Review of Reign of Fire (2002) by Allan C — 03 Jun 2016

Wildly fun genre mash up, combining the post apocalyptic film elements with medieval fantasy. While digging up the streets of London, a construction crew unwittingly unearths (ALA "Quatermass and the Pit") a long dormant dragon.

The film then picks up years later an most of the earths human population have been killed by a scourge of dragons and have been forced to go into hiding, living off the ruins of the old world (most of the world was destroyed by nuclear bombs in an attempt to kill all the dragons).

The film follows one group who have gone into hiding in a medieval castle, led by Christian Bale. The film does a great job of setting up their world, showing how they hide from the dragons, how they get their food, and their primitive living conditions.

Their world is then rocked when an American para-military group shows up, led by a swaggering, axe-wielding Matthew McConaughey, who claims his group are dragon hunters. This film has a pretty gonzo set up that could easily have been made into a cheesy (though probably still enjoyable) Charles Band picture, but this film was directed by frequent "X-Files" writer/director Rob Bowman, who brings utter seriousness to the film.

Much like the "X-Files," stories with a far fetched premiss can either campy or done with utter seriousness. Camp is a lot easier, but often times films that want to be serious become unintentional camp, but in my option (which isn't shared by everyone) is that this film does manage to pull it off.

McConaughey and Bale are both undeniably actors who can pull off serious dramatic roles that there do so very well here (though I'll admit McConaughey does dip into camp at a few points). You also get future serious dude Gerard Butler in a supporting role.

For me the is film totally works as an interesting post apocalyptic action fantasy film, but at the same time I can also see that this film coming off as completely ridiculous to audience members whoa re not fans of these types of genre films or not willing to suspend disbelief.

The underused Izabella Scorupco also appears in the film.