Dragon Wars D-War Blu-ray Disc Review

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Title: Dragon Wars D-War (Blu-ray Disc)

Region: A

Genre: Fantasy Action

Stars: Jason Behr, Amanda Brooks, Craig Robinson, Elizabeth Pena, Robert Forster, Aimee Garcia, Chris Mulkey, Holmes Osborne, and Geoffrey Pierson

Writer: Hyung Rae Shim

Director: Hyung Rae Shim

Feature length: 90 minutes

Extras: 5000 Years In The Making Featurette, Dragon Wars Animatics: From Storyboard To Screen, Conceptual Art Gallery

Languages: English, and French Language Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired and English, French, Spanish and Chinese Language Subtitles

Packaging: Blue BD Case

Chapter Stops: 16

Sound: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 2007/Blu-ray Disc Release: 2008

Theatrical Distributor: Freestyle Releasing In Association With Showbox Through Sony Pictures

Home Video Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

Dragon Wars D-War Writer and Director Hyung Rae Shim is a well known character and comedic actor in his homeland of Korea and like many comediennes, often behind the broad characterizations or witty jokes there is actually some real intelligent thought that often goes unnoticed because we get lost in the laughs. The best comedians can be so sharp with improvisation and wise cracks that for the average person who is not funny for a living it can feel like The Flash is running circles around one and often one can’t even see him. Sometimes I am surprised in films to learn that a character actor is also a hardworking standup comedian earning a living hand over fist like any other professional does. The easier they make it look, the harder it must be. So it was not surprising that Hyung Rae Shim had a reason behind writing and directing Dragon Wars D-War, a project he labored upon for many years to make it not only relevant for kids worldwide, but also to be as professional a film production as anything produced in mainstream media whether it is Hollywood or somewhere else. This is a noble endeavor and while Dragon Wars D-War is not Star Wars, it does succeed in it’s goal and surprisingly does not sacrifice the Asian mythology or for lack of a better expression, water it down for American audiences.

Dragon Wars D-War takes you for a ride that is entertaining and thrilling, but it doesn’t sacrifice its heart and intentions in doing so. I am especially glad for Hyung Rae Shim’s success with this film, which could have easily in another decade fallen into a straight to video bin or be seen simply as a cult film with a few American actors thrown in to sell it to American audiences. His endeavors were based on legitimate concern for the youth of North and South Korea regarding their cultural heritage and in general a world changing so fast that values get lost. So it must have been meant to be in my opinion that Dragon Wars D-War was a worldwide success and it appears that with the success of Bong Joon-Ho’s The Host, another Korean monster picture with an important message behind it, and the records set with Cloverfield, we might be in for a renaissance of the classic monster movie that was once a universal method of telling fantastic, but meaningful stories from Gojira/Godzilla to some of Ray Harryhausen’s best black and white dynamation motion pictures. Personally the bars are getting set higher every day so I hope Toho is ready when it reawakens the Gojira/Godzilla franchise from it’s slumber in a few years.

Keep in mind though that this is a kids’ film though sometimes kids’ films are better than most films intended for adults. Every five hundred years or so a mystical serpent of Korean culture known as an Imoogi is rewarded by God by being turned into a dragon and being allowed to ascend into heaven. Five hundred years ago Buraki, a two hundred meter long Imoogi coveted the honor bestowed upon the Imoogi awarded the opportunity to transcend and with a supernatural army, attacked a village where a young Korean woman, whose purity was to be the vessel for the good Imoogi’s ascension, with the intent of taking her for itself and storming the celestial realm with her powers. However the woman had a man whose love for her was great and together they thought they could escape the will of God, but their fates were crossed. Neither Imoogi achieved it’s objective and the spirits of the man and woman were reincarnated five hundred years later in contemporary Los Angeles, where few pay attention to western legends let alone eastern ones. Soon as the star-crossed lovers realize their former lives and the duty they have left to perform, Buraki attacks Los Angeles with his supernatural army and despite the best technology thrown at the supernatural creatures, nothing mortal can harm Buraki and the fate of heaven and Earth lies in the hands of young lovers who must right a wrong before it is too late.

The two Imoogi look a lot like giant cobras while much of the other terrestrial and flying monsters look a bit like evil versions of the wildlife found on Naboo in George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The effects and action sequences come off quite well for a production that is not employing powerhouse effects houses like ILM or WETA. The highlight of the film is the sight of a Korean dragon, which looks exactly like a living incarnation of what I have seen in illustrations and so forth since I was a kid. One has to remember that in Eastern society the role of the dragon is completely different from the Western cultural depiction. The city attack sequence is also quite lively. Robert Forester has a good guest-starring role in the film and Elizabeth Pena, Chris Mulkey (who also has a cameo in Cloverfield) as well as Geoffrey Pierson (Dexter) make appearances in the film.

I am surprised that the Korean language version was not included on the Blu-ray Disc and wonder if it is any different from the American version. While culturally there are things American audiences might not quite take a shine to, it is also true that sometimes Americanizing a film as a remake makes the entire premise and resonance get lost as is clearly the case if you compare the 2001 Japanese film Kairo to the 2006 American remake Pulse. So there are a few scenes where it looks as though all the pilots in the attach choppers are Asian, which makes me wonder if the setting and perhaps any other story differences are in the Korean version. Perhaps there are none or nothing gets lost in translation regardless. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s Blu-ray Disc version presents the film in a native 1080p high definition (2.40:1) widescreen aspect ratio and as expected, effects films in general always benefit from digital media mastering. A well-rounded and effective English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is included along with a French Language Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Soundtrack as well as English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired and English, French, Spanish, and Chinese Language Subtitles are encoded as options too.

The extra value materials include a featurette on the making of the film (18:10), five storyboard to completed scene to animatics comparisons with the storyboard and animatics windowboxed on either side of the screen and the completed scene in the middle. These scenes can be viewed individually or via a “Play All” feature (21:10). A gallery of concept art that can be viewed manually or in a slide show fashion that completes the extra value materials included on this Blu-ray Disc. Dragon Wars D-War is available on Blu-ray Disc now at retailers on and offline courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

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