Is “D-War” a new wealth creation model? [Chosun Ilbo, English. HT to reader]
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English Books on Korea... and More!
The ‘Shim Hyung-rae Model’
This entry was written by Robert Koehler, posted on August 4, 2007 at 12:31 pm, filed under Asides, Korean Culture. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
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20 Comments
“new wealth creation model”, (noun, slang) - Create something worth owning and people may buy it.
Nice to see someone here make some real bread based on their competence.
I doubt the film’s investors will still applaud.
I will give the reporter credit though, as he seems to understand that selling screenplays of Korean films to Hollywood studios is really irrelevant and barely worth mentioning in comparison to actually making films. It’s like the difference between manufacturing a Lamborghini and supplying the lugnuts to Lamborghini.
What he does not grasp, is that the only similarity between D-War and Spiderman are the letters d, a, and r.
I’ll swallow my pride and admit that I paid money to see this last night.
Imagine:
- The plot sincerity of Godzilla 2000
- The the costumes and special effects (minus CGV) of Power Rangers (or those really bad Chinese fantasy dramas you see on tv)
- Really bad CGV…
- The dialog and feel of Dungeons and Dragons, divided by two…. make that four…
- All under the heavy and undeniable nuance that the sole purpose of this film is to promote Korea in some way…
- Two scenes of comedy reminiscent of Scary Movie
Further observations:
- Due to the actors poor pronunciation and hurried explanation, the Korean legend came across the same as would a grade schooler explaining Pokemon.
- The screen play was so bad, that there wasn’t any psychological, emotional or logical motive for any of the characters actions other than the blatant fact that that was what magically or coincidentally had to happen to fill the run time of the movie…
- because of this there was no suspense at all, EVER.
- this further proves my theory that Koreans can’t cast American actors. only 50% of the characters were right for their roles, and few could act
- the opening narration sounded like a Kindergarten teacher
- the apache pilots looked effeminate and too young
(in all fairness Americans suck at casting Asian actors: Memoirs of a Geisha)
- Jason Behr tried really hard, and the contrast with everything else in the movie was so obvious that it made me laugh even more.
- MY WIFE FELL ASLEEP DURING THE LAST DRAGON BATTLE
- The music was BAD….
more:
- revolvers have more than three shots, and they don’t jam (extremely rare, thats why they are still used despite the small magazine)
- revolvers aren’t issued to apache pilots (Shim seems to like revolvers)
- Why would you used a 50 cal on an Abrams in a ranged battle against charging dinosaur with rockets strapped to its back and not the 120mm cannon?
- Why do spirits change into white wedding dresses when they die? WHY?
Why insult all those other B movies by including this in the same category?
Being that this guy was a comedian, I can’t help but suspect this was all intentional. I’m concerned that D-War will do for Korean movies, what Hyundai did for Korean cars in the 80’s.
…뭉정기2 had a better plot and flow than this movie….
Captbbq, you are not only a liar, but a devious slanderer of Korean cinema. None other than the Chosun Ilbo declared that D-War’s “special effects are said to be second to none, up to Hollywood standards.”
Second to none does not mean really bad, as you imply. So I would suggest a second, third, fourth, or perhaps even a fifth viewing of D-War. In fact, you need to keep watching the film until you are convinced that the special effects are a revolutionary gift to mankind from god himself.
I plan to see this Oscar-worthy blockbuster when it opens in the US next month. I’m quite sure with all the huge buzz, I will likely have to wait in line for several days just to secure an opening day ticket, but I am willing to pay that price to see a work of staggering genius.
With D-War opening and the staggering success of “Bi” in the U.S. I’d say the stranglehold of American cultural imperialism is finally broken. Highting!
Ha ha. Thanks for the laugh, Mike.
Corrections:
Freudian slip: CGV -> CGI
and by “extremely rare” I meant mechanical failures, jams absolutely never happen on revolvers
Blueballs:
Second to none in terms of suckitude.
On a serious note, the snake/dragons (with exception to the last morphed dragon) were pretty good as all their efforts seem to have gone into those, but the lizard monsters with rockets on their backs…. no way… no way… we’re talking Anaconda 1 levels here…
In order to be part of the “story revolution,” you need to at least have a STORY!
Saw D-War Friday night, and it was so sad. Usually, when I have seen a movie in a packed Korean theater, especially if it’s a Korean movie, the audience applauds. At the end of this one, there was a smattering of applause then murmuring. People asking, “What did you think?” They wanted assurances of others before they admitted themselves that the movie sucked.
Wrote a detailed review here:
http://www.zenkimchi.com/videohunt/?p=79
Yeah, D-War was pretty bad. Around the same level as Hulk (dubious cgi, illogical story, hero with big hair) - but even Hulk made $132 million and will have a sequel.
