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D-War
Dragon Wars
South Korea 2007
produced by Choi Sungho, James B. Kang, Kim Woo Taek (executive), Shim Hyung-rae (executive) for Younggu Art, Showbox
directed by Shim Hyung-rae
starring Jason Behr, Amanda Brooks, Robert Forster, Aimee Garcia, Craig Robinson, Chris Mulkey, John Ales, Elizabeth Pena, Billy Gardell, Holmes Osborne, Nicole Robinson, Geoffrey Pierson, Cody Arens, Park Hyun Jin, Ban Hyajin, Min Ji-hwan, Lee Jongman, Lee Kyungpyo, Junkai, Moon Kyuho, Kevin Breznahan, Jody L. Carson, Dominic Oliver, Craig Anton, Patricia Lee, Eloy Casados, Alexa Motley, Matthias Hues, Gregory Hinton, Derek Mears, Gerard Griesbaum, Retta, Jane Silvia, Enci, Rob Roy Fitzgerald, Joe Don Harris, James Intveld, Jamie Kaler, Pete Kasper, Anthony Molinari, Art Oughton, Michael Chamus Wiles, Cheyenne Alexis Dean
written by Shim Hyung-rae, music by Steve Jablonsky, special and visual effects by Younggu Art
review by Mike Haberfelner
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An antique storeowner (Robert Forster) tells imrepssionable young Ethan
(Cody Arens) the Korean legend of Narin (Ban Hyojin), a young girl who was
promised to a benign giant snake (and I mean giant like in 200 meters)
almost 500 years ago, and Haram (Park Hyun Jin), who wanted to save her
from this fate - but then there's also an evil giant snake that wants to
get hold of Narin, basically because Narin has the power to turn the snake
(or one of them anyways) into a dragon, and apparently that's what every
giant snake on this planet wants. And the evil snake has an army to get
Narin, but to save her from a fate worse than death, Narin and Haram
ultimately committed suicide together. In closing, the antique dealer
remarks that Ethan is the reincarnation of Haram, and he has to find
reincarnated Narin before her twentieth birthday and save her from the
evil snake, who seems to pop up every 500 years to find Narin and become a
dragon.
Years later: Ethan has meanwhile become a TV-reporter (and is now
played by Jason Behr), and suddenly he finds evidence that the old antique
dealer's story might be true, and suddenly goes on a mission to find
reincarnated Niran, whom he finds out to be Sarah (Amanda Brooks) ... but
when he has found her it's almost too late, because a giant snake is
already after her that destroys pretty much all of LA just to get to her,
and the snake also has an army, including a mysterious shape-shifting
general, to track down the girl. However, for the most part of the movie,
Ethan (who has of course since fallen in love with the girl and she with
him) manages to help her make one narrow escape after the other - until he
and Sarah are finally caught by the snakes army after all and transported
to some fantasy realm where Sarah is to be sacrificed to the snake - when
the benign snake attacks, and the snakes engage in combat ... until Sarah
sacrifices herself to the benign snake to make it a dragon that can
finally dispose of the evil snake. The end.
Weird. Korea has quite a booming movie industry of its own,
with many an original filmmaker, and suddenly some Korean producer sets
out to make a movie for international release - with the effect that it
looks exactly like a Hollywood movie, is even set in LA, and features no
Korean acting talent except for the prolonged prologue. The predictable
result: This movie sucks. The storyline of D-War is incredibly
thin, the characters all have cardboard quality at best, the actors
uniformly fail to impress, and the CGI-effects that seem to have to carry
the movie fail to convince for the most part, just like in any Hollywood
movie of the same era. But to be fair, at least some of the monster
scenes, despite disappointing CGI, are at least inspired (at least for
monster fans like me) like the giant snake making its way through a busy
LA-street or scaling a hospital, and at least the action in the film, once
everything is set up, hardly ever lets loose, which disguises the weak
story a little ... thing is, this is simply not enough. Not recommended.
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