D-War Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
They've made our world their battleground
The One and Only
Based on the Korean legend, unknown creatures will return and devastate the planet. Reporter Ethan Kendrick is called in to investigate the matter, and he arrives at the conclusion that a girl, stricken with a mysterious illness, named Sarah is suppose to help him. The Imoogi makes its way to Los Angeles, wreaking havoc and destruction. With the entire city under arms, will Ethan and Sarah make it in time to save the people of Los Angeles?
| Jason Behr | Ethan |
| Amanda Brooks | Sarah |
| Robert Forster | Jack |
| Craig Robinson | Bruce |
| Aimee Garcia | Brandy |
| Chris Mulkey | Agent Frank Pinsky |
| John Ales | Agent Judah Campbell |
| Elizabeth Peña | Agent Linda Perez |
| Billy Gardell | Zoo Guard |
| Holmes Osborne | Hypnotherapist |
| NiCole Robinson | Psychiatrist |
| Geoffrey Pierson | Secretary of Defense |
| Cody Arens | Young Ethan |
| Kevin Breznahan | Reporter |
| Jody L. Carlson | Sarah's Mother |
| Hyung-rae Shim |
3.80 out of 10 (12363 votes)
Visitor Reviews
A cruel, underhanded stab at our curiosity.
posted on 22 Aug 2009I haven't been this shocked and horrified that a move made it to theaters since 2005's Blood Rayne--and even that had more integrity than this. In fact other than an obviously decent budget for CGI effects, 'D-War' doesn't even meet the standards of most SciFi original monster movies. The characters are flat, unrealistic, and at times just plain ridiculous. The plot is nearly nonsensical.At first, I thought that ninety minutes was rather short for a movie of its nature, but it turns out that an accumulative thirty minutes of it was completely trivial and could have been cut. Twenty minutes into it I desperately wanted to leave, but sadly I was not the one who drove there (not that I didn't contemplate the hour long walk). I have never been so bored watching beasts devour and/or maim a city full of bystanders, no matter how intense the musical score is trying to make it.I am embarrassed that I sat through this thing. But if I can convince one innocent soul not to see this movie, perhaps it was all worth it.
A Decent Movie.
posted on 22 Aug 2009Well this movie pretty good but it isn't the best in the world but I am sure you will enjoy and here are the reasons why It has lots of action in it I found that the action sequences have been pretty well done. It has a decent storyline to it not the best in the world but still pretty good. The acting is not very good but hopefully you will see past that and just enjoy the movie. The computer generation is not the best I have in past few years but it is not that bad. The way the dragons look in this movie is actually awesome that was probably the best part about the movie. So I am sure that you will not be disappointed with dragon wars because it is a good movie. So make sure that you rent or buy dragon wars because it is a movie I am sure you will enjoy.Overall score: ******* out of ********** *** out of *****
what a piece of $&@^!!!
posted on 22 Aug 2009OK. First, for those who left positive reviews for this movie are truly altruistic, or they are just plain ol'stupid. Some Korean dude wrote a comment amassing close to 1000 words, and I told myself, either this guy is Shim, the director, or some moron who copy and paste someone else's review and inserted in this box to appear intelligent. I am so so sorry if I sound like an ass, but I am just so friggin upset that I wasted my money and time on this moda##@$in%bull^#$%.i have one last thing to say to those who left positive reviews about this movie.Please do not lie to yourself
Worst movie I have ever seen.
posted on 20 Aug 2009I love dragons and all that, but this movie was hard to watch. Only good part was the cgi. This movie looked like they cut out large parts to fit it into a time frame. They did not build anything into the backgrounds of the actors. This movie was so awful that I started skipping forward just to end my god awful boredom. it did have some very cool fight scenes and that was the only thing in this movie that was worth it. Avoid this movie if your over the age of 12 unless you like bad movies with bad acting. My goodness this movie was so bad I think it gave me cancer! ^_^
Listed 15 other great Korean movies. Please don't compare those with D-War.
