Review of Reign of Fire (2002) by Matt L — 23 Jul 2016

Ive loved this movie ever since I saw it for the first time (that was like 20 viewings ago). I mean, who doesnt love a good Dragon story right? The movie features Christian Bale, Gerard Butler, and a fantastic performance from Matthew McConaughey. I find myself yet again loving a movie that involves Bale, not that his performance was outstanding in this film but that I tend to love films that he is involved in. Something my wife often heckles me about and my fanboyish love for all things Bale. Never the less, Reign of Fire is about the accidental unearthing of a dragon which then proceeds to somehow (something that is really never addressed in this film) to procreate and thus create a legion of dragons that descends upon humanity destroying everything in their wake.

Fast forward a few years and we now have an older character (portrayed by Bale) who is basically the guy in charge of a small commune of people held up in a old castle. They find themselves having to rebuild and feed themselves without modern technology all the while still avoiding the threat of dragons as much as possible. After having an unfortunate confrontation with a dragon we see the arrival of Van Zant (McConaughy) and his dragon hunter soldiers. While at first its hard for the commune to believe that Van Zant and his crew are actually dragon hunters it doesnt take long until they put their reputation to test which unfortunately ends with the loss of some of the soldiers lives.

The ultimate prize for Van Zant is tracking down and destroying what he believes to be the only male dragon of the species and destroying it will allow the others to die off without the possibility of reproducing any more dragons. Unfortunately Van Zant is caught off guard by how hard it is to kill the male dragon and not only loses 98% of his unit but it also ends up costing some of the lives back at the castle. So Bale, who knows where the male is hidden because of his personal knowledge of the initial contact of the beast devises a plan with Van Zant and a female helicopter pilot named Alex to go and destroy the dragon themselves. With great acting and some really really great graphics and design work this movie plays out flawlessly.

While Dragons tend to appear in various films generally in smaller roles I have never enjoyed a dragon flick quite this good since Dragonslayer (1981) in which the dragons are the main concept of the films. While the story has a few holes it doesnt suffer all that much and actually plays out pretty well. Certainly worth viewing if you are a fantasy geek.

My rating: 10/10.