Dragon Wars

[xakara]

 I had friends come into town today and got to spend some time with them. By request of one of my visitors we went to go see Dragon Wars. I'm putting the rest behind a cut because personally I like to avoid movie reviews before seeing something for myself.

I have rarely been so disappointed in a movie ever. I wanted to like it. I went into biased toward liking it by the presence of Jason Behr alone. But alas, it ws not enough. I was ready to leave an hour in, and as anyone can tell you, I'm one of the most generous movie watchers you can meet. I can suspend disbelief to degrees that boggle the mind and have loved some movies other considered the worst of the year. So when I don't like something, it's serious, especially when I wanted to so badly. 

I won't give away anything, primarily because I don't have to in order to explain what was wrong with it. Quite simply, it was a six hour, Sci-Fi Channel mini-series, condensed into less than two hours. So the complete backstory was lost and rather than caring deeply for the characters because I'd gotten to know them, I was left wondering if there was heavy drinking going on throughout the editing process. So much was lost and obviously necessary for you to care about the characters at the end rather than just be happy it was over. 

Now to say something nice. Awesome special effects. Jason Behr is cute. That's it. I'm done. 

I have to go and watch something else just to make myself feel better. I think I'll also take a moment of silence for Jason's career. Here's hoping the Tattooist will do better than the last two projects and be a better film than Dragon Wars. 

Disappointed Ramble Done

~X

Comments

[moon-chylde.livejournal.com]

WOW. That must be like the worst move EVER.

LOL, I have never heard you talk about a movie or TV show like that.

[xakara.livejournal.com]

And it's not that I haven't seen worse movies, it's that there was SO MUCH POTENTIAL that I watched go to waste in a slow, agonizing, way. I wanted Jason to succeed, I've wanted that since Roswell went off the air, but this was definitely not the movie to help his career.

I also think it was even more disappointing because Skinwalkers didn't do well at the theater so I had higher hopes for Dragon Wars. But it was just...too much for one movie. The Sci-Fi Channel would have done it more justice over two or three nights than the big screen even came close to doing.

(http://photobucket.com)

~X

[moon-chylde.livejournal.com]

Skinwalkers was here for just a week and I don't think anyone even saw it. I never saw a review of it anywhere.

And I hate to say it but The Tattooist doesn't look much more promising.

[xakara.livejournal.com]

I can only hope he gets snagged for another series that's doing well and gets him seen so he'll be offered better scripts. He's gotta pay his bills and pay his dues, I just want a little more up in that payment process.

Doesn't Grey's Anatomy need another cute intern?

[moon-chylde.livejournal.com]

Joss needs to do another show.

He can grab up Jason, Nathan, Eliza, and whoever else from his past Verse who's interested and give them all the good show they need and deserve.

[xakara.livejournal.com]

Joss always needs to do something more. He's Joss, that's just the truth of things.

I'd love to seen Jason with Fangs, ooo, or Nathan as a shapeshifter. Come on Joss, write!

[busy91.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks for the review. We were looking at seeing this last Saturday, but my kids opted for "Shoot 'em Up" and I saw "The Brave One". Now I'm glad we didn't see it. I was going to put it on my Netflix list too, but I don't think I will now. I am a generous movie grader myself, so if you didn't like it, I'm sure I won't either.

[xakara.livejournal.com]

And I'm the kind of person who hates to hear this because I've loved movies that other people have hated. I've recommended movies I just didn't like so others could judge for themselves. But I can't with this one.

This movie was so disappointing that I simply can't bring myself to say anything that would encourage someone to spend money on it. As deeply as I want Jason to succeed, I just can't. Outside of the special effects there is nothing about this movie I can speak in the positive about.

Wait for cable and judge then for free.

[busy91.livejournal.com]

I went to Netflix to see the reviews. Mostly one star reviews, there was one 2 star reviews. OK the majority rules. Too bad tough, it could have been good.

[xakara.livejournal.com]

I don't want to be in agreement with critics. I don't trust critics. I think that there's a specific quota of things they have to badmouth just to be oppositional, and the very concept of that bothers me deeply.

But they were right. This movie tried to be too many things and didn't accomplish any of them. I'm so sad about that. Which my emotional attachment likely makes me the worst critic in the world, but it's true, I'm so sad I couldn't like this movie.

[moondancerdrake.livejournal.com]

I'm glad we didn't drag the kids along and come with you. They never would have sat for that. Sorry it sucked so bad. Another case of the hype being better then the movie itself.

[xakara.livejournal.com]

I think the children would have loved the great serpent tearing through the city and all the wyveryn vs. helicopter scenes.

As an adult attempting to follow the story, and wanting there to be a cohesive story to follow...I was disappointed and heartbroken.

[ameliajune.livejournal.com]

I went to this writing panel last weekend where a guy was pimping for that movie--I got a free tshirt, but even then the movie looked too bad to spend money on!

And it is too bad, because I love dragons.

[xakara.livejournal.com]

I love dragons too. And the scenes where they showed the serpents/great wyrms and where the wyveryn were flying, as well as the dragon at the end -- all beautiful.

But whoever edited this movie should be drug tested.

It was promoted as steak, but what landed on my plate was undercooked hamburger. They chopped at this thing until it had little hope of doing even one thing well.

It wasn't high fantasy, it wasn't romance, it wasn't urban fantasy, it was bits and pieces they put together and I was left at a loss. Who watched the finish piece and declared it done?

And perhaps it was a self-editing issue. It's possible it was edited by someone who knew the story so well that they took out the things they didn't need to understand what was going on and buy into all the aspects. But the rest of us did. The rest of us required a whole lot more than we were given to feel apart of the story.

[eclectic-writer.livejournal.com]

Apparently the movie was HUGE when it came out in Korea, so I've kind of been looking forward to it. I'm one who would rather read a review from someone like-minded and veer away from spending ~$10 for something I probably won't like.

I did, however, see The Brave One which was better than I thought it'd be.

[xakara.livejournal.com]

I understand why it was huge in Korea, being based on a Korean legend. I would also wonder if a longer version was played in Korea where more of the necessary elements were present to make it a cohesive story.

And to be fair, I'm willing to believe that the primary issue is that I was looking at a Korean story, edited in a fashion meant for a Korean audience, and my American cultural filter just couldn't find palatable bits of a foreign dish. I don't think that's the case, but I'm willing to be told that's part of why it did well there but fell flat when I saw it.

It simply tried too much and accomplished nothing. The high fantasy elements were laughable. The romance was beyond laughable as they went from meeting in one scene, to running in two scenes, to speaking about how it was unfair they'd be parted after just finding each other in the fourth scene. The urban fantasy element was cut short as the two biggest parts of it, don't get explained clearly until the last minute.

I'm sorry, I have to believe there's 40 more minutes of this movies somewhere that made it decent before it was cut out. And 80 minutes that could have made this movie good....All of it lost on a cutting room floor.

Dragon Wars

[(Anonymous)]

Your review is good enough for me. I won't bother with seeing it.

Nicholas

http://agentlemansdomain.typepad.com

Re: Dragon Wars

[xakara.livejournal.com]

It'll be on televison, likely sooner than later. Keep you 10 bucks and see it for free or at least for extremely cheap and judge for yourself.

I'm not saying everyone should avert their eyes and not acknowledge it exist. But when you go to make up your mind, do it for less than the price of a movie ticket. Hit it as budget theater/dollar cinema if you town has them.