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Reign of Fire

Rated: PG-13 2002 Color 120 mins
Starring: Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey, Gerard Butler, Izabella Scorupco, Alexander Siddig, Doug Cockle
Directed by: Rob Bowman
Written byGregg Chabot, Kevin Peterka. Matt Grenberg
Music: Ed Shearmur
Movie Co.: Touchstone

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Death From Above, Just the Way I Like It:  Reign of Fire
by Christian De Matteo

Super

I was absolutely thrilled to see previews for a film about dragons.  For so long, in Hollywood's limited imagination, dragons have been creatures solely for medieval and/or fantasy fare, and never belonged anywhere else.  But why?  What fantastic and terrifying creatures the are, surely fit for so much more than just two genres!

But there was still the possibility that the film could stink, that the studio didn't really have faith in the project and only sunk enough money into it to make a full-fledged, half ass job.  Goodness knows, they do that enough.

I am happily here to report that that thankfully wasn't the case.  Reign of Fire is a well thought out, well plotted, dramatic film, with some excellent action.  You'll note I didn't say "action film with some excellent drama."  Not at all.  Reign gives us a society of survivors, very few- mind you- in a world where ancient dragons have been reawakened and destroyed... well, everything.  The humans that still live have been reduced to almost medieval lifestyles, grouping together in compounds fortified against dragon attack.  The earth has been scorched by not only dragons, but also the vain attempts of man and his weapons (all of them) to stop them.  This is not some shallow/fun, sci-fi plot designed to make you gawk at the special effects and exciting killings.  You will feel for these people and their plight.

(And you will gawk at the superbly subtle and perfect special effects and killings.  The dragons are astounding and almost underused.  Truly, they are used just enough to keep them terrifying.)

One of the factors that keeps the film at that level, beside a well written script with only a few burps and hiccups of silly lines (much less than you'd expect for this type of film), is the acting.  I remember saying to a friend that Christian Bale (American Psycho) and Matthew McConaughey (Contact) were odd action movie choices.  Well they are.  And they're dramatic acting ability does wonders for the film.  Bale does an excellent English accent through the entire film, without a single moment of faltering in it, even in the most intense of scenes.  So wonderfully English was he, that I didn't understand certain lines!  Perfect.  And the intensity of emotion and depth of feeling he brings is tremendous.  I hope Hollywood notices his ability and also the fact that adventure films can be dramatic.  Those two things I hope they take from this film.

McConaughey plays the Captain Ahab of the film.  An American military man, desperate to take back his planet from the stranglehold of the dragons who now practically run it.  He is obsessed, sometimes blindly with destroying them, and will risk anything to do so.  The clash between Bale's safety first/dig in and hide/protect his people at all costs mentality and McConaughey's almost suicidal desire to survive is fantastic.  Never are these two characters the cardboard cutout drivel we are so used to from Hollywood action/adventures.  These are the characters of legend and literature.

Director Rob Bowman of The X-Files fame (both small and big screen) and writers Gregg Chabot, Kevin Peterka and Matt Grenberg all deserve applause for this rarest of films.  A deep, dramatic and exciting, nail-biting tale of men and dragons filled with all the pain and drama you could imagine if this were to really happen.

DVD Prediction:  There are two moments in the film where I felt deleted scenes coming on.  Now, I rarely notice these things in finished films, but there were spots where I felt something missing.  For one, I imagine the ending was cut down a bit.  Maybe for blood (the film is PG-13), maybe for time, but the ending is kind of abrupt, not badly, just like you feel there was more.  And another scene seems to be missing, because I spent five minutes trying to figure out what had happened.  Neither of this things really hurt the film, but I am willing to bet there will be directors cut DVD release, maybe even unrated.

DVD Prediction Update:  Well, so far, so wrong... but a director's cut may still be forthcoming.  The current DVD has some interesting documentaries on it and some interesting background info, but is for the most part bereft of any groundbreaking features, not even a running commentary gracing it.  Lord knows, we've learned that one release does not a final run make, so there may be a two-discer in the future in the flick finds a following.

  
 Awards & Nominations: IMdb Full Cast & Credits: IMdb
Links: Official Site

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