Open Writing

This week in South Korea a lot of people are talking about D-War, the latest film from comedian-turned-director Sim Hyung-rae. It broke Korean box office records by selling 3 million tickets in its first five days on release.

Despite rising British interest in Korean cinema it is unlikely that D-War will even raise a flutter in the United Kingdom. It is simply not that good. One of the film’s chief attractions for Koreans is that it was made in Hollywood by an inexperienced director whose critics told him that he would never succeed.

“Everybody is going to see it to support Sim Hyung-rae,” my boyfriend told me as we made our way into a cinema on the outskirts of Seoul last weekend. “They like D-War because he showed that Koreans can make it in Hollywood. None of the famous directors have done that,” he added.

“D-War” is a modern monster movie based on the old Korean legend of the imoogi. The imoogi are giant serpents who live in the heavens. Every 500 years a bad imoogi comes down to Earth in an attempt to capture the yeoiju, a magic ball that has the power to turn him into a celestial dragon. The yeoiju is carried inside a 20-year-old woman who must die to prevent the imoogi from fulfilling his ambition.

Some of the opening scenes are set in the Korea of 500 years ago. However, most of the story takes place in Los Angeles and the principal actors are English-speaking Americans. The unusual mesh of modern LA and old Korean culture is no doubt another reason for D-War’s popularity in Korea. One of the film’s most memorable sections features a battle between Korean villagers in traditional costume and a rampaging army of laser cannon toting dinosaurs.

For the large part D-War does not stick in the mind. The American actors deliver their lines as if they are in a drama made for learners of English as a second language. “The Korean-speaking actors weren’t really good either,” says my boyfriend. The story does not develop very far beyond the basic yeoiju plotline, the fight scenes are poorly choreographed and the costumes look cheap.

However, the computer graphics are one of D-War’s triumphs. The imoogi is entirely believable as he wraps himself around skyscrapers, eats elephants at the zoo and slithers down the streets of downtown Los Angeles.

In my opinion the best thing about the film is the appearance of a celestial dragon. The image is completely East Asian and as Hollywood is so thoroughly dominated by European dragons, the novelty is worth the cinema ticket.

If D-War comes to a movie theatre near you (and it probably will if you are in the United States), I would recommend going to see it. It’s not the best film in the world but it is a piece of Korean cinematic history.