“Keep both eyes on the sky.”
Batman, Wooderson, a Bond Girl, King Leonidas, Dr. Bashir, the Borg Queen, and Joffrey Baratheon walk into a post-apocalyptic world ruled by dragons…..Sounds like a bad joke, right? Well, in 2002’s Reign of Fire, that’s exactly what happened. Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey, Izabella Scorupco, Gerard Butler, Alexander Siddig, Alice Krige, and Jack Gleeson all appear in the film to varying degrees, with Bale, McConaughey, and Scorupco taking the spotlight for most of the film. The movie asks the question, “What would happen if dragons took over the modern world?” A bigger question for me is, “What did I just watch?”
Don’t get me wrong, there are some genuinely excellent moments in Reign Of Fire, but they are just too few and far between. In the film, the year is 2020 and the world has been completely devastated by dragons and man’s attempts to stop them. Bale stars as Quinn Abercromby who, as a child, witnesses the moment that the dragon uprising begins and, as a man, is the leader of a ragtag bunch of survivors living outside of London hoping to outlive the rule of dragons. Helping Quinn is Creedy (Butler), who is second in command at the survivor compound. He provides almost all of the film’s humor. Siddig plays Ajay, the compound’s communications guy, who listens for radio contact with other survivors. When a massive military unit shows up at the compound’s door, a struggle for command and sanity develops between Quinn and American dragon hunter and ex-military man, Denton Van Zan (McConaughey), who believes that taking down the lone bull dragon encamped in London will ultimately lead to the die out of the female dragons that are terrorizing the world. Assisting Van Zan is Alex Jensen (Scorupco), the helicopter pilot who gives Van Zan eyes in the sky. She also heads up the Archangels, an elite group of dragon killers that assist Van Zan. After a huge battle for control, Van Zan leads a group on a failed mission to kill the bull dragon. He and Quinn eventually put their differences aside and, along with Jensen, go on a suicide mission to kill the bull dragon. Do they kill the big, bad bull? Watch Reign Of Fire to find out!
I had absolutely zero desire to watch this film when it was first released. Apparently I wasn’t the only person who felt that way, as the film fared poorly in theaters. For whatever reason, I decided to give it a try over twenty years later. It’s premise is farfetched, but that’s nothing new for me. I’m used to farfetched films. What I couldn’t buy in this movie was McConaughey in the “tough guy” role. His entire performance felt forced and too over-the-top. Scorupco just appeared to be going through the motions. Bale came off as an actor hoping that his performance would distract viewers from the poor performances of the rest of the cast. Butler was actually the best thing in this film. His performance fit the goofiness of the plot and I actually cared about his character. Alice Krige has little more than a cameo as Quinn’s mother. Gleeson portrayed one of the colony’s children. While his role was small, he had one moment where the camera focused on the desperation in his eyes. He knocked that brief moment out of the park. Siddig was fine in his limited role and most of the rest of the cast was just okay.
The special effects were well done in my opinion. I’ve read other reviews of this film stating that it was superior to Jurassic Park (1993) as far as CGI goes and those folks are completely wrong. The effects are very good, but nowhere near the level of JP. Many of the effects were hidden by the film’s dark setting. The dark color of the dragons also helped hide any shortcomings.
Ultimately, Reign Of Fire is a rather bland popcorn flick featuring an amazing set of actors, most of which give a mediocre performance in the film. McConaughey is one of my favorite actors but he is terribly miscast in this film. Bale looked as if he knew he was in a dull film. Butler is the real hero of this flick in my opinion. Do I recommend it? Yeah, why not? There are much worse films out there.
Thanks for checking out my look at Reign Of Fire. Do you share my opinion of the film? Let me know in the comments section!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 