JohnDoe
Bryn
BrentonDragon Wars aka D-Wars (2007) – Trailer Included
October 11th 2007 00:00
Winged Serpents in a cultural conflict
John Doe meets the Director of Dragon Wars plus a few hotties
Fine weather had greeted JD every step of his journey through the US, until his first day in NYC. Never one to need an excuse for a cinema visit the crew decided to catch a flick. Inspired by the viewing of the hilarious Korean Monster movie The Host just days before departure Johnny opted to catch this highly publicised event movie from the region.
Turning up at the Times Square Empire Multiplex we were greeted by the films Writer/Director Hyung-rae Shim (The Young-gu adventures). Excited at the opportunity of meeting the man behind the lens soon John Doe was wearing a complimentary T shirt with a personalised autograph. But that’s enough about the preliminaries, onto the review.
Dragon Wars Poster
Starring: Robert Forster, Jason Behr, Amanda Brookes, Chris Mulkey
D-Wars titled Dragon Wars in the US is a special FX driven fantasy adventure where winged serpents wage a war for good and evil in the heart of Los Angeles. Breaking box office records and promising much. Sadly delivering few thrills, the story opens uncomfortably in the middle of exposition and then continues to reiterate the legend on which it was based every 15 minutes.
As the story begins Ethan (Jason Behr), an LA reporter turns up at the scene of a mysterious crash site where he notices a bizarre unknown substance. Put in charge of investigating the event he soon experiences flashbacks to his early years and is led to visit trinket store owner Jack (Robert Foster), an eccentric who shares the ancient tale of the Imoogi.
The Imoogi is a legendary Asian monster that must return for it’s sacrifice of a young girl who has been reincarnated as valley girl Sarah (Amanda Brooks). Only together can the kismet lovers hope to solve the puzzle and save the world. Naturally it takes the virtuous Ethan a while to put the pieces together and track her down.
Now with time running out and massive creatures stalking the city streets determined to find the pair, the stage is set for a battle royale between man, beast and magic.
Monster vs Machine
John Doe says.
Humourless and clunky, if this rough plot outline sounded hokey that’s because it is. Paying little attention to what happened in previous scenes the characters contradict their actions and most of the time the screenplay is just telling us what we already know. Ignoring massive leaps in reason there is no rhythm or atmosphere established, kind of like when John Woo started making American films with Van Damme. (Or Jaws 4)
Surprisingly there are few laughs considering the Writer/Director is a respected comedian in his homeland with an impressive list of credits.
The action set pieces are passable for a joint Asian/American co-production but even they fall flat because you are cheering for the Dragons instead of humans. (The CG also feels rushed) The editing never establishes a tone, but more positive is that cinematography frames some of the destruction with zeel. The creature designs are quite richly detailed with a fresh Korean inspired rendering reminiscent of the cult classic Q-The Winged Sepent.
The performances from the cast are uncomfortable and leading man Jason Behr (Skinwalkers, Roswell) is vacant of charisma. The usually reliable Robert Foster (Medium Cool, Jackie Brown, Alligator, The Black Hole) seems embarrassed at the lines he is forced to utter. Trying to be nice, JD will say that Amanda Brooks (FlightPlan) is pleasing to the eyes, but again manages a straight to video style of acting.
John Doe has been obsessed with Dragons since childhood and really wanted to like the film. It really is a shame that no movie (EG: Reign of Fire, Dungeons and Dragons, Dragonheart etc) has ever done the mythical creatures justice. Here is hoping that the Anne McCaffrey books are adapted loyally to rectify this problem. For the time being the 1980’s film Dragonslayer still stands as the only worthwhile member of the genre.
Watch the trailer
Here is a clip containing some random snippets from D-Wars
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