Dragon Wars
Review by Peter Syslo

People that have read my reviews may know how I feel about Asian horror – I’m not generalizing and I have actually seen a few standouts like BATTLE ROYAL (thanks, webmaster Dave!), ASIAN EXTREMES 2, and maybe THE SLIT-MOUTHED WOMAN, but overall I think there is a lack of variety in the (mainstream) Asian genre. The films are absolutely beautiful to watch (I wish some of that influence would make its way into American horror) but most of the films seem to be about ghosts and/or revenge! Fortunately, in the case of DRAGON WARS (2007 Korea ), things were a little different and I will say that I liked this film. It is a monster/fantasy movie, with charm, and it is based upon an interesting story. I can’t explain it completely, but I was entertained by it and I thought that the action was fun – hey, sometimes I just want to be entertained.

DRAGON WARS is written and directed by Hyung-rae Shim. The film stars Jason Behr, Amanda Brooks, and Robert Forster. Basically, the plot focuses on a TV reporter (Behr), a woman (Brooks) and a pawn shop owner (Forster). They are all modern day reincarnations of people in ancient Korea who were involved in a war between the forces of good and evil. That war occurred because of an evil dragon (who looks more like a large serpent) and his quest for world domination. The reporter has a powerful amulet, the woman has a power within her, and the shop owner has powers to assist the forces of good. The evil dragon hunts down the three, in the modern day, with the help of his minions of men, lesser dragons, and beasts. The result is an all-out dragon war, as the powers of good and evil collide.

This really wasn’t a bad movie. It’s a mix of fantasy, horror, action, and martial arts films and it has a “light” feel to it – it is not a dark and brooding piece which takes itself way too seriously. Overall, the story is one of the things that I enjoyed most about the film. I thought that it was a pretty cool premise, which was rooted in Korean legend, and it was different subject matter for an Asian film. Okay, some may argue that the story is a little “thin” but this is that kind of film where you have to suspend reality and just enjoy the ride. There is a duality to the story - it takes place in historical Korea and in modern times - that duality seemed to connect the whole film and give all of the action a point. On the other hand, the movie d id drag a bit in the middle, where it focused on the TV reporter and the woman getting to know each other; I understand that they were reincarnated and still had love for one another, but it just weighed down the rest of the movie, for about 20 minutes (I zoned out a little).

Another reason that I enjoyed the film (actually the main reason that I wanted to see the film) was the dragon action. I was hungry for some extended dragon footage - DRAGONSLAYER was a decent dragon flick and REIGN OF FIRE was perhaps the best dragon film, but both left me wanting more. Especially REIGN…, it could have been a truly great film if it only had more dragon action in it. As for the dragon sequences in DRAGON WARS, they were pretty good, I have to admit. The CGI is actually decent; you could still tell that it is CGI and it is more pronounced in certain scenes, but it comes off being believable because the art department really focused on the background images. Translation: the artists focused not only on the dragons, but on the effect that each had on its background element – for example, as the evil dragon is coiling a round a skyscraper, you see crumbling, glass breaking, metal bending, etc. It was that attention to detail which enhanced the CGI and made the mass destruction fairly realistic. Also, not all of the effects were CGI – there were real cars being knocked out of the way in some scenes - most impressive and noticeable as the evil dragon slithered through a parking garage.

Cutting to the chase: The dragon action is interesting and the story is too. As far as acting goes, it’s standard action-film acting; except for Forster – he was good, he adds a certain something to his roles and let’s face it, he kicked ass in ALLIGATOR. So, if you like creature features, Asian horror, or you enjoy the Sci-Fi channel original films this one may interest you (I apologize for “busting” on the Sci-Fi movies – it is cool that they try different ideas in their productions). It’s a shame that I didn’t like THE HOST more than I did because it is a similar type of film, but I do want to give that movie another chance – maybe it is something that I need to be “in the mood” for and maybe that was the case with DRAGON WARS; it’s a fun, popcorn flick which combines several genres and maybe it was what I was in the mood to see, at the time. In short, if you like films such as BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, THE TRANSFORMERS, REIGN OF FIRE, DRAGONSLAYER, THE HOST, and CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, then you may like DRAGON WARS. I give it a 6 out of 10.