by Kuan Hur Tan

Created on: June 01, 2009

Preview
I watched Dragon Wars. Of course, it is a movie about dragons. Sometimes, I wonder if dragons were real. There are proofs of dinosaurs but what about dragons? Dragon Wars relates to a Korean Legend where every 500 years, the heaven allows a great serpent to become a celestial dragon for its good deeds. However, there is always a bad serpent among the great serpents. The good is called Imoogi and the bad is called Buraki.

As it is known to the heaven that Buraki is eyeing for the Yuh Yi Joo, the gift that transforms a serpent to a celestial dragon, the heaven hides away Yuh Yi Joo on Earth. A girl will be born every 500 years with a dragon birth mark on the shoulder and Yuh Yi Joo in her. By the time she reaches 20 years of age, it is her destiny to be sacrificed to Imoogi. Two of the heaven's best warriors were sent to the Earth in order to protect Yuh Yi Joo.

So, that is the Korean Legend part. The lead actor, Ethan was told of the story when he was young. In fact, the man who told him the story is one of the two warriors and Ethan is the reincarnation of the other warrior. Sounds complicated. Anyway, Ethan's mission is to find a girl Sarah who has a dragon birth mark on her shoulder.

As Ethan tries to find Sarah using all his resources, the evil Buraki and its followers are also tracking down Sarah. Soon after Ethan is together with Sarah, Buraki and its followers start rampaging the town in order to capture Sarah. The followers are like the Persian's army in the movie 300; riding dinosaurs and almost invincible to guns. Soon, the army comes into picture and is fighting against Buraki and its followers.

In the end, Ethan and Sarah are still caught and brought back to Buraki's base. Just when Sarah is going to be sacrificed, Imoogi comes to the rescue and won the battle.

Effects
The serpents look nice but only on their own. When the images of serpents are brought into the city, they look unreal. Of course, they are not real after all. But movies like Eragon, 300 and Lord of the Rings have more realistic effects. There are scenes of helicopters chasing after dinosaur-birds and vice-versa which are quite interesting but boring after sometime.

The followers' troop is huge. However, it fails to create a kind of fear and the followers dressed like Star Wars.

Storyline
It is all about a man trying to change the destiny of a girl. I wonder why Imoogi does not come out until the end of the movie. Why not Buraki and Imoogi have a fight in the city instead of having the army battling Buraki's followers without realizing that they might hit pedestrians running about?

Verdict
Half way through the movie, I hope that I was watching the ending. It does not excite me. It is just a movie about a serpent chasing for a girl in order to become a celestial dragon. In movies like Eragon and 300, there are plans to fight the enemy. Both Ethan and Sarah do not have any directions. They are only told to sacrifice Sarah to Imoogi.

Judging from how Buraki and its followers perform in the city, I believe that Buraki does not need to become a celestial dragon to destroy the world.

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