posted on 18 Aug 2009OK.. First of all, I am Korean and I have to say... this movie is pretty bad which makes it entertaining. I give 6 here. 1 for supporting the korean movie industry. 1 for graphic. 1 for action. 3 for unintentionally funny moments. This movie had potential to be great. Story-line, graphic, action scene were there. What was missing was a good script and acting. Script was cheesy and acting was soo horrible. It has funny moment here and there. Well, I have thing for the bad movie. It's unintentionally funny because it's so bad. You know what I am getting at? Anyways... I read some of the comments and it's not a Chinese legend. It's Koreans'. Don't confuse those. Oh... There were some ridiculous things through out the movie. I don't know why there were cannons mounted on those creatures. Also, I don't know why the hell there were an army of dark. They were sure not in the legend. I don't know why the director decided to put in the mythical lord of ring-ish creatures in there. Anyways... if you seat through the whole movie, it isn't that bad. Acting and script is soo bad it's funny. However, action and graphic makes up for it. If you like bad movie, go watch it. If you have kids, go watch it since I think it's targeted to more to kids. Otherwise, just wait until it comes out in the blockbuster or dollar theater. Oh... if you are Korean... go watch it for heck of it. Hope this movie doesn't speak for all the Korean movies that are out there. There are some great ones. For example... I will list some that you should check it out. It doesn't compare to the D-War. 1. Tae Guk Gi - Brotherhood of War 2. Welcome to DongMakGol 3. The Host 4. Oldboy 5. Oasis 6. 3-Iron 7. Samaritan Girl 8. Shiri 9. JSA 10. The King and The Clown 11. Silmido 12. Friend 13. Memories of Murder 14. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance 15. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
You rarely find movies quite like this.
posted on 08 Aug 2009It's very rare that you find a movie this bad in theaters. Dragon Wars is worse than most made for TV or video productions. The good thing about it is I was laughing throughout the entire movie. From the ridiculous plot to the goofy dialog, this just seemed like it couldn't get any worse. The only actors in the film I recognized were Robert Forester, in what has to be the low point of his career, and comedian Craig Anton who used to be on MadTV. Neither of these actors are reasons to see this stupid, stupid movie.The plot, if you can call it that, deals with some old legend about dragons, and dragons and Korean warriors coming to LA, and the only hope of stopping them are two people who were reincarnated versions of these two Korean lovers. If you think my synopsis on what was happening is fuzzy, try seeing the movie, yours will be too. The plot was virtually nonexistent. Half of the movie was either a dream, or a flashback which didn't help us understand anything. Because of it's complicated story, the movie has Robert Forester explaining what's happening for about 15 straight minutes, and it explained nothing.I really hate bad clichéd movies, and amazingly this fits under that category too. The movie includes some light jokes, that were obviously meant to be funny, where instead they came off less funny than the rest of the movie. They had the 2 leads fall in love after only knowing each other for a literal 30 minutes. It had corny dialog that made me cringe. The special effects were very mediocre, just above what you'd expect on TV.If you want a good laugh, check this out. Otherwise steer clear of it.My rating: BOMB/****. 78 mins. PG-13 for violence
D-Wars sucks
posted on 06 Aug 2009Movie was completely horrible. Was good to start out with, but the young man doesn't even stick with his destiny, instead he runs off, he blacks out then is at movie end, the girls spirit goes to the good dragon, good dragon and bad dragon fight, good dragon goes away, man is left with nothing, the action in this movie was a ton of explosions, but nothing you couldn't get from another action flick, this film ended awful, no action, no hard core music, no real special effects.I expected to see a great action movie, with heavy metal music, awesome martial arts, but I was completely disappointed.Don't waste your time, rent something more thrilling.Eragon was a much better dragon movie, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449010/
Made me cry....................
