Reign of Fire (2002)

Reign of Fire is the title of an action movie directed by Bob Bowman who is the highly regarded Director of the X-Files. His venture into movie making for the big screen can be considered a good move judging by the action adventure impact of Reign of Fire. I was impressed on many levels, starting with the Dragons themselves, particularly with the prime, male dragon who was keeping the population of dragons growing.

The Casting of Reign of Fire deserves kudos for their selection of first rate actors. Actors who make the terrific action scenes in this movie quite believable. Christian Bale (of Dark Knight, Batman Begins and American Psycho fame) is Quinn Abercromby is the community leader; Matthew McConaughey, (of Tropic Thunder, Sahara, and Two for the Money fame) is Denton Van San a Dragon Hunter by profession; Izabella Scorupco (of Vertical Limit and Golden Eye fame) is Alex Jensen the helicopter pilot who is part of Denton’s Dragon Hunter Team; and Gerard Butler (of 300; Phantom of the Opera and Dracula 2000 fame) is Creedy the second in command reporting to Quinn.

The dragon scenes are so dramatic they tend to dominate the eyes, ears and emotions of the viewer. If the Devil had a face it would be the face of a dragon with all of its ferocity. The awesome visuals in this movie are a thing of beauty and one of personified evil. The digital work to create a dragon in flight—swooping, diving, climbing and spewing fire streams that blind, and wreak havoc is something to behold and hold to memory. There is nothing to compare it to. Disney came close in Fantasia but it was a cartoon. Pixar, Lucas, no one has captured the devil with wings and fire in such a dynamic way as was done in Reign of Fire. It is something not to be missed at any age.

It is 2020 AD, and dragons rule the earth and it appears that there is one male dragon who rules and fertilizes thousands of dragon eggs to keep the species going and growing as rulers of the earth. However, the combination of Quinn, Denton, Alex and Creedy help turn the tables on the dragon nemesis with wonderfully coordinated strikes in the air and on the ground, and during “the magic hour” when a dragon’s visual acuity has been discovered to be compromised. It is when dragons cannot focus as well as they can during daylight and darkness. It makes for fast paced, heart thumping ACTION scenes that make you want to run and hide before a dragon can strike. And strike they do–the battles go back and forth with horrific results and glimmers of what it must look like when battling the Devil is actually left to humans who have few weapons but a lot of cunning.

The term “triangulated” takes on a new meaning in Reign of Fire. It means taking down a dragon with the help of three points of reference feeding a 3D point of reference into a computer that can pinpoint where the dragon is in flight. The exciting part is getting to a place where the dragon can be ambushed and brought down before it eats the team trying to do the deed.

Reign of Fire is a must see to believe movie. Without giving away plot points or super scenes, don’t miss the flying Angels who flick net-traps to ensnare the dragon’s wings. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. It’s heart-stopping action when Denton takes flight, with battleaxe in hand, to do battle with the last male King Dragon. And Quinn gets to meet the dragon who climbed out of hell to kill his mother and look him in the eye when Quinn was only a child.

Reign of Fire lights up the screen, large or small, with wonderment, shock and awe. It will satisfy dragon aficionados who will readily offer their stamp of approval that says Reign of Fire is as close as it gets to the dragons of our dreams. The dragons described in The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grim. See you at the movies.

[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253556/]