Dragon Wars – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

Available at Amazon.com

Directed by
Hyung-rae Shim

Cast:
Jason Behr … Ethan
Amanda Brooks … Sarah
Robert Forster … Jack
Aimee Garcia … Brandy
Craig Robinson … Bruce
Chris Mulkey … Agent Frank Pinsky
John Ales … Agent Judah Campbell
Elizabeth Peña … Agent Linda Perez
Billy Gardell … Zoo Guard
Holmes Osborne … Hypnotherapist


The Movie:

For all intents and purposes, there isn’t any reason on the surface why Dragon Wars (aka: D-War, aka: D-War: Dragon Wars) shouldn’t be a successful movie. The American/South Korean co-production has a budget of nearly seven times that of the Korean Monster movie masterpiece, The Host, which doesn’t feature near the special effects wizardry and mayhem, or any of Dragon Wars’ martial arts or mythological elements. But the thing is, for all of Dragon Wars‘ fireworks and big money behind it, if it had half of the cleverness of The Host’s screenplay, or any near the depth of it’s acting, D-War would be a masterpiece, instead of just the foreign equivalent of a Michael Bay movie.

Now for those that found the mythology of The Golden Compass to be too confusing; that film’s got nothing on Dragon Wars. A film as needlessly complicated as its many names, the movie’s mythology involves an ancient Korean tale involving a young girl who must eventually give up her life at the age of twenty in order for her spirit to be joined with an Imoogi (a giant, Godzilla-sized cobra) so that it may become a celestial dragon. If the girl ends up dying before that time, then the cycle must begin anew in 500 years.

While this, in itself is not such a convoluted premise, things start to get a little too complex when we meet Ethan (Jason Behr), a reporter who remembers this tale was told to him when he was a young man. Ethan is apparently the reincarnation of the warrior who failed to protect the girl before she was supposed to make her sacrifice 500 years before, nut now will get his second chance if he can find Sarah (Amanda Brooks), the second coming of the girl destined to bring forth the celestial dragon. In the mean time, Ethan must escape from the forces of evil, who have come back from ancient Korea with their own Imoogi, and are determined to conquer our present civilization.

Now if we were just grading this film on spectacle, it’d be a little easier to find some positive things to say. The film is at its best when we’re watching bad guys riding dinosaurs (picture an evil version of the Gungan army from The Phantom Menace) fighting the National Guard in the middle of Los Angeles. We get to see ridiculous amounts of action involving tanks Vs. dinosaur-like creatures or helicopters Vs. flying versions of the monsters (who happen to breathe fire, but aren’t apparently aren’t dragons). The film’s effects are more than competent, but the problem is, they’re never put to much good use outside of eye candy.

This brings us back to the movie’s biggest faults, which of contained within the film’s haphazard storytelling. A flashback sequence showing Ethan’s first contact with this legend eventually goes into another flashback sequence depicting the first interaction between our hero’s past life and his star-crossed lover. This second flashback, depicting ancient Korea, shows the land as a place of mystical flying wizards, armies of dinosaurs with rocket launchers, and Power Ranger-like villains. Now it’s one thing for a film to stretch your suspension of disbelief, it’s another for a movie to expect you to be completely insane in order to understand it.

The film also has a problem with tone, as it wants you to take it seriously in some moments, and then the next it will feature completely superfluous comedy characters. Not to mention the fact that the movie simply flies in the face of common sense, as the evil Imoogi terrorizes Ethan and his friends through Los Angeles, and yet no one seems to have any idea of where this thing is, or if it even exists for most of the movie. At one point in this flick the giant monster causes a tremor, and not knowing what it was exactly, a side character states “I hope that was an earthquake,” which is possibly the worst thing some random Californian could say at that moment.

Criticizing the film’s acting is probably moot, but it must be said that nearly everyone in the film is uniformly terrible. Jason Behr and Amanda Brooks are utterly forgettable as the movie’s leads, their worst sins being that they just don’t bring anything but loads of blandness to these roles. The only two characters of note in this film belong to Robert Forster as Jack, the Obi-Wan-like master who trains Ethan, and Craig Robinson as Bruce, the film’s perpetual sidekick. Both actors are way too good for a movie like this, and hopefully neither will be hurt from their participation here.

Bottom line is, Dragon Wars is a good looking, but ultimately awful movie. When a film completely ignores any attempt at making any real sense in favor of spectacle, this is the type of soulless exhibition you end up with. More of a highlight reel than an actual film, Dragon Wars is a movie best experienced with a group of friends who simply want to laugh at something and throw popcorn at the screen. With no real discernable story or message, this is really the only way to enjoy the movie at all.


The DVD:

The Video
If nothing else, the movie looks good on DVD, with terrific colors and a pretty smooth print throughout. The movie is supposed to look phenomenal, and make no mistake, it does here. The film is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1.

The Audio
The movie also sounds great, with the disc’s 5.1 audio booming out during the film’s ridiculous battles. This is definitely a film that will put you in the middle of the battle with its sound, whether you want to be there or not.


The Supplements:

5,000 Years in the Making – This Featurette goes about 18 minutes or so, and is your pretty standard “making of” doc. I will say that you get some impassioned footage from the movie’s director Hyung-rae Shim, who really felt like he was making a definitive Fantasy picture. It’s too bad it didn’t work out that way though.

Dragon Wars Animatics: From Storyboard to Screen – This simply compares many of the film’s scenes with their original storyboards.

Previews for Other Sony Titles – You get trailers for several films here, including Jackie Chan’s The Myth and many Godzilla flicks.

Conceptual Art Gallery

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Dragon Wars
CONTENT

2.0
THE VIDEO

8.0
THE AUDIO

8.0
SUPPLEMENTS

3.0
REPLAY VALUE

3.0

OVERALL
2.5
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

Robert Sutton feels the most at home when he's watching some movie scumbag getting blown up, punched in the face, or kung fu'd to death, especially in that order. He's a founding writer for the movies section of Insidepulse.com, featured in his weekly column R0BTRAIN's Badass Cinema as well as a frequent reviewer of DVDs and Blu-rays. Also, he's a proud Sony fanboy, loves everything Star Wars and Superman related and hopes to someday be taken seriously by his friends and family.