posted on 04 Aug 2009Yea i said made me cry. I was crying because i spent 7.50 on a very bad film. I was reminded of the old Godzilla films , the acting was at about that level. CG could not save this film, as far as that go's nothing could save this film. Bad story line, bad acting and not very impressive CG. The story line jumped around and gave you no real feel for this movie. The actors were second rate on all counts and would have been better with Japanese actors wit sub titles or at least equal. CG had many mistakes in it, they tried to use the blur effect to demonstrate fast moving animation and it just made my eyes hurt. Don't go pay for this very poorly done and obviously rushed film. I think it will be on video in the next month or so. In the bargain bin in 3 months, not that it will justify a rental or even a 1.99 purchase. It might have made a good anime cartoon, but not a movie. You will feel riped off if money leaves your pocket for this one.
Wow....Abysmal
posted on 29 Jul 2009This is my first review on this movie...I feel this strongly on my one-star rating that I feel compelled to write this.I'm not going to go into some long typed monologue on the camera angles and the lighting and the acting, etc. because I don't go see movies to pick them apart, I go to be entertained. This movie was literally, the FIRST movie I've ever watched that if I wasn't with my kids (who were, shamefully to me and my genetic code, enjoying themselves) I would have walked out and demanded my money back.Between the lame one-liners and the terrible CGI effects (I'll explain why later), and the so-so script, it was just too overwhelmingly bad to stick around for.The reason why I say the CGI was bad: If you remember watching old CGI movies where the color of the CGI characters was washed out slightly, making the CGI creatures or men seem like they were not part of the movie...you'll understand why I say horrible. They kind of reminded me of up dated Last Starfighter special effects. In D-War, there were these huge battle scenes, where one army was lined up and you could literally see some of the 3D animated characters "hopping" if you've ever seen bad CGI, I hope you know what I mean.The acting, script and one-liners were on par with Eragon, which is to say, putrescent.Save your money...if you want to see a good "city fighting scene" go rent some old Godzilla flicks...they are more enjoyable than this...at least then, you can laugh at the cheesy special effects rather than the presumably good special effects that are far from.
this movie feeds your soul!,
posted on 29 Jul 2009i enjoyed this movie because i think it's a life lesson. i've seen all kinds of barbarian-romances, but until now, this is the only one that got through my soul. all Hyung-rae Shim's movies are beautiful, but "the Dragon Wars" has the most touching message. the story is very simple but, although it's like a drama, it gives you many reasons to love it. for example, from this movie you get the secret to a faster and safer dragon breeding. everyone knows that dragons are born to be wild and free, so if you have to train a dragon you must be patient and most of all, you must have a gift from god (like sarah, in the movie). i recommend it to everybody who has enough patience to see, to understand the nature, the dragons and the relation between people and dragon.
Great Good Imoogi! Was this mediocre!
posted on 27 Jul 2009I was stuck for something to do. And, the early-bird matinée of "The Brave One" was sold out. So, I went to see this, instead.A mixed blessing, at best. Having grown up on the giant rubber monsters of Toho Studios, and the stop-motion epics of Ray Harryhausen, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the Battle of the CGIiant Snakes, at the end.I also enjoyed the subtitled prologue as narrated by Robert Forster's character (who, I'm guessing was supposed to be an Amerasian reincarnation of Haram's original sifu). Plus, the nods to classic monster movies of the past, like "beast From 20,000 Fathoms" and the 1933 "King Kong." Plus, my recognition of "Roswell" alumnus Jason Behr as Ethan. And, last, but not least?The fact that this was one video game-adaptation NOT directed by Uwe Boll! The rest of the movie, though? Well, let's it put this way. The fact that Behr and Forster were the ONLY big-name actors in the principal cast will NOT guarantee big returns for this flick at the box office. I was one of three people watching this movie when the opening credits started. And, I WAS ONLY THE ONE _STILL_ WATCHING IT WHEN THE ENDING CREDITS STARTED!Hence, only five stars. If that stills make it sound satisfactory to you? Vaya con Dios, amigo!
