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Dragon Wars: D-War
Theatrical poster
Directed byShim Hyung-rae
Written byShim Hyung-rae
Produced byJames B. Kang
StarringJason Behr
Amanda Brooks
Robert Forster
Chris Mulkey
Elizabeth Pena
Cody Arens
Music bySteve Jablonsky
Distributed bySouth Korea South Korea Showbox
United StatesUnited States Freestyle Releasing
Release dates
South Korea South Korea
August 1, 2007
United StatesUnited States September 14, 2007 [1]
Running time
99 min.
CountriesSouth Korea
United States
LanguageEnglish/Korean
Budget$32-$76 million(est.) [2][3]

D-War (also known as Dragon Wars) is a 2007 South Korean film directed by Shim Hyung-rae. It is a fantasy-action film that is reportedly the biggest budgeted South Korean film of all-time.

Plot

As a young boy, Ethan Kendrick (Cody Arens) encounters antiques dealer Jack (Robert Forster), who has a glowing dragon scale in a Korean chest in his gremlin-esque shop. Jack tells Ethan that he is the reincarnated spirit of Haram, an ancient warrior apprentice from 500 years ago. This warrior saved his love Narin from Buraki, a 200 meter long Imugi serpent. Jack gives Ethan a powerful pendant and tells him to find the reincarnated version of Narin; for when she turns 20, the pair will be be forced to fight Buraki again. 15 years later, the adult Ethan (Jason Behr) is a television news reporter who coincidentally meets Sarah Daniels (Amanda Brooks), the reincarnation of his love. Together, the duo must fight Buraki who has returned in modern-day Los Angeles along with an army of reptilian monsters.

Buraki's Army

Dawdlers: Massive, slow moving, two-legged, lizard-like monsters armed with dual missile launchers. They are fairly unintelligent and loyal to the Atrox soldiers. They look like a combination of a rhino and a reptile.

Bulcos: Bulcos are mutated birds that resemble European dragons in appearance. They are bred by the Atrox soldiers for aerial combat, and can spit flames up to 500 feet away from them. That combined with their incredible flight speed and agility makes them formidable opponents.

Atrox soldiers: The main infantry of the army, Atrox soldiers are commanded by a man known as the Evil General and are bred to serve Buraki. The Atrox soldiers use Shaconnes as mounts.

Shaconnes: Shaconnes resemble theropod dinosaurs and are used as mounts by the Atrox soldiers. They are the most intelligent of the three monsters used by Buraki's army but are easily domesticated.

Cast

Production

Originally titled Dragon Wars (and still referred to by this title in publicity material), D-War has a long production history in South Korea. The film was announced in 2002 by director Shim Hyung-rae as his follow-up project to the disappointing Yonggary. An impressive show reel appeared in early 2003, showcasing the extensive amount of CGI the production would be using to create the various creatures. Despite heavy promotion via posters, press releases and videos, the actual filming did not begin until the fall of 2004.

Principal photography took place from October until December of 2004. Like his earlier Yonggary, Shim opted for a mostly American cast. Veteran actor Robert Forster landed a pivotal role and Jason Behr and Amanda Brooks were cast as the two young leads. Rounding out the cast are Chris Mulkey, John Ales, Elizabeth Pena, Geoffrey Pierson, Craig Robinson, Aimee Garcia, Matthias Hues and Holmes Osborne.

The next three years were spent creating the creature effects, all of which were done in house by Shim's Younggu-Art Movies company. The completed film premiered at the American Film Market in early 2007 with Variety calling it "visually entertaining, and superior to helmer Shim Hyung-rae's last monster outing (1999's Yonggary, aka Reptilian)," though the review also said the film had a "a Z-grade, irony-free script," and predicted it would become "the most expensive cult movie on DVD."[4]. The film was released in South Korea on August 1, 2007. In the U.S., the film was released on September 14, 2007.

Reception

D-War was released in Korea on August 1, 2007. Within nine days, it attracted five million viewers, setting a box office record as the most watched film on opening week. Despite the film's popularity, film critics were particularly unimpressed by the movie's weak storyline, and questioned Shim's ability as a director. The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews upon release in the US.

The positive reaction among the Korean population is widely attributed to the film's appeal to Korean nationalism. At the end of the film in its Korean print, director Shim delivers a message, "D-War and I will succeed in the world market without fail," accompanied by the Korean folk anthem Arirang. Korean film critic Kim Bong-sok said, "They want it to be successful in the U.S. because it's Korean, not because it's good," and called the film "immature and poorly made." Other reactions from Korean critics have been similar.[5].

On August 7, 2007 South Korea's MBC Morning Live TV Show broadcasted the movie's ending scene on TV, causing a controversy. A few days later the Ministry of Culture and Tourism released a statement that the incident did not violate current South Korean copyright laws, which also caused a buzz.[6]

Box office performance

D-War set a record of grossing $20.3 million in South Korea in its first five days in 689 theatres. As of September 1, the film has grossed $44 million in Korea and another $10 million in other countries, totaling a worldwide gross at this date of $53,587,404. The film was released on September 14 for the United States.

Release dates

References

  1. ^ http://www.freestylereleasing.com/library.htm
  2. ^ 김인구 (2007-06-14). "'화려한 휴가' '디 워', 우리가 '괴물'의 영광 재현한다". Joins.com. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ 이경호 (2007-06-14). "심형래 8월 '디워' 개봉 앞두고 '침착 담담한 심경'". Mydaily. Retrieved 2007-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117932736.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0
  5. ^ Su-jin, Chun. ""D-War" scores with nationalism". JoongAng Daily.
  6. ^ Jinho, Jung (2007-08-14). "On MBC's D-War Controversy". Joynews. Retrieved 2007-08-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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