South Korean film director may re-ignite Korean War
posted at 8:06 am on September 24, 2007 by Bryan
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South Korean film director Shim Hyung-Rae has an idea that’s downright dangerous.
A South Korean movie director has offered his “blockbuster” film to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il for free as a gift to mark an impending summit — if children in the Stalinist state can see it too.
Shim Hyung-Rae, director of “Dragon Wars: D-War,” said he was willing to make the fantasy film one of the gifts to be taken by South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun to Pyongyang next month for a summit with reported cinema buff Kim.
“I will send the film to the North for free but I hope Chairman Kim Jong-Il should not have it to himself but allow North Korean children to see it as well,” Shim was quoted as saying in Moneytoday, an Internet news portal.
I saw Dragon Wars a day or two after it opened. It’s bad. Aggressively bad. North Korea has just suffered yet another storm after yet another flood and is run by one of the nuttiest tyrants on the planet. It does not need to add to all of that misery, a film that makes the 1998 Dean Devlin Godzilla look like Gone with the Wind.
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Those poor North Koreans; haven’t they suffered enough?
Frozen Tex on September 24, 2007 at 8:22 AM
Drek?? How do you know these words? Have you been reading this?
tikvah on September 24, 2007 at 8:38 AM
Can we make it a double feature and send “Ishtar” with it, as well?
ScoopPC11 on September 24, 2007 at 9:09 AM
I’m sorry, but this movie was EPIC.
Not good… epic. It was so bad – I mean SO BAD – that no one in the theater could breathe they were laughing so hard. My friends couldn’t even stop laughing long enough to spit out “that movie sucked ass”.
One character summed up the entire movie in one line near the beginning. “What are you talking about?”
Lehosh on September 24, 2007 at 9:09 AM
I don’t know, have you seen the North Korean movies? Particularly the ones “directed” by Kim-Jong Il? Dragon Wars looks like Gone With The Wind in comparison.
Queasy on September 24, 2007 at 9:26 AM
Really? That bad?
I rented the ‘98 Godzilla on the advice of friends who told me not to pay for a movie ticket. My friend and I spent the two hours laughing and making comments.
Favorite scene: Godzilla chasing helicopter pilot, who radios urgently back to base, “I can’t shake him! I can’t shake him!”
“Fly UP, you moron!” we shouted in unison.
Only we didn’t use the word “moron.”
I had momentarily thought about seeing Dragon Wars. I’ll let Reign of Fire stand in for dumb dragon movies I wish I’d never seen.
Meryl Yourish on September 24, 2007 at 9:31 AM
Reign of Fire and Deanzilla are works of art compared to D-War.
Bryan on September 24, 2007 at 9:34 AM
No no no, Meryl… GO SEE IT! Don’t let anyone deter you. Go see it with many people. The social experience is priceless.
Lehosh on September 24, 2007 at 9:37 AM
Can D-War be any worse than the Turkish Star Wars?
allie on September 24, 2007 at 9:51 AM
sorry-botched the wikipedia link..
allie on September 24, 2007 at 9:52 AM
this here
allie on September 24, 2007 at 9:59 AM
I have to question all of Bryan’s posts now. After the previews, even I knew D-War was gonna suck. That he paid to see it makes me sad. :(
lorien1973 on September 24, 2007 at 9:59 AM
This is why we must bring them our drek first…we don’t want their heads to explode with how much better our mere crap is than what they’re used to.
I fear that many will never be ready for movies that are actually good.
James on September 24, 2007 at 10:16 AM
If you want to see what South Korean filmakers can do at their *best*, watch “The Host”. There’s a bit of mild America-bashing at the beginning, but it’s very mild and there’s also a remarkably heroic portrayal of an American in a minor role. It drags a bit in the middle, but it’s one of the best monster movies ever, and the only true successor to “Tremors” as a horror-comedy. The first appearance of the creature is so brilliantly staged and audacious that it will make you laugh out loud. It’s out on DVD in the States now.
Doctor Zero on September 24, 2007 at 12:06 PM
Only Oscar picks are bad.
Kini on September 24, 2007 at 12:16 PM
Would it have been better or worse to have been done as a typical Korean romantic comedy? After having seen a few clips last week, I can’t imagine that My Sassy Dragon would have been all that much worse….
rw on September 24, 2007 at 1:43 PM
They’ve been running commercials for Dragon Wars during wrestling lately, and it just looks godawfully stupid and horrible. And that’s from somebody that willingly watches wrestling.
And I’m definitely not getting near any movie that makes Reign of Fire look good by comparison. That crapfest almost gave me an aneurysm.
ReubenJCogburn on September 24, 2007 at 5:24 PM
Was it bad?….
it was “Earnest Goes to Camp” bad.
TBinSTL on September 24, 2007 at 5:45 PM
Bryan’s just seeing the movies that Americans are unwilling to see.
Wait, that’s not right… Seeing the movies that North Koreans can’t…. no…
Selling the… Sending the movie to North Korea?
Dammit.
Merovign on September 24, 2007 at 7:31 PM
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