Dino-Riders with Shoulder Missiles
posted on 27 Jul 2009This is one the worst movies I have ever seen. It is ridiculously bad. The CG is amateurish. The storyline is very disjointed. You thought this movie was about dragons fighting? No, the majority of the action is dragon-esquire creatures fighting helicopters. For shame. It isn't like I expected realism or anything; but, man...It is so bad. At the beginning of this story there is this flash back which basically states that the main characters are reincarnated lovers who have waited 500 years to be together. Well, funny thing is they never get to be together. On top of that, the main character's pawn shop-owning buddy/mentor is the mentor/teacher of him in his first life. Nice. Oh, people fly and shoot fireballs in this movie... There are also lizard-dino-riders with mechanical shoulder missiles in ancient China.
Best thing to happen to film since Eyes
posted on 25 Jul 2009A while ago, at my Moms Bridge Game, I was asked what was it like when I first fell in love. I was confused, that anyone could put into words the wonderful feeling of falling in love. Being wrapped in something like that, where every bad feeling is now good, and every doubt is turned into unshaken certainty. Every rose smells sweeter, and every Sour Blow Pop tickles you just the right way. That is how I felt walking out of D-War. The beauty in everything shined forth, and I could see it. The past 16 years, I was blind, but now, thanks to Shim Hyung-Rae cinematic masterpiece, I see the world through new eyes! I wish to share that feeling with everyone in the world!This film is a film that everyone, who is physically or mentally able in any way, should watch. I hope that all of you get to see this film, and I believe that the very moment that last blind person has his eyes cleansed, the world will be happy and at peace with the cosmos.
A good laugh.
posted on 21 Jul 2009I saw this movie with low expectations and already knew that it was going to be one of those movies that is so bad, its good.Dragon Wars (or D-Wars) isn't terrible by any means. Nothing in this film can be taken seriously. The acting is corny (not bad, just corny), the plot is impossible to follow, the storyboard is all over the place, and the dialog is just plain strange. I found myself laughing during most of this film because of it.The CGI isn't that bad, nor are most of the action scenes. I find them quasi-epic.Perhaps my biggest complaint is how loosely connected things occur during the story. D-War begins with a 15 minute explanation of an old Korean legend and how the male protagonist, Ethan must find a girl with a dragon tattoo that is about to turn 20 and protect her. Apparently they are the reincarnations of the characters originally involved in the legend. That part is okay, but the execution of the events that happen in the present are just cooky.A giant CGI snake shows up and starts looking for the girl whilst destroying LA. An ancient army rises out of nowhere and follows suit. That very army, despite being 500 some years old manages to beat the hell out of our modern military. Not only that but in one scene, Ethan gets shot while protecting the girl. He gets right back up and says, "I'm OK". WTF? Oh yeah, and the whole dragon wars thing really only lasts for 2 or so minutes. The bad dragon (or inoogi) fights the good dragon (inoogi) towards the end of the film, nowhere else...This whole movie was one giant "WTF?". But I enjoyed its absurdness. It reminded me of the original "The Blob" from the 1950's. That was a strange film and this one is right up there.Honestly, this isn't a horrible film. It made me laugh, hard, very hard. The old Asian style action is there, chock-full of Dragonball style energy beams and explosions for no reason. Speaking of Dragonball, I was also reminded of the live-action Dragonball film, "Dragonball: The Magic Begins". Look it up, you'll see the similarities in story and so bad its good film making.Cheers.
my opinion on D-wars. If anybody cares to read it!
posted on 19 Jul 2009The movie is nice to see, if u just want to sit and see things happening without having to play much attention to the plot. The part where u have apaches and army versus the monster invasion force is interesting to watch as missiles, rockets and bullets go head to head against dragon fiery projectiles, their own mortar versions and infantry armor almost bullet proof. I wouldn't compare it with the transformers, where it was tech versus tech, but it is nice to watch and wonder when someone is really going to make a movie where we get to see all of our ingenuity and experience, and our war tech against an alien or whatever force, in a massive battle ground scale. We only get to see this mixture of tech and medieval stuff versus US army stuff in stargate. It was nice to see it here, dragons and apaches face to face in mortal combat! Enjoy! So what if the special effects is crap to some people! 10 years ago you wouldn't have thought so! Try watching "clash of the titans", the special effects is old, but it is still a great movie. In the end, it is the idea that counts!
