Dragon Wars (aka D-War) Review by Bobby LePire. Edited by Courtney McAllister.

 

This South Korean fantasy epic is crazy- crazy bad, crazy convoluted, crazy fun, crazy awesome, and crazy stupid! I told you, this film is crazy, and I wasn’t kidding. At the time of release, this was the most expensive South Korean film of all time. The money’s up on the screen, but the story surrounding all those impressive stunts and special effects is just too gonzo to really care about.

 

500 years ago in South Korea, two bad giant snakes, Imugi, the good snake and Buraki, the evil one, fight for supreme dominance and the right to ascend to heaven. The key to this ascension lies in the Yeoujiu, a woman with a special spirit birthmark that means her soul possesses the power to turn either snake into a celestial dragon, which is how they get to enter heaven. The guardian of the Yeoujiu falls in love with her and doesn’t allow the sacrifice to happen.

 

In present day Los Angeles, the reincarnated forms of all involved are being drawn together as Buraki and its army of soldiers, dinosaurs, and dragons start invading to kill Sarah (Amanda Brooks), the new Yeoujiu. Ethan (Jason Behr) is a reporter, and also the new guardian. As they race through LA to stay one step ahead of the evil snake, they must figure out how to resurrect Imugi, and possibly, save Sarah’s life.

 

All of this is told to the audience via flashbacks and flashbacks in flashbacks. It’s an off-putting tactic, as the opening devastation of something would make way more sense if we were told earlier about the dragons, snakes, etc.

 

Once the info dump is done, and the plot settles down, it does find a solid groove, but the movie is so short, by the time that happens, the movie is over halfway through. This concise runtime is a good thing, as all the various kinds of flashbacks have some excellent action sequences, so one is never bored. It’s the characterizations that suffer the most by the way the story is revealed.

 

One of my favorite shows when I was a teen was WB’s ‘Roswell’, starring Jason Behr (he was also on a pretty good episode of ‘Buffy’). So I will always have a soft spot for him, and he’s been in some pretty cool movies since (‘The Tattooist’ is kickass awesome), but here, he’s very one note and dull. Every line is monotone, and there’s no emotion behind anything he says. Amanda Brooks is more sympathetic as the sought after key to heaven, Sarah. Her slip into insanity makes sense, as she convincingly conveys all the intensity and pressure she feels from everything happening around her. Unfortunately, our two leads’ chemistry is simply nonexistent. Their romance feels rushed, which causes the end to lose some of its emotional punch.

 

Robert Forster has a major supporting role as Jack, the mentor to Behr’s Ethan, and elder guardian of the celestial key. His role is mostly there to provide exposition, but he’s a consummate professional and seems to be having fun in the action scenes. The always funny Craig Robinson is Ethan’s cameraman, Bruce. He’s clearly having fun, and brings a nice amount of levity to the serious proceedings.

 

The movie is able to inject some amusing bits here there as well, so things never get too bogged down in their own convoluted craziness. Mainly, there’s a great running gag involving a poor zoo security guard that has seen the Buraki, but no one believes him. It never failed to make me giggle.

 

While the movie’s plot is dense enough to be four or five flicks, and the acting from our leads isn’t exactly good, the film is still quite enjoyable. Mostly because every last penny of it’s $32 million is up on the screen. This film looks outstanding, even these seven years later. The CGI’d creatures all have varied and unique designs, each one looking as real as possible and seemingly quite weighty. The Imugi and Buraki look the best, and seeing as how many of the major setpieces involve them, its a good thing.

 

The action is also top notch, when it happens. There are some smaller scuffles sprinkled throughout, but the first hour or so is mostly backstory, exposition, and ineffectual characterization. However, the last thirty minutes are incredible! The army has to fight off an entire universe’s worth of dinosaurs (with soldiers riding them!), dragons, and various other beasts. The cinematography is amazing and everything is clear and sharp and easy to follow.

 

The ending fight takes place in purgatory… maybe? I am not sure how, but it would appear Ethan and Sarah are transported to another world (or parallel universe), and it’s never explained how this happens! It is a fairly annoying oversight. However, this is where the big showdown between the Imugi and Buraki takes place and this fight is the best in the movie. These two giant, supernatural snakes fight so hard the ground beneath them literally gives off tremors.

 

The small touches like that really bring the world together, despite how confusing it can all be at times. More importantly, it also reinforces the creatures’ powers, and makes for a cool action sequence.

 

While the movie is poorly acted and too confusingly plotted to be legitimately good, the action and special effects lend for ‘guilty pleasure’ fun through and through. If you are interested in seeing a different kind of modern kaiju flick (one that is still a million times better than Gareth Edwards’ admonition from earlier this year), than I recommend checking it out. Just know that it’s more entertaining than good.