D-War
D-War (Korean: 디워, released in North America as Dragon Wars: D-War), is a 2007 English-language South Korean action-adventure fantasy film written and directed by Shim Hyung-rae, and starring Jason Behr, Amanda Brooks, Robert Forster, and Elizabeth Peña.
At the time of its release, it was the highest-budgeted South Korean film of all time.[1] The film was a box office success, grossing $75 million worldwide.[2] It received generally negative reviews from critics.
The story follows the adventures of Ethan Kendrick, charged in his childhood by the enigmatic Jack to protect the Yuh Yi Joo, an individual who had been born able to change an Imoogi chosen by heaven into a Celestial Dragon, from a corrupt Imoogi identified as “Buraki”, who was prevented from obtaining it in the past by Ethan and Jack’s previous incarnations. To this end, Jack gives Ethan a medallion formerly belonging to Ethan’s previous incarnation Haram, and reveals that the reincarnated Yuh Yi Joo is Sarah Daniels, whom Ethan will find in Los Angeles.
15 years after this revelation, Buraki invades the city, bent on capturing Sarah; whereupon Ethan, now a television news anchor, rescues her, conveys the knowledge of her purpose, and attempts to save her from Buraki, during which they eventually regain the memories of their past lives. During the resulting chase, Buraki’s “Atrox Army” enters the city and engages the United States Army, the United States Air Force, and the Los Angeles Police Department in battle. Here, the Atrox Army is shown to consist of black-armored, humanoid knight warriors; theropod-like cavalry called “Shaconnes”; small, winged Western dragons called “Bulcos”; and immense, slow-moving reptiles carrying rocket-launchers on their backs, identified in the dialogue as “Dawdlers”. Despite losses, this army overwhelms the human forces, while Ethan and Sarah escape the city, but are subsequently captured by the Bulcos and taken to a menacing fortress in the midst of a darkened desert landscape. There, as Buraki emerges from the fortress to consume Sarah, Ethan’s medallion unleashes power that destroys the Atrox Army. Ethan then attempts to prevent Buraki from consuming Sarah, but he is knocked away, whereupon the Good Imoogi, of whom the power in Sarah was to be given, emerges from the fortress and attacks Buraki. The two Imoogi, good and evil, engage each other in a duel that Buraki appears to win after seemingly snapping the Good Imoogi’s neck. After this, Buraki again approaches Sarah, who finally offers herself willingly; but instead gives her power to the injured Good Imoogi who absorbs it. Sarah faints, and Buraki can do nothing as the Good Imoogi becomes the Celestial Dragon (Type: Lung Dragon), continuing the duel until it finally destroys Buraki.
After Buraki is destroyed, Ethan watches Sarah dissolve into a spirit form, and the Celestial Dragon permits her to speak to Ethan, whom she assures that they shall see each other again, and promises to “love…for all eternity”; then withdraws Sarah into its body and ascends into the sky, through the parting clouds to the heavens. Jack appears behind Ethan, reminding him that the two of them “have been given a great honor” to take part in this transformation, and vanishes. After whispering “Goodbye old man”, Ethan walks away into the desert.