Lets be fair, you don't go into D-War thinking Citizen Kane
posted on 19 Jul 2009Compared to Shim's previous outing, we have a gigantic leap forward in every way imaginable. And if compared to a lot of the horrible monster films of the 60s, 70s and 90s which some people give so much credit to, D-War is by far a disappointing mess.The story, in my view wasn't bad at all, at least the prologue . We start with Ethan Kendrick (Cody Arens) and his father at an antique shop trying to sell a dagger to Jack (Robert Forster), who pretends to have a heart attack to talk to Ethan alone about the story of his destiny. Forster narrates the story well I thought, he tells of a good and a bad Imoogi (Korean dragons) who become celestial dragons if a girl with a certain mark on her shoulder, that appears every 500 years, is sacrificed to them, called Yeo-Yi-Joo. In 1507 Korea, the girl is born and a wizard/shaman named Bochun and his ward Haram are entrusted to protect her till her 18 or 20 birthday, which is when her power is activated. The bad Imoogi, Buraki and his Artox army (you heard right, ARTOX army) ravage the village or kingdom in search of her. However Haram and Yeo-Yi-Joo have fallen in love, being her life long protector, which we are assured by Forster should surprise no one (except apparently him and the king who ordered the whole mess together). as they flee for there lives rather than sacrifice her to the good Imoogi, Buraki chases them to a cliff, and rather than die by him, they jump, and die "as star-crossed lovers". Ethan is the re-incarnation of Haram, Jack of Bochun and an unknown girl which he must find (Sarah) who is Yeo-Yi-Joo, as the time for a new dragon war nears.Now that prologue is fine in my view, and had the film been about Haram and Yeo-Yi-Joo falling in love vs. following there proscribed destinies, an exploration of the strict caste systems of Feudalism vs. there ever growing tenderness, about Yeo-Yi-Joo's father (the King) and his grief at the death of his wife and the curse of his child, playing up the star-crossed lovers angle, and of course Giant snake fights and Artox armies with feudal age missiles, than this would have gone far and beyond the standard giant monster film, and even a very good film in general. But that would take a director with more talent (though something can be said for his work on action scenes) and a bit more courage to film for the sake of art rather than to score bank in the States (which is why the majority of the film is with American actors), and we have to have a reason for the snake and the Artox general to fight and chase Sarah and Ethan all over LA.Now from that statement you would get the notion that this is a terrible film, which it is, but it is because of things rather than despite (which I know is only different in how you organize a sentence but I think I can make a case for a bigger differentiation) , its horrible acting rather than despite good acting makes things easier to forgive, because it means there is some untainted qualities to like about a film. If you tell your friend "the movie would have been great if it wasn't for the..." it means there was something there to enjoy, but if you say "even though it had (insert positive remark) it sucked" it means whatever good quality it had was nullified by something overlapping and worse.By far the worst aspect, was the acting, which makes sense, Shim's not a great director, and like anyone who isn't bi-lingual in said languages you cant really tell if what your actors are saying came off as over-the-top, cheesy, slurred, awkward and like Nick Adams in "Invasion of Astro-Monster" your likely to be directed into hamming it up pretty strong. The second nail is the plot after Forster finishes talking, it goes nowhere and fast, it pretty much boils down to excuses for the snake to chase from location to location smashing things. By this point plots are pointless and intrusive, but they intrude anyway with revelations which add nothing, a love story which is anti-compelling, and federal officers running about for a quasi sub plot that goes nowhere in an anti climactic anything-but-tense moment in an empty garage. Altogether, considering the type of film and the obvious state of mind you go to these movies for, you'll hate part of it, the subordinate part (story, plot, human characters, any attempts at blossoming relationships) and love the rest (the dragons, battles, the inevitable monster clash winner-take-all ending to save the