Review of Reign of Fire (2002) by Xgary X — 17 Aug 2011

In a world razed to the ground by a plague of dragon like creatures, a motley crew of survivors decide to strike back and hunt the sole male of the species. I'd love to have sat in on the pitch to the studio for this movie! "Well, you see, they're digging a tunnel for the London underground, and they, like, unearth these dragons that have been living there since the dawn of time.

.." The whole premise is of course absolutely ridiculous, but this B-movie creature feature was given the A-list treatment and what emerges is a reasonably entertaining monster mash. Some great effects and a good eye from Rob Bowman who uses the dark, flames and cinders to great atmospheric effect make for a very nice looking film, all set in some nice gothic landscapes of desolate wastelands, castles and destroyed cities.

A quality cast also certainly helps, with a typically intense Christian Bale aided by the usually hateful Matthew McConaughey who is actually pretty amusing as the shaven headed, bare chested ball of testosterone who rides into town straddled across his enormous phallus ("There's only one thing worse than dragons.

Americans."!) It also has a couple of really well handled action sequences, but at the same time it never quite recovers from the fact that the idea it's all built upon is so damn silly. It really could have done with a sense of humour, but as a whole it's a Road Warrior/Jaws hybrid that's pretty entertaining if you can make it past the whole dragons vs, helicopters concept.