I was the first person to pay to see 'D-War'.While I could've waited just one more day and see it at a huge multiplex near my home, I chose to go to a far, shabby theater to see 'D-War' just a couple of hours earlier. I was so looking forward to this. There have been lots of talks about D-War in Korea, director Shim Hyoung Rae's second shot at the international market after his 1999 film Yonggari(English title is 'Reptilian'). Filming, I heard, was finished in 2004 but post-production on special effects took such an enormous amount of time that people started to wonder whether D-War would ever be released. Anways, I went to see this movie with high expectations and it even exceeded my expectations, although in somewhat a peculiar way. Ethan Kendricks(Jason Behr)is a reporter for CGNN(I think this name is a rip-off of CNN). One day, he goes to cover the story of a mysterious accident site, and sees the scale of the monster 'Imooki', the monster which the mysterious Jack(Robert Forster)told him about. 500years earlier in ancient Korea, a girl called Narin was born. She had the tattoo of a dragon on her shoulder. She was the 'Yeouijoo'which Heaven sent down to earth. Legend has it that every 500years, a 'Imooki'is chosen among many to ascend to the heavens to become a dragon and must have the 'Yeouijoo'to do so. Heaven has sent Bochun and his apprentice Haram to protect Narin until the day she turns 20 and must be sacrificed to the good Imooki so that it can ascend to the heavens and bring peace to the world. But the evil Imooki 'Booraqui'and his Atrox army stormed the village on Narin's 20th birthday to take the Yeouijoo,killing everybody in their path. Haram is supposed to take Narin to the good Imooki but he defies Heaven's wishes and runs off with Narin. When Booraqui corners them on a cliff, they commit suicide.Haram is reborn as Ethan, Bochun is reborn as Jack and Narin is reborn as Sarah Daniels(Amanda Brooks in a surprisingly good performance) in the present day. Sarah is soon to turn 20, Ethan deduces, so he must find her before Booraqui and his followers do. With the help of his faithful cameraman Bruce(Craig Robinson in a hilarious role), he tries to take Sarah to safety but get's caught by Booraqui's followers. Booraqui's general(Michael Shamus Wiles)ties Sarah up for sacrifice, but at that moment a shining light erupts from the necklace around Ethan's neck that Jack gave him and every single one of Booraqui's followers dies except the general. Eventually Ethan defeats the general and there's only Booraqui left. Then suddenly the good Imooki comes and fights with Booraqui. Ethan tries to run with Sarah but Sarah accepts her fate and gives the Yeouijoo to the good Imooki, who then becomes a dragon and defeats Booraqui. Many people say that D-War was a bum, that it's storyline is weak,special effects are bad and that the actor's performances are terrible. I beg to differ. The special effects are great. Sure it may not be 'Transformers'or 'Pirates of the Caribbean',but they had budgets over 150million dollars,didn't they? D-War's budget is estimated at 30million dollars, although the cost goes up when counting for the price of filming equipment because nobody loans advanced filming machinery in Korea. I especially liked the last battle scene between Booraqui and the good Imooki. The only flaw about the special effects were the flying monsters(I forgot what they were called...). While some say that their movements had the best quality, I think that it was a bit unreal compared to the slow movement of the Dudlers(these big fat walking dino-like monsters with blasting cannons on their backs that look a bit like stegasoraus without the spikes)and the monsters that Booraqui's Atrox army rode on.(again, I forgot what these were called, although they reminded me of raptors) The actors performances were better than written. I was especially impressed with Amanda Brooks's performance as Sarah Daniels. I hope she'll grow to the ranks of A-list stars like Julia Roberts and Reese Witherspoon. Robert Forster of course was spectacular like every movie he is in, Jason Behr's acting was above expectations and Craig Robinson did a fine job as Bruce. One thing disappointing, though, was that the movie just kind of flipped through the pages a bit too fast without explaining a bit more about the insides,for example, Sarah suddenly falls in love with Ethan, kisses him and says the line "It's not fare that fate is trying to take me away when I have only just met you". But on the whole, D-WAR was a supertacular movie. I never knew that our native Korean song 'Arirang' had such a wonderful tone before I heard it in the end of 'D-WAR'. I hope this is a smash hit in the USA. To Hollywood fans, please watch D-WAR.
Review of Dragon Wars: D-War
