Reign of Fire Movie Review:


Have you ever thought of owning a pet fire breathing flying beast? Well, before you do you might want to check out the monster action thriller Reign of Fire starring Matthew McConaughey and Christian Bale.

When Quinn (Christian Bale) was a young boy his mom was killed by a huge fire breathing flying beast during a train tunnel dig in the heart of London. Somehow there were pre-historic fire breathing monsters waiting for some dumb people to excavate deep in the earth and accidentally unleash them. Since then these beasts who feed on ash have basically burned the world down to a small number of dilapidated scattered buildings where the few remaining humans leave in fear.

Let’s just say the creatures like their food very well done. Burned to a crisp is the flavor of the day. No need to bring a barbeque when you have flames coming out of your mouth.

Now an adult and the leader of his isolated mostly underground community, Quinn is working hard to keep people alive and safe.

Out of nowhere arriving in a tank with an entourage is G.I. Joe Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey). Looking and acting like a psycho commando, Van Zan tells Quinn that he is a dragon slayer . In the beginning the two don’t get along but later the find out they need each other in order to stay alive and defeat the dragons.

Van Zan has a weird and dangerous way of killing the monsters that has to do with using the one helicopter he brought that is piloted by the beautiful Alex (Izabella Scorupco).

Wouldn’t you know it things get from bad to worse but Van Zan and Quinn do manage to just barely kill one of the beasts although not without getting some of their people killed.

Later Van Zan tells Quinn that he knows how to get rid of the monsters for good. All the have to do is kill the only male beast alive so he can’t have a gin and tonic with the females creatures. This will cause the entire species to become extinct cause they won’t be able to reproduce.

A brilliant idea that has one catch. The male monster is bigger, smarter and stronger than any of the females. Since they had an extremely hard time killing one female beast, the chances of getting the male head honcho is almost slim to none.

Besides the few weapons they have there is an arsenal of tools that Quinn and Van Zan make good use of such as overacting, silly dialogue and making very animated faces.

The look of the film is like a combination of pieces from movies Waterword and Robin Hood. The special effects range from looking very fake to scary.

Director Rob Bowman does injects some thrills and fun to the movie in between the many absurd shenanigans throughout.

Think of this film as Mad Max meets Aliens in the not too distant future. If you are looking for some light summer entertainment in the form of a monster movie that can make you a bit jumpy then Reign of Fire should please most of you without causing a fire hazard.

Gil Benzeevi

Resting for centuries far beneath the Earth, a creature from ancient lore, with the potential to eliminate humanity is about to be awakened. The aftermath of this action will result in mass destruction and death upon the nations of the world. Fire-breathing dragon, long thought to be creatures of myth, turn out to be very real and very fatal for the unprepared populace of the world in the new film “reign of Fire” by veteran “X-Files” director Rob Bowman.

When a civil engineering project in London accidentally awakens a sleeping dragon, the cities of the world soon became a wasteland as a result of the dragons that are multiplying at an alarming rate as the feed upon the populace. Unable to halt the winged menaces, the nations of the earth turn to nuclear weapons in desperation with little effect. Scattered pockets of humanity remain twenty years after the first dragon was freed and humanity is facing a grim future.

The story centers on a group of survivors in Northumberland England who have taken refuge in a castle and face a constant struggle for survival due to limited food and the constant threat imposed by the dragons. The survivors are lead by a man named Quin (Christian Bale), who is a troubled individual weighed heavily upon the burden of keeping his remnant alive as well as by his past. The society is thrown into disarray by the arrival of Denton Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey), and his militia who arrive armed with armored vehicles and a helicopter. Van Zan claims that he knows how to defeat the dragons and this leads to a battle of wills between Quin and himself over the future of the survivors, as Quin believes the best chances for survival lay in waiting the dragons out. Caught in the crossfire between the two leaders is an attractive pilot named Alex (Izabella Scorupco), who is divided between her attraction to Quin, and her loyalty to Van Zan. Eventually the three soon set off on a quest to save humanity and this fits very well with medieval literature as Epic Quests and the notion of the Trinity were often prevalent themes, and this fits well with the mythos of the story.

While the film does have an interesting premise and solid work from it’s leads, there were some problems. The most glaring issue I had with the film was that of basic biology, as the reproductive history of the dragons as well as certain biological features that were established in the film and fuel a crucial plot point, yet contrast sharply to the initial rise of the dragons and basic biology. While this may seem trivial, upon seeing the film readers will better understand my complaint and see how this becomes a large plot hole in the story. There are also side issues regarding where Van Zan and the survivors are able to acquire fuel, electricity, spare parts, and other modern conveniences that they use in and out of the compounds, as there is no explanation given to how such things happen to not be issues.

That being said, “Reign of Fire” is one of the more entertaining and refreshing premises to come along for an apocalypse film in ages, and as a summer film, is at times a pleasant if albeit flawed diversion.

3 stars out of 5

Gareth Von Kallenbach

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