I went to see this movie for Jason Behr, and to see some effects, but for nothing else, and that is exactly what I got. I took a friend with me who owns all of those Godzilla, Mothra, Godzilla vs. Mothra, etc. movies, thinking that at least he would enjoy it and give me someone to discuss the movie with. My dearest wish is that we could have been in one of our apartments, throwing popcorn at the screen and laughing out loud at the preposterous "acting" and lines of the characters. Seriously, this movie is best viewed while imbibing a little and being as loud as you want; it would be terrific fun that way.
Not an option for us, unfortunately. The theater wasn't exactly filled with parents and their eleven-year-old sons, but they made up all of the rest of the audience besides the two of us. I saw the movie for free (never a sign of a high-grossing movie if they will let you use a pass the weekend after a movie comes out; it means they are desperate to get some behinds in chairs), so I figured it was all gravy.
The effects were actually pretty cool; my favorite was the evil snake-dragon wrapped around LA's Liberty Building. The downtown LA-decimating battle was interesting to watch, even though I would not have been surprised to see a Transformer run through on its way to tackle a Decepticon. (Where were they anyway? Seeing them square off against the mini-dragon-ish beasts or the snake would have been worth the price of admission!). Some of the creatures in their battle-formations reminded me so much of both Lord of the Rings and Star Wars that I had to admire Hyung-rae Shim's brass for opening himself to intellectual-property litigation. We know what his geek-pedigree is! My favorite creatures were the aptly-named Dawdlers.
At the end of the movie, scratch that, during the entire movie, I was stuck wondering what this film says about Korean moviegoers. I have hears all about how this movie is a smash-hit over there, and I know that it is flopping over here. I didn't expect much, but I certainly did not expect such sub-par acting from Amanda Brooks. I have only seen one other movie that I cannot recall her in, but given this evidence, I hope never to see here again. I wish her well as a person, but she got her chance to impress me, and she blew it so spectacularly that I don't think I will ever look at one of her characters without wanting to laugh scornfully. Jason Behr managed well enough, given the drivel that he had to work with. Roswell showed me that he could be more than a pretty face (and nice abs, sholders, etc.), but this movie does not give him much of a chance to be more than not-bad. (If you are not going to let him act, will you at least allow him to shrug off those 70's-terrific button-down shirts? I know that the costume designer is hiding his wonderful physique on purpose. Could I at least have the joy of a clinging- t-shirt? Please?)
Seriously, Mr. Shim, this is not your first film! I think it's great that you can both write and direct a movie, but seriously, you need to think about letting someone else put words into the mouths of your characters; you are awful at it! Maybe this mush of over-wroughtness makes tons of sense in Korean (a language I know nothing about), but it doesn't translate at all into English. I can do better. I know how pompous that makes me sound, but I can tell you that while I am not particularly good, I am at least not as stultify-ingly bad as this script showed him to be. The exposition was so heavy-handed that I had to ask my buddy "What? I've lost the plot." (Plot? <
Could someone also explain to me how Korean dragons can fly with no wings in evidence? I suppose that they are meant to be so magical that they don't even need to be propelled. I'll take a nice Western mythical creature like an pegasus anyday; at least they pretend to obey the laws of physics.
I knew walking into this movie that I would have to be entertained mainly by the monster-effects, which I was. I had no idea how much of a let-down it would be to have one of the human characters speak up during the climactic battle scene. If this movie had been made entirely out of graphics, like the Final Fantasy movie, I would have been fine, but in this case, the real world should have minded its own business. The mix of the two was entirely inappropriate and distracted me from my enjoyment and appreciation of the costly special effects. A giant snake slithering down the streets of LA, knocking cars, trees and everything else out of the way with each sinuous coil? Cool!
Now, all this having been said (and I know I am not the only one; other people have touched on these points too); wait until video and have an awesome night excoriating the awful dialog and cheering the effects with your friends in the freedom of your own home!
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