D-War

From AsianWiki

Jump to: navigation, search

User Rating

Current user rating: 26/100 (4 votes)

You need to enable JavaScript to vote

Profile

Movie: D-War
Revised romanization: Di-Wo
Hangul: 디워
Director: Shim Hyung-rae
Writer: Shim Hyung-rae
Producer:
Cinematographer:
Release Date: August 1, 2007 (South Korea)
Runtime: 107 Minutes
Language: Korean
Country: South Korea

Plot

As investigative reporter Ethan Kendrick traces a series of bizarre disasters in Los Angeles, he becomes increasingly convinced that the happenings are related to an ancient Korean legend he heard as a child. The legend prophesized that ``Imgoogi, mythical creatures, will awaken in order to search for the ``yeoiju, a magical pearl that grants one of them the power to become a heavenly dragon. The good and evil Imoogi battle to seize this opportunity that comes around only once every 500 years.

Clues lead Kendrick to a young woman named Sarah, who possesses the yeoiju in her body. The yeoiju must be safeguarded in order to prevent the dark Imoogi from seizing it and destroying the world. Meanwhile, the two are fatally attracted to each other -- a continuation of their tragic love in a past life 500 years ago when they chose death over sacrificing the young woman to the good Imoogi. Kendrick and Sarah must decide their own fate -- whether or not to defy the will of heaven once again and let the city be destroyed.

Production

Originally titled Dragon Wars, D-War has a long production history in South Korean. The film was announced in 2002 by director Shim Hyung-rae as his follow-up project to the disappointing Yonggary. An impressive show reel appeared in early 2003, showcasing the extensive amount of CGI the production would be using to create the various creatures. Despite heavy promotion via posters, press releases and videos, the actual filming did not begin until the fall of 2004.

Principal photography took place from October until December of 2004. Like his earlier Yonggary, Shim opted for a mostly American cast. Veteran actor Robert Forster landed a pivitol role and Jason Behr and Amanda Brooks were cast as the two young leads. Rounding out the cast are Chris Mulkey, John Ales, Elizabeth Pena, Geoffrey Pierson, Craig Robinson, Aimee Garcia, Matthias Hues and Holmes Osborn.

The next three years were spent creating the creature effects, all of which were done in house by Shim's Younggu-Art Movies company. The completed film premiered at the American Film Market in early 2007 with Variety calling it "visually entertaining, and superior to helmer Shim Hyung-rae's last monster outing (1999's Yonggary, aka Reptilian)'. In U.S., the film will be released on September 14, 2007.

Notes

Just four days since the dragon war movie was released Aug. 1, more than 2.2 million people have seen it across 690 screens, according to the film's distributor Showbox.