Dragon Wars - D-War
by Hyung-rae Shim
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DVD details
Actor: Aimee Garcia, Amanda Brooks, CraigRobinson, Jason Behr, Robert ForsterDirector: Hyung-rae Shim
Brand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Korean (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Korean (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-01-08
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertianment
DVD Reviews of Dragon Wars - D-War
DVD Review: AWESOME
Summary: 5 Stars
Come on people, this movie is awesome! Great special effects, cool story, and best of all it's a COMEDY, and a damn good one too. That's right, it's no meant to be taken seriously, just sit back and have a good laugh!DVD Review: Fast-Paced Monsterfest!; Ignore Bad Reviews
Summary: 4 Stars
Lightning-fast editing and a continuous streak of monsters keep the fun and escapism ongoing and on target in this unfairly slammed movie.
Bad reviews had kept me from purchasing Dragon Wars before, too bad because this is a fun one that delivers the action without taking itself too seriously (if you want a serious, brooding monster/hero flick get the 2003 Hulk directed masterfully by Ang Lee).
Just a splash of occasional romance completes an interesting movie that would be a good companion to Cloverfield. CGI effects are effective and actually much better than some more highly reviewed recent films. The battle of downtown LA was particularly well executed.
Dragon Wars appeals to both adults and youngsters, give it a try.
DVD Review: a new force in fantasy
Summary: 5 Stars
I think that most reviewers seem to be missing the point that a new form of cinematic art has been coming into existence in the last forty years. It can best described as the Heroic Fantasy Epic. Of course, it has been around in literature for a long time, but only in the last forty years have movie makers begun developing the tools to produce the effects needed to bring these stories to life. It requires believable creatures that cannot possibly be represented by human actors or animals in costume and makeup. It requires a beleivable representation of magic on a huge scale. And, it requires an audience that is willing to accept that the "real" physical world we see around us is not the only possible world, and that it is possible for an intelligent, imaginative person to create a fictional world where some of the laws of science as we know it do not necessarily apply.
This is such a movie. It is complete fantasy and, as such, many of the rules of logic that govern other genres do not apply. It is not necessary that the character of the Hero be fully developed. It is sufficient that his intentions are Good and that he is brave and reasonably likeable. Of course, it is much better if he is a fully rounded character and that his feelings be well expressed, but he is really a symbol for the forces of Goodness and, therefore need not be too carefully drawn. Likewise, The villain is only a symbol for the forces of Evil, so he can be even less well defined. In the same vein, the Deus Ex Machina is a perfectly acceptable device to bring about the destruction of the forces of Evil, since it is a major belief in almost every major religion that a human being alone is not capable resisting true Evil and that faith in, or the grace of, some deity is absolutely needed to overcome that Evil.
In essence the plot of an Epic fantasy is basically a form of melodrama. First, the Hero is introduced, along with the Heroine and the rest of the Good people. Then the Villain enters, usually disguised (thinly) as a good person. The Villain then gathers his henchmen secretly while gaining the confidence of the good people and tricking them into doing things that will later put them completely in his power. The Hero usually suspects the Villain but he is not believed until it is too late and the Villain has sprung his trap. When the trap is sprung, the good people try to resist, but to no avail, the villain has them trapped and helpless. Meanwhile, the Hero perseveres and eventually finds the Villains weakness. He confronts the villain and foils his plan, but the villain has foreseen this and responds with brute force. The good people dispair, but the Deus Ex Machina intervenes and the Villain is driven off. the good people celebrate. Not every Fantasy follows this plot exactly, but in almost every case the Villain menaces, The Hero resists, and Goodness wins in the end, no matter how dark the outcome appears to be at the end of the next-to-last scene.
This movie is a fantasy epic. If you follow the directors comments in the special features, you will know that it was built around some of the best special effects and CIG work I have ever seen. Once once he had that, the director took them and his script to Hollywood and recruited actors, sound designers, and a composer. The characters are not well developed because the movie is so packed with action that there is no time to waste on expressing the feelings or opinions of the cast. There is no time to show the developing love story of the hero and heroine, so the narrator simply tells you that they fell in love and they then react to the events as a person in love would.
I loved this movie. Yes, it has some flaws, but they are overshadowed by the hard work and effort that the makers put out to bring it forth. If you examine all the great classic movies of all time, they all had their flaws. But what made them great was that they grabbed your attention and kept you watching in spite of it. This movie does just that. You are swept from one action to the next without a pause for breathe. You don't miss the love scenes because you know that If the charactors had stopped moving long to make love, they would have been killed or eaten. In the final analysis, this is a well-crafted action adventure filled with exceptinally good special effects and backed with an excellent musical score. The sound effects are just as good as the outstanding visual effects. Ignore the critics, sit back and enjoy the story and you'll have a good time.
