Don't believe the hype -- read the real scoop from Dread Central, a hilarious negative review of this, as one poster called it, "Big Budget Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie"!

Dread Central Reviews DRAGON WARS

Don't believe what hype? DRAGON WARS was made by the guy who directed the YONGGARY remake... it's a "shut your brain off at the door and watch the monsters smash stuff" movie. I can't imagine anyone was expecting it would get good reviews, particularly since there are reviews dating back to nearly a year ago and they're all pretty consistent with Dread Central's "real scoop" yesterday.

Last November I reviewed D-WAR after seeing it at the American Film Market and wrote that "The problem is that the story is the textbook definition of an “idiot plot” where things that should be explained aren’t, and characters do incredibly stupid things just to move the story along," and "The many story flaws knock D-WAR to the level of a typical Sci-Fi Channel original movie, albeit with a big budget.": http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2006/11...report-2-d-war/

Variety reviewed it in February. Reviewer Derek Elley described it as "a feast of A-grade f/x married to a Z-grade, irony-free script. ": http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117932736...1&query=d%2Dwar

The Korean press said the same thing when the film opened there early last month. The public there didn't care, and D-WAR is on track to become the highest grossing domestic film in that country's history.

AICN also ran a few reviews from Korea last month, and they weren't exactly positive either: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33598

Now Dread Central writes, "No amount of screaming snake effects can cover up bad story telling. At best, Dragon Wars is the biggest budgeted SciFi Channel original movie ever made, without being that of course. While seeing a modern army take on monsters mildly geektastic on a big screen, I’m thinking the price of a DVD rental is closer to what admission is worth." It was a fun read, but its just saying what's already been said elsewhere, right down to the Sci-Fi Channel comparison.

I hope it will be awful, I can't wait to see it tonight. Maybe it will surpass that awesomeness of seeing A Sound of Thunder and Bloodrayne. Its rare you get to see something this massive of a train wreck on screens and I'm not going to miss it! If anything the DC review is like a reverse positive endorsement.

In Foy's defense, he reviews a ton of Sci-Fi Channel films, poor guy, so the reference is likely out of habit.

I'll be seeing this tomorrow morning. I'm not expecting a new Kaiju classic, and REPTILIAN/2001 Yonggary was...not all that good. But, the creature effects look good, and if I get enough monster action, I think I'll be happy enough, in this case.

True, but he didn't write the review of DRAGON WARS at Dread Central (which was a shock to me).

It made 52 million in the first 5 weeks in South Korea. I have a feeling that they aren't going to have a problem making money on this.

Here's Fangoria's review: http://www.fangoria.com/ghastly_review.php

It looks to take in $4-$5M this weekend, which isn't bad, and de facto makes it the most successful Korean release on these shores. Right?

Yes, that'll beat the $2.3 million earned by SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER...AND SPRING. I wonder how well THE HOST (which almost beat Kim Ki-duk's film) could've done on 1500 screens.

Exactly, Steve - grr, makes my gnash my teeth that this movie, that by most accounts is a piece of disposable gunk, is getting this treatment, only a few months after THE HOST gets the halfhearted release it had ... I thought if there was any Korean movie that could have crossed over to mainstream success here, it would have been that one, if it had been distributed and marketed with more cojones.

While I wish THE HOST had been more popular in the U.S., its $2.2 million gross is nothing to sneeze at, especially for a subtitled film. (Also, didn't THE HOST under-perform almost everywhere outside Korea? I recall a Kaiju Shakedown post about this.) Johnnie To's recent films don't strike me as any less accessible than GOODFELLAS or ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, but TRIAD ELECTION couldn't even break six figures. If EXILED grosses $2.2 million here, I'd be amazed.

Doh! Could've sworn that was Foy, but yeah, Nomad wrote that. Mea Culpa.


DRAGON WARS was dopey, but fun. Not much going on in the script department, and I wasn't too keen on the sudden switch to American actors for what's essentially a Korean story. But it was fast paced, and had plenty of dragon action, which really are two of the things I look for in a film of this type.
Yes, there are much better films in this genre, but DRAGON WARS is really fun, and should have made a bit more money, if it was advertised better. A lot of people knew nothing about it, despite the wide release.

It actually came in fourth for the weekend with $5,376,000. Not too shabby!

Derek and I tackle some of the great issues surrounding D-War's including in our first official podcast:

1. The progressive casting of the living dead.
2. Ham Ham Ham
3. So much other INSANE stuff for about 81 minutes!

Enjoy

http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2007/09/hkc...rs-podcast.html

I watched D Wars last weekend. It would rather be better that the film just have dealt with the Imugi in Medieval Korea rather than in modern Los Angeles. Like Dungeons and Dragons or Lord of the Ring series, Imugi in Choson era (medieval Korea) could make it to a fantasy film.

I enjoyed DRAGON WARS--it was entertaining and had a lot of energy. I must admit that the two people I dragged to the theatre with me did not care for it. Actually, I thought part of the fun was the contrast between the giant, fantastic serpent and the modern city.

Check out SciFi Japan for an update on the critical and commercial reaction to DRAGON WARS: D-WAR in Korea, plus info on several newly-announced projects from Younggu Art that include DRAGON WARS 2 and the return of Marlon Brando (?!).

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2007/09...ate-from-korea/

Thanks for the article!

It's disturbing to see that the vast majority of films dominating the Korean box office now are Hollywood product; is that a new trend, or something that's been happening for awhile? I hope it's not an indication of the local industry failing.

FISH WAR sounds like it has the potential to be a genuinely fun film...or at least a stupefyingly surreal one. Maybe they'll get my hopes up yet again.