Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsEnter The Dragons.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 February 2019
Reign Of Fire (2002).
Genre: Action/Adventure.
Certificate: 12/PG-13
Running Time: 98 Minutes.
Pointless Trivia.
1)Matthew McConaughey's character appears 30 minutes into the film & apparently stayed in character throughout filming (bet he was fun to be around).
2)The play Quinn & Creedy perform for the children is the film Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
3)Director Rob Bowman directing credits include many X-Files episodes including the feature film & Daredevil spin off movie Elektra.
4) Budget $60 million - Box Office Gross US $82.15 million.
5) Matthew McConaughey gets top billing despite only featuring in a supporting role as the movie main focus dwells on the Quinn (Christian Bales) character.
Synopsis.
In present-day London, twelve-year-old Quinn watches as his mother, a construction engineer, inadvertently wakes an enormous fire-breathing beast from its centuries-long slumber killing her & is set free upon the world.
20 years later, much of the world has been scarred by the beast & its offspring. As a fire chief, Quinn is responsible for warding off the beasts & keeping a community alive as they live out a meagre existence until the arrival of a hotshot American named Van Zan who claims he can kill the beasts & save mankind in a way Quinn's never seen done.
Timelord Thoughts.
'Reign Of Fire' in my opinion is a very underrated & often overlooked action movie starring Christian (Batman) Bale, Matthew McConaughey's & Gerard Butler which sees mankind become virtually extinct as fire breathing dragons now dominate the world & have virtually reduced planet Earth to a cinder.
The movie opens in present-day London with a young Quinn witnessing the rebirth of the race of dragons, who supposedly wiped out the dinosaurs & now set about ravaging the world once again, skip forward 20 yrs & the remnants of humanity cower in enclaves while fire-breathing dragons prowl the barren wasteland while Quinn (Christian Bale) now commands a castle in Northumberland, trying to preserve the last remnants of humanity.
Enter dragonslayer Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey) a battle scarred warrior intent on tracking down & destroying the dragon king who quickly clashes with Quinns way of running things, can these two radically different men put aside there differences & work together in slaying the dragon king?
Christian Bale gives a excellent performance as Quinn, the films main hero who tries to protect his community the best way he knows how & brings heart, emotion & even hope to the Quinn character despite witnessing the death of his mother, Quinn genuinely cares for his community which makes for a refreshing change from the usual cliché dark, depressing moody survivor route that many post apocalypse movies go down.
Matthew McConaughey adds a dark layer of intensity in his slightly OTT performance as Van Zan, a shaved head, brawny tattooed arms bad ass who is the complete opposite to Quinn, Zan is a battle scarred warrior obsessed with hunting down & killing the dragon lord & will kill anyone who stands in his way, the chemistry between Bale & McConaughey is good & the film does well balancing out two different points of view & builds to a very physical intense fight scene between these two characters.
Lending acting support is former Bond girl Izabella Scorupco as Alex Jensen, Van Zan's helicopter pilot who quickly develops feelings for Quinn, Alice Krige cameos in a small role as young Quinn's mum while Gerard Butler does well as Creedy, Quinns best friend & right hand man, Rob Bowmans direction is solid & he certainly knows how to build up suspense & create interesting character drama, the dragon CGI effects are convincingly good & there appearances make for some intense action scenes that spectacularly entertain.
Flaws?, only a couple, Van Zans character isn't nearly as well fleshed out like Quinn & for the most part all we actually see is a borderline lunatic who wants to kill dragons even at the cost of human life, it would've been better for the character had we had a bit more backstory to what has pushed Van Zan over the edge & while we do get a few hints it's never really expanded upon & while the action sequences are good were once again limited to PG-13 violence which means the film is toned down to what gore can be seen, this film would've fared better as a R' rated movie as the overall tone is dark & bleak so why not go make a film for mature audiences for a change instead of pampering to the teen adolescent market.
Overall, 'Reign Of Fire' is a firestorm of entertaining action/adventure which is surprisingly emotional driven by good performances from the cast, Rob Bowmans direction packs a punch with his excellently directed dragon attack sequences from that still hold up today & while it's not quite the spectacle it could've been it's emotional impact & superior acting makes it stand out among other action films of this genre & one that I recommend checking out.