Shim Hyung-Rae's long awaited creature feature D-War had its debut yesterday as part of AFM in a screening open to buyers only and while I wasn't able to get in and see it myself some new footage has turned up in the Korean media. Word is that the effects in this are pretty spectacular and this seems to bear it out ...
New D-War Footage (downloadable ASF)
Thanks to Tom for the pointer.
Every bit of footage that I see from this film fills me with a childlike glee. That's not easy. God only knows what effect this will have on actual kids. Never, ever underestimate the box office drawing power of dinosaurs weaponized with guided missle and laser technologies.
I so want to see this thing.
I'm not worried about the effects work (which does indeed look rather excellent) but more about the "story" and the acting.
Yeah. I could have forgiven Pulgasari (Reptilian) for the horrible effects had the story and the acting been OK, which it wasn't. Terrible film on all accounts.
This however looks like it could be decent.
Yeah, this is looking like it's at the very least going to be PG-13, which would severely hurt it's chances with the younger demographic.
Actually, I was surprised that the Lord Of The Rings movies were PG-13. They had some pretty violent footage shown. How many other PG-13 movies out there show decapitated heads being launched from catapults?
Hopefully D-War is at least more entertaining than Godzilla Final Wars (which had it's moments, but I thought that Final Wars was pretty abysmal.) I'm guessing that D-war will probably be available at Blockbuster in the next few months.
Okay, I've had it. I've seen the script and attempted to help make changes which never saw the light of day, (at least that's what they told me), and the story is blatantly sexist. I'm surprised no one noticed this during the screening. I've been told Mr. Shim is very anti-women's lib, but I don't care. A professional director and storyteller won't allow that to translate into the screen.
I'm reminded of the Simpsons episode when Lisa protested against the talking Barbie dolls who made girls sound stupid with remarks like "I don't know, I'm just a girl." When she said it was sexist, the kids laughed because she said, "sex."
This is now happening in real life. I'm very doubtful that the American audience will notice the crappy portrayal of the women in it (all the people in power are men). During the filming, many felt it was the lead actress's fault.
But to be fair, I will give this production company the benefit of the doubt. Maybe there were rewrites. I don't know. So let me know when someone sees the results.
t.l. young
I truly recommend you all this movie, D-WAR. Many Hollywood experts have been working together,completint this movie. Spectacular scenes and actions will surprise you with awesome thrills. Maybe around June, D-WAR will be display on cinemas in America and Korea.
Let's bless Mr.Shim for his success!
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