DVD Review: Oh, the horror
Summary: 1 Stars
A few months ago, my teen kids and I stumbled across this and were intrigued by the straight-from-a-young boy's-imagination description on the back of the dvd box, especially this jewel: "giant lizards with missile launchers." Still, not having that much disposable income, I decided against it. Months later, Christmas morning, my kids gave it to me as something of a joke gift. That night, the four of us gathered together, fully anticipating a glorious B-movie cheesefest. We were all so sadly disappointed. It isn't that the armed lizards weren't in it, but it was just so insipid, so poorly written and acted, and so entirely reliant on CGI effects that we found nothing to convince us not to take it back for a trade-in. You know a movie is bad when it fails to live up (or down) to even the most jaded movie fan's low standards. This movie had the overall feel of a bad tv show, or more accurately, a long, unending toy commercial (figures sold separately). I'd rather sit through episodes of The Land of the Lost until I went insane than watch this terrible film again. As for the special effects, this is the 21st century...so what? After Jurassic Park, it's all pretty much a yawn. Alas, so many movie makers feel that all that is needed are some CGI monsters/explosions/lizards with missile launchers and all other sins will be forgiven. It seems particularly appropo to the horror/sci-fi genre and explains why so many comic books and/or video games are coming to the big screen (with such poor results). Just because you can make it seem as if Mario and Luigi really are gobbling up mushrooms and beating on geese-turtles doesn't mean you should.
In a marketplace overflowing with fantastically bad movies, you have far better choices for a night of hilarity and sarcastic voice-overs than this poor excuse of a movie. Furthermore, part of the charm of the 50s-70s crap is the supremely laughable special effects. To paraphrase reknowned sage and gag-inducing soccer mom Sarah Palin, you can put make-up on a pig, but it's still just a pig. Oink oink.
DVD Review: Good CGI but no dice
Summary: 2 Stars
Dragon Wars was a recent movie I saw via my Netflix membership along with another fantasy/sci-fi movie I requested and of the two, it was the better one. However, I quickly found myself fast-forwarding through the movie to avoid having to just shut down the movie completely. I am a fan of good story-telling and acting, but I'm drawn to action and to special effects. This movie had plenty of action and special effects, but it was hard to put the story together and to take it seriously with shoddy acting and directing. The plot is intriguing, but could have done without the steretypical Chinese connections to dragons and instead been about a new idea in monster movie-making. I would recommend this movie for it's great battle sequences, but you will find yourself uninterested in the back story and somewhat confused when it's all said and done....and happy too that it was over.
Description of Dragon Wars - D-War
Meet Buraki, the vicious, 200-meter long Imoogi serpent from ancient Korea. His army includes giant lizards with missile launchers, flying dragons, soldiers bred for evil and mega-intelligent dinosaurs. Together, they will destroy Los Angeles and possibly the world unless reincarnated warriors Ethan and Sarah can outrun them and resurrect the Good Imoogi, Buraki's ancient nemesis. Dragon Wars reveals every last detail of Earth's greatest battle, a war you'll only believe when you see it for yourself.Stunning computer-generated special effects are the main selling point of Dragon Wars: D-War, a Korean-made fantasy about ancient monsters wreaking havoc in modern Los Angeles. The complex plot, based on legend, pits an evil serpent and its demonic army against a young woman (Amanda Brooks) who is the reincarnation of a young woman imbued with the heaven-sent power to transform the creature into an all-powerful dragon. Jason Behr (The Grudge) is the reporter who discovers that he too is a reincarnated warrior bound to prevent Brooks and her power from falling into the wrong hands. The elaborate premise isn't helped by the script, which delivers absurd dialogue and situations with child-like naivete; thankfully, the presence of Robert Forster (as another reincarnated hero) and solid actors like Elizabeth Pena, The Office's Craig Robinson, and Chris Mulkey, help smooth over the frequent moments of unintentional humor. But this won't matter much to fantasy fans and (especially) younger viewers, who will tune in for the film's riot of special effects; director Shim Hyung-rae and his talented team offer scene after scene of exceptional CGI creations, most notably a aerial dogfight between helicopters and winged lizards in the skies above downtown L.A., and a climactic battle which makes good on the title's promise. The DVD includes a making-of featurette which outlines Shim's four-year struggle to complete the project, as well as storyboard galleries and an animatics display. -- Paul Gaita
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