Dragon Day (2013)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

I really wanted to like this movie because I'm sympathetic to some of it's basic ideas such as prepping, fiscal conservatism, and national sovereignty. Unfortunately, "Dragon Day" is a poorly constructed mish-mash of themes that just don't fit together. I regret the $4 I spent to rent it from Amazon and I have no interest in seeing any further efforts from writer/director, Jeffrey Travis.DD starts with America being completely crippled by a Chinese cyber-attack that destroys every electronic device that employs Made In China microchips. As a result of the Road Warrior-type chaos that follows, the main characters spend much of the movie slowly dying from lack of food and water as well as being menaced by various thugs. At the same time, the script has China take over the country in a coup and enforce their control using some kind of ultra high-tech wristbands, which can't be removed and instantly kill the wearer if they break even the most trivial rule. Supposedly, the Chinese do all of this to get back the trillions of dollars we (stupidly) borrowed from them and they (stupidly) loaned to us. How destroying the economy and infrastructure of the US would enable Beijing to get it's money back is not explained. There is no evidence in the script that Travis ever considered the absurdity of this premise.Although either of these themes could be interesting if done well, they simply do not belong in the same movie. There's a reason Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic fiction are two different genres. Not that it's impossible to blend them (see "12 Monkeys") but doing so takes far better writing and directing than this sad effort has to offer.There is yet another weird incongruity in this movie: Despite being openly hostile to Beijing because of it's potential threat to US sovereignty, DD is very sympathetic to Mexico. All of the Mexican characters are portrayed as virtually Christ-like. The main one is essentially a mestizo version of the "Magic Negro" trope found in so many Hollywood movies. This nonsense is a bizarre contradiction to the movie's theme of American nationalism. I have never met a Patriot who was happy about Mexico's ongoing, slow-motion occupation of the West Coast and the Southwest. Of course, there are any number of white liberals who love the idea (because Mexican culture is sooo supportive of feminism, gay rights, and transexuality, lol?) but these are the same self-hating, logic-impaired basket cases who always side against Trad-Cons, no matter what the issue. Does Travis actually think these people have the slightest sympathy for prepping, fiscal conservatism, or national sovereignty? If so, he should read all the reviews and posts here accusing him of "racism" because he doesn't support preemptive surrender to China.

