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Movies / On DVD / Dragon Wars
Dragon Wars

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Dragon Wars (2007)

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Reviews Counted:32

Fresh:8

Rotten:24

Average Rating:3.5/10

Consensus: Dragon Wars' special effects can't make up for an unfocused script and stale acting.

Runtime: 90 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Synopsis: East meets West, and ancient myth meets modernity in this creature feature from Korean director Hyung Rae Shim (REPTILIAN). A TV news reporter (Jason Behr, SKINWALKERS), an antiques dealer (Robert... East meets West, and ancient myth meets modernity in this creature feature from Korean director Hyung Rae Shim (REPTILIAN). A TV news reporter (Jason Behr, SKINWALKERS), an antiques dealer (Robert Forster, FIREWALL), and a beautiful young woman (Amanda Brooks) all play a role in an old Korean legend coming to life. A giant snake is slithering its way through the streets of Los Angeles, and the trio must keep it from reuniting with an ancient spirit that will turn it into an evil, even more destructive dragon. DRAGON WARS is a throwback to classic monster movies, but this time around, there are much better special effects than audiences saw in those films from both Japan and the U.S. Though the film is from South Korea, director Shim has recruited faces that will be familiar to American audiences, from ROSWELL favorite Behr to Forster, who turned in a career-reviving performance in Quentin Tarantino's JACKIE BROWN. But it's THE OFFICE's Craig Robinson who's the most fun here as a womanizing photographer who teams up with Behr's Ethan. DRAGON WARS is more of a guilty pleasure than fellow Korean import THE HOST, but it features an impressive amount of action and nods to monster movie favorites such as KING KONG and GODZILLA. [More]

Starring: Jason Behr, Amanda Brooks, Craig Robinson, Elizabeth Peña

Starring: Jason Behr, Amanda Brooks, Craig Robinson, Elizabeth Peña, Robert Forster

Director: Hyung Rae Shim

Director: Hyung Rae Shim
Screenwriter: Hyung Rae Shim
Producer: James Kang
Composer: Steve Jablonsky
Studio: Freestyle Releasing

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Reviews for Dragon Wars

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
10/18/08
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

DRAGON WARS knows it's dumb, and just has fun. It's my new guilty pleasure!

Full Review Source: Sin Magazine | comment 1 Comment
08/22/08
Austin Kennedy
Austin Kennedy
Sin Magazine

By no reasonable reckoning can the film be considered a competent piece of cinematic storytelling, yet somehow the movie transcends its silly screenplay with over-the-top action and visually imaginative battles.

Full Review Source: Cinefantastique | comment Comment
07/10/08
Steve Biodrowski
Steve Biodrowski
Cinefantastique

A movie without a single redeeming quality that we highly recommend.

Full Review Source: IGN Movies | comment Comment
10/15/07
Todd Gilchrist
Todd Gilchrist
IGN Movies

blissfully awful

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
09/30/07
Jesse Hassenger
Jesse Hassenger
Filmcritic.com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
09/29/07
Marc Savlov
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
09/26/07
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

This one really should have been immediately relegated to the discount bin.

Full Review Source: Mark Reviews Movies | comment Comment
09/24/07
Mark Dujsik
Mark Dujsik
Mark Reviews Movies

Takes such leaps and bounds of mediocrity and utterly nonsensical storylines that it ends up being a jumbled mess...

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment 1 Comment
09/24/07
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Film Threat
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
09/22/07
Boxoffice Magazine

The painful English-language sequences almost don't matter: The rock-'em-sock-'em monster melees truly are spectacular, even if the images sometimes seem more hazy than tactile, as is typical of digital special effects.

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
09/21/07
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

The concept here is fun -- good and evil dragons of ancient Korean legend do battle in modern-day Los Angeles -- but a lazy and amateurish script and embarrassingly hollow acting hobble it right out of the gate.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
09/20/07
Robert Newton
Robert Newton
Christian Science Monitor

...low camp...

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
09/20/07
Jim Lane
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review

We've all heard of movies so bad they're good, and some folks have them on DVD, in captivity. But how many of us have seen one in the wild?

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment 1 Comment
09/18/07
Frank Lovece
Frank Lovece
Film Journal International

It is such a breathless, delirious stew, it’s impossible not to be entertained, provided -- this is crucial -- you have a sense of humor.

comment 2 Comments
09/17/07
Andy Webster
Andy Webster
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Shim's picture is suitable for youngsters and delivers enough goofy fun to keep adults with fond memories of Destroy All Monsters (1968) from getting restless.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment 3 Comments
09/17/07
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

When they decide to sic [those monsters] on downtown Los Angeles, the movie turns shockingly watchable. Until that sequence, there was no evidence that anybody involved with this laughable fantasy knew what he or she was doing.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
09/17/07
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe

The rampaging-monsters flick Dragon Wars loudly speaks the universal language of effects-laden mayhem. Unfortunately, it is also fluent in the laughable dialogue of a million bad fantasy flicks.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
09/17/07
Robert Abele
Robert Abele
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The only winners in Dragon Wars are the computer-imaging geeks who must have logged tons of overtime. The rest of the world is left scratching its head at a monster epic so dismal that it doesn’t even register as a guilty pleasure.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
09/17/07
John Monaghan
John Monaghan
Detroit Free Press

Written as well as directed by Hyung-rae Shim, which apparently means Uwe Boll in Korean, [it's] so campily awful that it's Mystery Science Theater-ready.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
09/16/07
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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