Shim Hyung-rae desperately needs to be kept away from keyboards and any-and-all filmmaking equipment. The man has zero talent for making movies. He can raise funds like a mo-fo, but zero talent.
Count me among the many satisfied customers of D-War. After running it down here on the Marmot’s Hole sight-unseen (just those awful trailers on YouTube), I had to go see it. D-War was as terrible as I predicted — but Holy Cow, can those promoters put bums in seats! The theater was absolutely packed.
Word of mouth will kill this turkey by next weekend. Everyone who wanted to see D-War, but couldn’t get to a theater, will be hearing about it from their friends and co-workers on Monday. The Tuesday-Friday box office drop ought to be precipitous.
I think we may have been in the same theater!
I had my suspicions regarding the suck level of this movie. Hyung-rae Shim sounds like a boob. One of those crazy ajushi’s from my father’s generation who are just so full of themselves and live in their own worlds. All those ajushi’s are good at are having soju shots with their rich friends, singing off tone love ballards from the 60’s in the noraebang and getting them to waste money on questionable business ventures.
Keep in mind that all the recent good Korean movies (i.e. Save the Green Planet, The Host, Oldboy, My Sassy Girl, etc.) are directed by guys in there 30’s and 40’s. You look at Korean movies in the 60’s and 70’s and then you see why D-War may appear so out of touch. D-War is not The Host. It probably has more in common another English language Korean movie dumped to America’s shores called “Incheon” that was funded by the Unification Church.
Lastly, the premise of the article is a good one. If the Korean movie industry wants to make serious bucks, then it does need to start making the movies instead of just selling the screenplays. Perhaps CJ Entertainment should go out and buy a studio in the states? Like Vivendi’s (French company) acquisition of Universal or like Sony’s acquisition of Columbia. I don’t know. One thing Korea must stop doing is dumping crappy movies on America’s shores. Incheon, D-War and yes Typhoon. I remember last year Typhoon was hyped so heavily in the Korean American community, as if we were the missing link to making the movie successful in the states.
“Yeah, D-War was pretty bad. Around the same level as Hulk (dubious cgi, illogical story, hero with big hair) - but even Hulk made $132 million and will have a sequel.”
Never saw the movie but loved the TV show as a kid.
“Don’t make me angry! You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry!”
Shim’s a brave man. When I was little, I remember him from Yu Muh 1 Bun Ji tv shows, as Esper Man in Woo Rae Mae, but generally predominantly as a comedian. I mean it sort of confused me when he was acting all superman-like serious as Esper-Man. I suspect he was doing Woo Rae Mae to set himself up to leave comedy.
Even in the US, comedy actors take a back seat. They are not ‘real’ actors, sort to speak. That movie was good, but no chance in hell for an academy. Because it was a comedy.
That sort of thing. Things changed lately with some comedians playing serious roles and rebranding themselves as real actors in the US.
Shim is just trying to do the same.
But, sadly, it seems his movies have not developed much from his acting days in Woo Rae Mae. I’d have to see it to judge, though. Based on the response, I’m waiting for rental.
# 14,
There is a fine line between bravery and foolishness. Well, at best, this movie will make up its $70M. I’ve learned not to underestimate the American palate for bad movies stuffed with nonsensical (but technically competent) special effects.
To make up $70m in production costs (don’t forget the advertising budget, which I’d bet was $3-5 million in Korea, and might approach $10 million to get the film onto 1700 screens in the States), this film would need to hit $160 million in total receipts from box office, television sales, and DVD promotion. There is no way that can happen.
Anybody outside of Korea see an advertisement for this movie on TV? I saw ads for The Host quite a few times on Canadian and American networks, and this movie apparently has a bigger promotional budget, but the only place I’ve seen anything about D-War was online.
#3.
Sure, but I’m really starting to wonder if the movie is bad on purpose.
The guys who own the rights to ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’ still get royalty checks in the mail, after all.
D-War was $32 million, not $70 million. The earlier number contain’s Shim’s usual exaggerations plus a lot of the setup costs for his f/x company. But the official number the Younggu Art and Showbox are using is $32 million. Which it could make, given its good opening weekend (or at least come reasonably close, especially once home video and merchandising is added in).
Well I liked it…
It was nowhere near the Plan 9 from Outer Space-sized turkey that I was expecting. The acting wasn’t that good, but hardly atrocious. The CGI was pretty good. And I think the director has a good eye for action scenes. I found myself enjoying the film a great deal…
I’m recommending it to friends…
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[...] reading comments like this one (”…worst movie I have ever seen”), and comments at this Marmot’s thread, and this review here, I went to the theater to see D-War with very, very low expectations. In [...]