Secretly I'm a fan of low-budget movies.Firstly, because sometimes there are surprising things to see in this niche market. Occasionally you'll encounter a rough diamond that would be a real gem if it was better cut.Secondly, the authors usually aren't really concerned about the public opinion and there is no fear to step on someones toes and go against the grain.This is also the case with "Dragon Day".They have ensured that actually most of the moviegoers will avoid this film.First,the American public really won't be happy about the outcome of this film.Usually a movie ends with an epic, grandiose victory where the "We will prevail" and "God Bless America" ​​slogans are chanted ad nauseam.In this film they surrender and they align themselves on the side of the invader.And secondly,the Republic of China won't give this film a standing ovation,as they are portrayed as sneaky intruders,bringing the American society on the merits in a devious way.With low-budget films there are always some certainties (of course there are exceptions). Usually the performances are pretty pitiful to downright terrible. And the special effects won't blow your socks off. Usually it looks amateurish, with pale camera images and a downright bad timing. There is usually no impressing soundtrack. The only thing that usually keeps a low-budget film afloat, is an intriguing and clever put together storyline, that will keep your attention.Eventually I found this "Dragon Day" fairly successful in that area and I could sit through the whole movie without any problem. Despite the fact that there are here and there some shortcomings.Even the end surprised me.Duke Evans is an NSA analyst, who is suffering a huge financial burden and eventually fired. Apparently he inherits a country-house somewhere in the mountains (by the way, architecturally it's a nice cottage) from his grandfather and moves with his family to this area. Arriving there, they discover that there is a Mexican renting and maintaining this house for some time. While the police removes this intruder, a plane crashes down in the immediate vicinity. Slowly, everything starts to fail : cars, electricity, water, communications, television broadcasting, ... Turns out there is an invasion performed by China because the U.S. has a trillion debt to this country and don't want to pay it back. China claims the right to occupy the USA. And, this is simply done by use of the millions of chips that are incorporated in electronic devices with "Made in China" on it. Through a back-door, a virus is released in the American society after which everything is thrown back in time 30 years.Don't expect impressive images of a imploding White House as in "Independence Day" or continuous action as in "White House Down". The special effects are limited to a few ugly plumes of smoke that insinuates a plane-crash. And a panoramic view of an American city in ruins. The emphasis in this movie is placed on the collapse of a society where human values ​​are pushed to the side and the survival instinct comes up, resulting in debauchery and cruelty. "Invasion Day" shows the desperation because of the lack of basic needs such as food and water. Perhaps the idea that an entire continent can be paralyzed, by disabling its electronic network, is a bit excessive. Yet this is not inconceivable since we are depending on that entire network. In this age of hackers,spam,viruses,spy-ware,Stuxnet(a virus designed to sabotage industrial processes from nuclear plants in Iraq, cyber-stalking,DDoS attacks,phis-hing and e-Fraud,such a scenario isn't unlikely.Obviously not on such a large scale, but still disastrous enough.I read on Wikipedia:"The federal government of the United States admits that the power grid is susceptible to cyber-war. In April 2009,according to current and former national security officials,there's reported that China and Russia had infiltrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind computer programs that can be used to disrupt the system.".Seems to me it's not really fiction anymore.Ethan Flower takes the lead on his behalf. For me, a totally unknown person (like most of the cast) who eventually performs well enough even though he sometimes acts like a dull vegetable. All in all a pleasant and convincing performance.Asa Wallander is something else. She annoyed me from the beginning.Terrible overacting and sometimes downright bizarre reactions (which of course is a bit the fault of the script) like when she gets angry at Duke because he spends not enough time with them and he doesn't do his best to get them out of this situation. Personally,I would have used a sledgehammer on her. The best performances were (for me) Eloy Mendez as the resident Mexican and William Knight as the elderly neighbor Albert Grimes, who really looks forward to killing some communists again.Despite the interesting story, there were still some implausible facts. There are some passenger planes crashing and Duke has immediately the brilliant idea that it's an invasion. After shattering several cellphones and seeing chips with "Made in China", he immediately concludes that China is responsible.If you are asked to fill a bath with water,and there is no bath, then the decision to just fill one small can is apparently the logical thing to do. I know that potatoes contain electricity. I'm sure that they had "Duracell" potatoes, because they lasted very long. How the bracelets exactly could determine the identity is phenomenal and the way they liquidate persons who commit an offense, is also exceptional.All in all a pleasant surprise that had some strong content but visual wasn't that overwhelming. Duke however is fortunate that the device he used in the end didn't have any Chinese chips in it.Otherwise, it would be an extremely grave situation for him.More reviews at http://opinion-as-a-moviefreak.blogspot.be/

After seeing some bad reviews I was expecting a boring movie, but it was totally the opposite. If you are not the type of person that need to see the million dollar effects and the top paid actors to enjoy a movie, you will not regret watching this one. The possible fact of the USA not able to paid their debt and the massive cyber-attack that follows make a very interesting idea. It has a good plot, nice filming and it's great how they manage to make a movie on this complicate subject with a really low budget ($200.000). I would like to see the same movie, same idea, same director, same writer but with a Hollywood budget!

I actually was enjoying the movie, until I realized that it was a mere regurgitation of the old Yellow Peril xenophobia tripe that rears its ugly head in American cinema from time to time. As an American of Asian descent, I certainly felt as though the finger was being pointed at me for America's economic woes. What did I do?Really? The wicked Chinese want to take over America? Can't you do better than that? I'm glad I did not go to the theater to watch this - I certainly would have left the theater, if only to ensure my safety in a roomful of folks who had just watched a movie that plays up to every villainous, yellow peril, xenophobic stereotype in the book. The one clever thing about the movie was that it achieved this without actually resorting to using an arch-villain Asian character - now that was unusual. Maybe this shows up in the sequel.