Reviews

Meh. It's basically Chris Tucker doing Eddie Murphy's 80's material for about 90 minutes. Even so far as to do a Michael Jackson Impression that lasted about 10 minutes too long. He has nothing new, insightful or even intelligent to say.

Everything has been done before better by somebody else. Is it terrible? Not exactly, I'll admit there we a few genuine belly laughs, but those were far and few. While, I'll agree there was a time when Tucker was shining a rising star that was a long time ago and his brand of comedy shows his age. Comedy, much like humor, changes and transforms and Tucker, while still entertaining; hasn't in my opinion transformed with it

One of the most in your face, brutally honest and also oddest films I've seen in awhile. It's obviously an indictment on the relation between the hopeless, rural poverty, Christianity invading eastern culture and blind religious faith. It shows a fine example of how people can be easily swindled, lied to and robbed by fantastical claims and promises when there seems to be no other options in this life; so they're setting all their bets on the next. The only real gripe with the movie, and its a large one, is the despicable, loathsome, evil, foul-mouthed, wife beating, child abusing, drunkard anti-hero of the film who isn't really a hero in any sense. I mean, yeah he was the only one who really saw the church for what it really was, but I think he only knew they because its easy to spot your own kind; even if they are dressed in white robes. I can't even begin to describe how much you will hate this character and wish him due harm even though in his own misguided way he is trying to expose the lies of the church, but don't be fooled for a moment that its for some honorable purpose of protecting the rural folk from swindlers. In the beginning of the film, he steals his daughter's savings she had in her room, the only money she had to pay for her college tuition by way, and spent it all on a night of binge drinking and gambling. While at a bar, he sees a guy he just doesn't happen to like the way he looks and picks a fight with him and that person gets the best of him with a brick to the face. Just so happens to be that lying swindling church pastor. So his motivation isn't for the greater good of the town, it's basically for revenge against a guy who got the best of him in a fight in the bathroom. I'll say this about the film, its got REAL characters. There's no caricatures here. For better or worst everybody has motivation for what they do. From the girl who becomes a prostitute for the "Lord", to the dying wife who says she must give all her money to the church in order to get to heaven (they are taught there are only 144,000 seats in heaven and that they have to give their worldly possessions away to get there) to the church pastor (of course his is very basic) money is pretty awesome and these people are easy targets) to the people who think they have to suffer terribly in this life to get some type of reward in the next. There's a certain crudeness even in how the film looks. It has that old school Japanese hand drawn animation style I haven't seen since the late 90's which i'll admit added to the over all experience. I'll leave with this, its a nasty, bloody, profane, honest film that will rub many viewers the wrong way, even those not of faith. However, you cant deny it's power or its no bars hold approach to the material. They are no heroes here. There are no winners. Hell if you ask me there's no real moral to the story. Just a glimpse at a real social and cultural crisis that has been plaguing South Korea for the past century or so. This is a story that has happened many times in many different ways. Even if you hate the film, it will definitely leave a lasting impact on you for days to come. As it did me. (The Fake is in Korean with English subtitles).

D-War, is an incoherently stagnant, CGI ridden, jumbled mess from start to finish. From the first frame you can feel an amateurs hand at the material. This slop is the latest film from the ex-comedian Hyung-rae Shim who also directed the equally as terrible"Yoggary"(Reptilian). He is completely out of his element here. How canI say? Take all the worst scenes from Star Wars: Phantom menace, Lord of the Rings, and 300 put it in a blender and you can almost produce this trash. This film is bad, I mean REALLY bad.Whats so amazing about the movie, is so how un-spectacular it is. Its one of those movies you see in the discount rack at your local blockbuster video. You reach in your pocket, out of pure interest of course, but you still cant justify spending the 1.99 to buy it.

The film's plot is the first problem. There is a pseudo-interesting intro about a Imoogi ( a Korean Dragon)in Korea and a young woman named Narin in Korea who must sacrifice her life to the dragon so he (Imoogi) can become a Celestial Dragon in the heavens (whatever that means). However there are not one but TWO IMOOGIs!!! Yeah you guessed it, one good and one bad how original eh? So a wise old man (damn that guy is wise) enlist the help of a young man by the name of Haram to protect her until the time came on her 20th birthday to sacrifice herself the large Dragon (And the plot thickens).However ever there is a problem, Haram and Narin have fallen in love(awe how sweet) so instead of letting her die in the mouth of the Dragon they jump off a mountain to their deaths. So the Imoogi, errr..Dragon, errr whatever it is has to wait another 500 years to become the Celestial Dragon. 500 years, damn that's a long time to wait. 500 years in the present our story starts. Haram is reincarnated as a young reporter by the name of Ethan Kendrick. He is investigating a strange disaster that has taken place in Los Angeles (why does every movie take place in Los Angeles?) Strangely enough the FBI gets involved, not usually the people who come to check out natural disasters, but anyway I suppose it's necessary for the ridiculous plot to take place.Meanwhile, Ethan suddenly remembers an old guy when he was young telling him about a Korean legend and puts two and two together and remembers some woman named Sarah who he protected 500 years ago (in his past life), so he uses his two most powerful tools to locate her: The Internet Data Base and a Big Fat Black guy. The black guy is purely there for comic relief, delivering one liners and loud quirky silliness we expect from our stereotype carbon cut out characters. He is also magically always around to get Ethan and his lady friend of out any trouble that may arise, using, purely, his blackness of course. Secondly Narin has been reincarnated too as the beautiful Sarah Daniels who is another carbon cut out. A helpless woman who is just in the middle of something bigger than her, (uh huh). There's also the slimy FBI agent who some how discovers why the Dragon (the evil one) is looking for her and has decided that killing her would be the best course of action. Meanwhile, the Dragon goes from door to door like a "scaly" salesman (surprisingly undetected) looking for her most of the movie. There are even beings resembling the Dark creatures from the Lord of the Rings in Shiny Armor, who can reflect bullets with their shields. The creature's leader looked like a lame talking version of "Darth Maul.( I'm assuming a follower of the evil dragon) There are lots of explosions and heroic deaths with no real characters to care about. There isn't a sense of urgency seeing that you don't care what happens to any of those involved. The acting and performances are not only terrible, they are "razzie" terrible. Anyways, Kevin finds Sarah and they spend the rest of the movie running from the dragon until a very unsatisfying climax. D-war is a stale, uninspired, tired,regurgitated, borrowed piece of trash. Hyung-rae Shim is under the misconception that bigger and louder is better. As a director he doesn't understand the material itself, and by not realizing what he is working with he has failed to convey any vision that he may or may not have had. This film tries to be too serious. The movie feels clumsy and never really started with a solid foundation; resulting in the crumbling of the film far before the last frame. Apparently this movie took 6 years to make. If Hyung-rae Shim took 6 years on this project and this is all he could do, he should seek other fields of employment. I feel really sorry too, because the Korean media is pegging this movie as "On Par" with Hollywood films, proving Korea's place in the world's Cinema. They couldn't be more wrong. It may win awards in Korea, and break box office records there, but that's as far as it will go. Im not saying Hollywood is always good. I can count hundreds of movies that were terrible coming out of Hollywood. However, this D-War thing is one of those films that just makes you want to boo, hiss, throw popcorn and burn the place down. At the end of the feature there is a little Biography about Hyung-rae Shim himself and the struggle it took to make the film (all in text and pictures). This last little bit cries, "please watch my film I worked so hard", a self gratifying approach, which is soo Film-maker Masturbation. For those who don't understand what I mean, "think" about it. Its takes a very special director to make something truly great and the same could be said about the latter.