red flag in itself, but I figured why not? Although just about everything on Sci-Fi is questionable, dragons are cool... Could it really be so bad? Yes. Yes it can.
"To protect the universe or destroy the world" is the ever-so-ominous warning at the start of the film, so we're made aware of the fact that we're in for a good one. And by good, I mean bad.
There is a meandering yet somewhat confusing re-telling of a Korean tale which apparently sparked the genius behind this film. I have an IQ of 150, and I really wasn't sure exactly what all that meant. Basically, it's a very original plot: good versus evil. The ancient battle, however, goes way beyond mythology by using creatures that never lived and firepower that could not have existed at that time in history, not to mention evil soldiers that grunt like sick livestock. It may be sci-fi, but it was off to a bad start.
At 19 minutes into the film (including commercials), I was sorely tempted to turn it off. With acting so bad that it makes high school musicals seem like gems and a storyline full of gaping holes (at 19 minutes!), one wonders why anyone would bother wasting his/her time with it.
Summary of the pawn shop: "Oh, hello little American boy. You are the incarnation of a warrior I raised, and you'll save the world someday. Is that okay with you?" I did find it amusing that Sarah referred to Korean writings on yellow construction paper as "the only things that can protect" her. And yet she decided to leave the safety of her new décor to go out for a few beers with pals. WHY? Then walk home alone at night in Los Angeles. WHY? So I didn't turn it off, if only to find out how bad this movie would truly be. WHY?! I must admit, however, that the CGI is rather impressive. That being said, what a gigantic waste of good effects on such a very crappy movie! The old woman trying to walk through the fence. The homeless guy yelling "bum!" at a car that splashed mud on him. These are just two examples of completely useless entries in this movie that have nothing to do with anything and provide no purpose, not even humor at this point. The only useless but funny parts were the scenes with the zoo security guard.
Do not forget a very important point presented here: Doctors will always take reporters to see anyone they want, especially if the patient is under quarantine.
Another good point: If anyone tells you *not* to take the stairs and *do* take the elevator in the event of an emergency (especially an apparent earthquake), BEWARE! Question: how the hell would the DOD know that the snake is after Sarah Daniels? Honestly. It's just not remotely plausible.
And, perhaps the biggest question of them all: At what point did the dark army find time to construct their city of evil? All the Mordor references are right on! As usual, all is well, the world is saved, and love carries on. Regardless, this film is now on par with my other #1 crappiest film, Carnosaur II. Thank you, D-War.
The fact that I saw this on the Sci-Fi channel was a red flag in itself, but I figured why not? Although just about everything on Sci-Fi is questionable, dragons are cool... Could it really be so bad? Yes. Yes it can.
"To protect the universe or destroy the world" is the ever-so-ominous warning at the start of the film, so we're made aware of the fact that we're in for a good one. And by good, I mean bad.
There is a meandering yet somewhat confusing re-telling of a Korean tale which apparently sparked the genius behind this film. I have an IQ of 150, and I really wasn't sure exactly what all that meant. Basically, it's a very original plot: good versus evil. The ancient battle, however, goes way beyond mythology by using creatures that never lived and firepower that could not have existed at that time in history, not to mention evil soldiers that grunt like sick livestock. It may be sci-fi, but it was off to a bad start.
At 19 minutes into the film (including commercials), I was sorely tempted to turn it off. With acting so bad that it makes high school musicals seem like gems and a storyline full of gaping holes (at 19 minutes!), one wonders why anyone would bother wasting his/her time with it.
Summary of the pawn shop: "Oh, hello little American boy. You are the incarnation of a warrior I raised, and you'll save the world someday. Is that okay with you?" I did find it amusing that Sarah referred to Korean writings on yellow construction paper as "the only things that can protect" her. And yet she decided to leave the safety of her new décor to go out for a few beers with pals. WHY? Then walk home alone at night in Los Angeles. WHY? So I didn't turn it off, if only to find out how bad this movie would truly be. WHY?! I must admit, however, that the CGI is rather impressive. That being said, what a gigantic waste of good effects on such a very crappy movie! The old woman trying to walk through the fence. The homeless guy yelling "bum!" at a car that splashed mud on him. These are just two examples of completely useless entries in this movie that have nothing to do with anything and provide no purpose, not even humor at this point. The only useless but funny parts were the scenes with the zoo security guard.
Do not forget a very important point presented here: Doctors will always take reporters to see anyone they want, especially if the patient is under quarantine.
Another good point: If anyone tells you *not* to take the stairs and *do* take the elevator in the event of an emergency (especially an apparent earthquake), BEWARE! Question: how the hell would the DOD know that the snake is after Sarah Daniels? Honestly. It's just not remotely plausible.
And, perhaps the biggest question of them all: At what point did the dark army find time to construct their city of evil? All the Mordor references are right on! As usual, all is well, the world is saved, and love carries on. Regardless, this film is now on par with my other #1 crappiest film, Carnosaur II. Thank you, D-War.
worst film i've seen in a good while...so bad .. i'm getting a good laugh!
alanpwoods29 September 2007
Hilarious, laugh out loud moments ... and yet not a comedy. I particularly liked the planted gag of the ambulance soaking the "filthy bum" who then shouts after them in anger "you filthy bums", I mean wow, someone's online degree in literature is paying off! The worst script imaginable, with plot introductions in an instant, ridiculous movement in the story, ZERO character development (even between the characters who meet .. it's as if they all have known and trusted each other for years) dodgy voice over with added echo effects, and plot holes.. oh God are there plot holes!! To be honest I write this not even having watched the entire thing, but I certainly expect the last 30 mins or so to not exactly enhance the already pathetic attempt in cinema ... thank god we've got a good looking lead to somewhat make us forget that the film is a load of ... well ... use you imagination for the conclusion of that particular sentence!
Good for a laugh -- MST3K style
LauraLeeDooley24 September 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Yes, this is perhaps the worst movie ever (do they have an Oscar for that?).
Best if viewed with a bunch of friends who are willing to loudly ask the tough questions like:
* "If this is based on a Korean myth, why isn't anyone Korean?",
* "Wait, didn't he just get shot?",
* "Where the heck am I?" (followed by "Aw, man. Now I'm going to have to walk all the way home!") and
* "Wait, whaaaaat?"
What makes it even funnier is that the movie takes itself seriously. Go with low expectations and plan to leave the movie theater LAUGHING (and CRYING) because it is so ridiculously bad.
So bad, dare I say it ... a movie destined may become a cult classic?
Best if viewed with a bunch of friends who are willing to loudly ask the tough questions like:
* "If this is based on a Korean myth, why isn't anyone Korean?",
* "Wait, didn't he just get shot?",
* "Where the heck am I?" (followed by "Aw, man. Now I'm going to have to walk all the way home!") and
* "Wait, whaaaaat?"
What makes it even funnier is that the movie takes itself seriously. Go with low expectations and plan to leave the movie theater LAUGHING (and CRYING) because it is so ridiculously bad.
So bad, dare I say it ... a movie destined may become a cult classic?
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