The Vault: Reign of Fire (2002)

Before Christian Bale was Batman, Gerard Butler was Leonidas and Matthew McConaughey was the dude from those Kate Hudson flicks, dragons ruled the Earth.

Humans have been supplanted as the dominant species of Earth. After a discovery by a young Quinn Abercromby (Christian Bale minus heavy voice, same starvation) dragons were unleashed from the underground caves which they were hiding in the UK. Since that day people are forced to live in almost uninhabitable small colonies. Quinn and Creedy (Gerard Butler) are the heads of an outfit in Northern England, when they are not farming, preparing and performing The Empire Strikes Back for the children they are fighting for their lives.

Denton Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey) is a die-hard kind of American. He makes a living killing dragons. His obsession with dragons almost borders Ahab-ian levels although it could be worse considering that Captain Ahab was only obsessed with one whale, Van Zan has hundreds of winged-beasts to hate. McConaughey has fun chewing scenery as Van Zan, the intensity of his stare can melt buildings and his primal scream attacking the napalm-breathing bastards is unrivaled. Few lines were as memorable for me as when I watched Reign of Fire, but "There's nothing magical about it. They're made of flesh and blood. You take out their heart you bring down the beast," stands out most.

Reign of Fire revels in its own atmosphere, but the problem is occasionally we do not know why there is only one dragon, why there aren't more, and why Van Zan only has cigar butts. If you don't mind lingering questions this dystopian dragon venture will be worth your while.

Comments

Rodney said…

I always enjoyed this film as a simple (simplistic?) guilty pleasure. I might have to drag this out of the DVD shelf and give it another shot sometime soon!

May 18, 2011 at 4:11 AM

Fitz said…

It's dumb fun and who doesn't get a laugh out of McConaughey shouting, "We're going to London" but it sounds like Warrr gun to LUNDUN!"

May 18, 2011 at 2:15 PM

This Guy Over Here said…

I've been curious to revisit this one recently as a palate cleanser. I remember being entertained enough in the theater all those many years ago, and think there might be some fun to still be had from this. Yes?

May 20, 2011 at 10:02 AM

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