(Manufacturer # 23818 ) PlotKorean director Shim Hyung-Rae's monster movie D-War begins with a lengthy prologue, in which an antique dealer named Jack (Robert Forster) watches a young patron, Ethan Kendrick (Cody Erens) get zapped with a force emanating from a chest in his shop. Realizing the significance of this event, Jack bequeaths a medal to the boy, and speaks candidly to him of mystical events that transpired a half-millennium earlier. In a bygone era, it seems, giant creatures called Buraki roamed the land, morphing from serpents into dragons and back again, and equipped with a massive army of formidable creatures. An ancient warrior-apprentice saved the life of his beloved from these monstrosities; the warrior's spirit was eventually contained in the aforementioned chest, and it has now filled Ethan. Jack gives Ethan an enchanted red pendant and advises him to see out the contemporary incarnation of the ancient warrior's intended, who can be recognized via a red dragon tattoo on her shoulder. When the woman reaches her 20th birthday, it seems, she and Ethan - joining forces - will be able to reincarnate Imoogi as dragons. That woman is in fact Sarah (Amanda Brooks); she and Ethan do encounter one another, but it isn't long before the Buraki serpent and all of his enormous minions resurface and decide to lay waste to the City of Angels, worming their way through the town as they look for the chosen pair. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi Bonus Features - "5,000 Years in the Making" featurette
- Dragon Wars animatics: From storyboard to screen
- Conceptual art gallery
Actors Jason Behr, Amanda Brooks, Robert Forster, Craig Robinson, Elizabeth Peña, Chris Mulkey, Aimee Garcia, John Ales, Cody Arens Director Producer James Kang, Choi Sung-ho, Jeong Tae-sung, Sungho Choi AwardsRatingAudio- Sound : DD5.1/DDS
- Language : Eng/Fre
- Subtitles : Eng/Spa/Fre/KO
Video- Screen : WSE/P&S
- Dar : 1.33:1/2.40:1
Review Dragon Wars is just a summer release date and a major star short of passing itself off as a legitimate special-effects blockbuster. Nothing here is more preposterous than what happens in, say, Transformers -- actually, the two films have some similar set pieces. But being dumped in September -- and possessing such a pulpy title -- gave the unmistakable whiff of a B-movie to Dragon Wars, or D-War for short. Those who went for precisely that reason may be disappointed, because it's not outrageously dumb, and in fact has some halfway decent scripting among all the ancient Korean lore, explosions, and slithery dragon mayhem. From an opening sequence in which an army of demon soldiers decimates a Korean village -- with the help of mammoth cannons on the backs of dinosaur-like lizards -- director Shim Hyung-rae serves notice that this film should be taken seriously as a technical achievement, even if these visuals are cribbed from the new Star Wars and Lord of the Rings trilogies. The important part is that they're impressive, and this same visual creativity carries over to the present day, when the dragons make good use of contemporary urban props in terrorizing Los Angeles. Their character design is refreshingly different from what we usually see in dragon films, more like serpents than four-legged flying beasts. No one is going to confuse this for an A-level cast -- the biggest name here is Robert Forster -- but the actors do help steer things clear of the hokum that could have overtaken this production. Shim certainly deserves some of the credit, especially in only his second feature, and the first one anyone saw. Plus, Craig Robinson (Darryl from The Office) chips in a comic relief performance that's a lot funnier than these sidekick roles usually get. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi Product Info- Release Date : January 08, 2008
- Length : 90 Minutes
- Dvdsides : 1
- Dvddiscs : 1
- Upc : 043396238183
RequirementsDVD Drive or DVD Player |
