Dragon Fire Heats Up the Screen
A New Take on Ancient Monsters

Without a doubt, no one can accuse Reign of Fire of being an ordinary dragon tale. Director Rob Bowman has taken the mythological creatures out of pre-history and taken them to the near future. In this world, dragons are the superior air power and humans huddle in shelters near the bottom of the food chain. While the premise is pure science fiction, this delightful "fantasy" is a welcome summer action offering.

Christian Bale portrays Quinn, a man who as a young boy saw his world devastated by dragons awakened from their millennia old slumber. In a brief series of montages showing headlines and magazine covers, the world is irrevocably changed by these creatures. Quinn now leads a band of humans living underground beneath a castle in Britain. While they eek out a post-apocalyptic living, they have given up on the idea of defeating the dragons.

Enter the American military (naturally). Led by a half-crazed commander named Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey), the new arrivals use a combination of high-tech weaponry and old-fashioned American ingenuity to bring down the big beasties. Of course, the British are suspicious of another so-called dragon slayer. The fact that Van Zan and company are American does not help ingratiate them to their English hosts.

All science and fantasy aside, Reign of Fire is little more than another monster movie. The true stars of the movie are the flying, fire-breathing reptiles that plague humanity. While the images are shadowy and smoky at first, when the dragons are seen fully on screen they are a delight! These nasty buggers are fluid and graceful, stunning and powerful. Seeing the male dragon tower above a castle is breathtaking.

While this is not art, it is everything one expects it to be. For that reason, I give Reign a tentative 6 to lovers of fantasy and science fiction. If you have never seen Godzilla, I suggest you try something more cerebreally stimulating.

MY RATING: 6 out of 10.

RATED:
RUN TIME: 100 min.