There was no reason for me to see the movie in the first place but Pam insisted that we had to keep ourselves occupied before going on with our initial plan. The selection was a wee bit random; everyone had seen Hancock and the disastrous Wanted while The Dark Knight was surprisingly cast aside. I personally would love to see The Dark Knight again (ensnared by the charisma of the Joker. Everyone who had seen the flick agreed that Heath Ledger should be given the Oscar). War of the Dragons was the only movie no one had watched so a consensus was achieved. Almost unthinkingly, all of us squandered RM7 for the tix.
It’s a bit unfair to demote the movie to a second rate status without highlighting a few interesting facts about the movie. It is based on a Korean legend (we Asians have an affinity towards dragons. Even Malaysia has its own dragon related tales). Naturally, the film was produced by a Korean company (or was it the director?). Although it’s not news for a director from the Far East to produce a movie in Hollywood, this one upped the ante a bit for being lavishly enhanced by CGI effects. Correct me if I’m wrong but this is also a breakthrough of the Korean product made in Hollywood. There were talks to make a movie about Naga Tasik Chini before. Aware of the state of Malaysian filmmaking scene, I’m obliged to suggest to those who are brave enough to get the project off the ground to inspect the movie closely. Another plus point is the movie is short so if you have time to kill and you have seen all the summer blockbusters (invariably substance discounted offerings) or you’re trawling aimlessly at a mall when an impulse strikes you to pay the local cinema a visit, this one won’t disappoint.
On to the main concern of this post. Here’s a list of 5 reasons why you should avoid seeing the movie at the cinema like a plague:
1. If you’re looking for something meatier in the storyline, this film is bound to upset you. I, for the life of me, couldn’t withdraw any values from the film even long after the credit had rolled. Ten minutes into the movie, anyone less than rocket scientists can figure out the whole story as everything is conveniently explained by a side character. This makes the movie even shorter than its original duration!
2. Jason Behr was an absolute eye-candy back in the days of Roswell. However, his acting left too much to be desired. His utter lack of emotion even when the evil dragon was about to strike made me want to jump into the screen and rearrange his impassive feature. His fellow cast did not help make the watch better too. Oh yeah, where has the beauty gone from Jason (he was voted as one of the most beautiful people by People then. Tautology, I know)?
3. The special effects were laughable. They were nowhere near to 2008’s standard. In case they haven’t noticed, the technology has improved by leaps and bounds over the years. I inferred that the generic effects were all they could afford in filming the movie. The fact that the actors were standing in front of a green screen was further accentuated by the obvious overlapping lines. It was almost comical! Even the ending, intended to elicit tears (somebody cried though. I won’t reveal who), was reduced to a laughable affair no thanks to its campy CGI work. It also bore resemblance to the great The Lord of The Rings when art direction was concerned.
4. I couldn’t find the movie on Wikipedia for critical responses. This baffles me though. Is the movie released Stateside?
5. The movie is just bad, bad, bad. It’s not as bad as Steven Segal’s movies though.
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