Hey folks, Harry here with a pair of views on REIGN OF FIRE... This first one seems to have wanted a straight up action film, and was disappointed to an extreme to find himself in the midst of a Drama about Dragons and Dragonfighting instead. He seems upset that it wasn't camp and actually took the concept seriously. UGH! Anyway, here's The Gater... There are spoilers in his review...
Hey Harry,
I wasn't going to write in about "Reign of Fire," but after reading your reader's positive review, I felt I had to chime in with a couple of MINOR spoilers. I'm not going to get into the plot because everyone knows what it's about. I saw this movie last night at the AMC Empire in NYC.
There was only one word to describe this film: Unacceptable. This movie was unacceptable. The acting was terrible (and I like Christian bale...Matthew I can take or leave), the direction was clumsy, the music was bland and the effects were not up to par.
This movie isn't even an action film. It's a drama. A drama about dragons. A drama about dragons that takes itself seriously. Even Independence Day was smart enough to put some camp in it, but Reign of Fire acts like there is a serious chance that one day we'll have a dragon problem. Violence? Nope, not much. Two people get eaten. That's it. Two. The rest get burned...which consistently takes place off-screen, just to make sure that the audience can't be entertained at all. And speaking of people dying, the only people who do die, die because they are being stupid. It's very hard to mourn idiots.
There was only one good scene in this movie. Two of the characters act out the climax of "The Empire Strikes Back" for some kids. That's the only good scene. And it's a scene that could have easily gotten cut out of the movie.
The only reason this movie is better than "Battlefield Earth" is because it's about twenty mins shorter.
This movie is boring, it is not suspenseful, it is not violent, it is not fun. And they should go back and reshoot the whole thing. Or better yet, rerelease "Dragonheart." Hell, at least that has Sean Connery.
-The Gater
Now for the exact opposite take on REIGN OF FIRE.... here's Kevin Spa... I mean John Doe...
Reign of Fire Review
Last night I had the pleasure of catching a preview screening of Reign of Fire in New York. This was one of only a handful of movies that I was looking forward to seeing this summer. Needless to say I went in with high expectations and for one the few times in the last two years I was not let down.
It opens in modern day London where a young Quinn is the first to see the father of the millions of dragons to come. After several deaths and a montage describing the rise of the beasts we are in a post apocalyptic future. Apparently the combination of the dragons and nuclear bombs have left the world in a state of ruin. We are told that the dragons have run out of food which will make them even more dangerous.
We are then introduced to an adult Quinn ( an un-Patrick Bateman like Christian Bale ) who runs a refugee camp / orphanage. A bit later Van Zan ( McConaughey ) and his dragon slaying militia show up. The two initially quarrel quite a bit before joining to go to London and "bring down the beast". It is when they arrive in London that there is an amazing shot of the city in ruins and hundreds of dragons. The fact that prior to that point we only saw one dragon at a time made the shot that much more brilliant.
There were many other cool scenes including a sky diving sequence and a memorable stunt by Van Zan. Over all I highly recommend it and greatly look forward to the double team of this and Road to Perdition on July 12th.
JOHN DOE