world).There is one thing that can be said for Shim, his determination to make quality CGI without Hollywood, entirely in Korea. I think in years to come Korea will thank the work done here by Younggu-Art's for making Korean action/fantasy films able to compete with America, Britain and Japan, and they might very well become a sort of Asian Pixar out of there achievements here.This is the kind of film you watch with your friends, pointing out the plot holes like hidden message Easter eggs (of which there is no short supply) and being dumb founded by some of the more impossible leaps of even fictional faith and the least convincing effects (the dead elephant, the entire bridge scene). The kind of film you hope to be pleasantly surprised by or nostalgia with quality explosions. The more I've seen it and thought about it the more my disdain for the worst parts turn into welcomed additions. The kind of film you go into shouting "D-War! woo!".A sincere 7 out of 10
Mr. Shim did his best
posted on 07 Jul 2009I am a Korean living in Canada, and I cannot stay quiet about things about the harsh comments about Mr. Shim - how sloppy the movie is, what a load of trash his stories are and etc.....Mr. Shim was a well known comedian, but for his dream to become a movie director, he had sacrificed his whole life and job. I believe in him for he is doing his best. He had once said "Comedian is my job, but becoming a movie director is my dream." South Koreans are not applauding for his movies! They are for his effort he had put in to his work! No, I have not watched the film yet, and I have heard that the movie has not much of a plot from Korean critics. But I have also heard that the computer graphic was great.Can't you see that this is a great big step for him? Mr. Shim has given up everything he had for his dream! How dare you slobbering critics think so easy! How dare you support only what you like! If you had known better, then you might as to shut up and see other's comments and reviews!
Just Simply
posted on 03 Jul 2009I think this movie is trying to show the humor and CG technology in speedy action. No need serious attitude, then just enjoy it without any considerable ways. But need some effort to understand the ancient Korean legend which may most of Koreans know naturally while other USA people do not know naturally.But if you ready to enjoy this legend and story in specific CG in Koran origin, you may satisfied with.Wow!!! this movie has extremely opinions from movie-viewer. that is fantastic view!!! hahahahahahahah...maybe need to see this movie with pure mind without any complex thinking.
The inbred half brother of all disaster movies
posted on 03 Jul 2009With so much famine and poverty in the world it makes me wonder how a movie, with a budget to feed a cluster of third world countries, ever got made. D-War struck me as potentially the worst, and most confusing, storyline in the history of the business. For the movie buff with little patience, D-War will make you count the tiles on your ceiling. The story gave little hope to the actors abilities as the script was written in riddles from the start. The only positives i can give to finished product was that one of the main characters dies in the end, finally getting rid of the wooden display of theatrics. Like many of its brothers (godzilla, king Kong), the main story was acted out on the mean streets of the USA, the perfect battleground for an age old myth. The reality was invisible and frustrating and i was counting down to the obvious final scene. I read D-War stands for "Dragon War", don't believe the hype kids, it stands for "Did i just spend 2 hours out my life watching this crap!!-War".
Worse acting ever
posted on 24 Aug 2009Maybe the terrible acting was actually better than the incoherent plot. Whatever it was. Just a bad movie. Possibly the worse acting by an entire cast, ever, outside of a home video. No, upon further reflection I'm wrong, the writers could be the least able members of this debacle. I wonder what elementary school they currently attend.So many stupid things were said or done during this movie, it would be impossible to recount them all. It sure looked like the "evil" dragon won the last battle. I hope so, I ended up pulling for the evil forces to eliminate every other actor on the set. The leading male actor was beyond bad. The leading female actress should put her USC cheerleader outfit back on and go yell at something.Does anybody really know what this movie was about???