Before I get started I want to take a moment silence for the innocent movie-goers that have prematurely lost their lives by a deeply disturbed individual.................OK lets continue on with Reign of Fire.
We start off in London 2002 where a young boy named Quinn heads to an underground construction site to visit his mother. They share a moment until one of the workers comes complaining that came across some kind a void. One of workers asked Quinn to go inside and look around…why comes to mind. Quinn enters the void to see that it’s a cave of some sort. Suddenly fire starts forming on the ground near Quinn; he then hears a heavy breathing noise. Quinn looks up only to see a shadowy monstrous figure that makes Quinn running out of the void and back to his mother. OK I want to do this bit before moving on because there’s no telling if I’ll use it ever again…..ZUUL MOTHERFUCKER ZUUL! As the other workers about to investigate the void a large ball of fire comes blazing out while Quinn and his mother haul ass to the elevator. As they slowly head to the surface the monstrous appears only too revealed to be a very large dragon. The dragon crashes to the elevator and flies off Quinn looks around only to see that his mother dead…somehow. Seriously how she died I would say the dragon but they didn’t show anything to establish this. All the dragon did was just gave the elevator a tap did that kill her? The film goes to a fast forward over an 18 year period as Quinn narrates of what’s been happening. I would make a show don’t tell argument but I doubt they’ll have the budget to show anything so I won’t do that. Long story short Quinn explains that these dragons have been around even before dinosaurs. World governments use most of their nuclear weapons against them but only to become futile in the end. We cut to the year 2020 where humanity is now on the verge of extinction, struggling to survive as the dragons are now the most dominant species. We cut to a castle in Northumberland, England where the surviving humans live as a community with Quinn (now played by Christian Bale) is in charged. Later a few of the commuters have grown restless and decided to steal a truck and harvest the tomatoes but unfortunately a dragon appears and set fire to the tomato field. Quinn and his friend Creedy (played by Gerard Butler) arrived in old fire engines and rescue the commuters and ecsape the dragon. The next day a group of solders the Kentucky Irregulars arrived at the castle; they’re led by Denton Van Zan (played by Matthew McConaughey looking a hell of a bit like Stone Cold Steve Austin if Stone Cold Steve Austin had better acting roles). It’s revealed that Van Zan and his Kentucky Irregulars are “Dragon Slayers”; Quinn allows them in the castle to replenish their supplies. We’re introduced to Alexandra Jensen (played by Izabella Scorupco) and her “Archangels” (basically paratroopers that use bulla nets to snare in dragons).
Soon after they’re settled in a dragon appears which brings the Irregulars into action. On the ground Van Zan sends three men to deploy “verticals” in order to set up a triangulator mapping radar. This allows Alex in the CHOPPA to see any visible activities in the air. The third man is about to set up his vertical but is immediately killed by the dragon. Quinn has been notified about the situation and heads out on horseback to deploy the third vertical. Their radar is set up just in time just as the dragon come flying at the chopper head on; the Archangels are deployed soon after. Now this free fall scene is pretty impressive, sure they’ve used blue screen but still I give it credit. One archangel is followed by the dragon while the other two are trailing behind the dragon. The two launched their nets and made a direct hit but the dragon shakes off the nets immediately. Still on the first guy tail; the dragon then retreats upon that the first guy is about to hit the ground like a stone…OUCH! Second guy gets eaten while the third guy makes to the ground safely. Van Zan tells Quinn to act as bait to lure the dragon to him and Quinn complies. As Quinn approaches to Van Zan’s position he ready’s a harpoon gun targeting at Quinn’s direction. The dragon tails Quinn Van Zan fires the harpoon and shoots down the dragon dead. After a short celebration at the castle; Van Zan and Alex explains that the dragon they killed earlier was female. In fact over 200 dragons they killed were all females. It’s revealed these dragons are like fish, (one female lays her eggs and the male fertilizes the eggs). Van Zan and Alex figure out that there are not so many male dragons as there female, so upon killing the male they kill the species. The one male they’re looking is located in London and then Van Zan asks for volunteers to go there and kill it. Quinn refuses to let his people to join him and the male will backtrack and kill everyone. This leads to a small fight between Quinn and Van Zan but it’s immediately broken up. The Irregulars plus 4 of Quinn’s people reached the outskirts of London but are immediately taken out by the male dragon except for Van Zan. The male dragon heads to the castle and proceeds to burn the place down. Quinn and Creedy gathered most of the children and putting out the fire. A lot of people still above the castle’s shelter, Creedy heads off to gather them but was consume by a wave of fire. Ah damn it and didn’t even make a SPARTA joke. Quinn and the others are found by Van Zan and Alex; Quinn decides that the three head to London and kill the male. So it’s back to the CHOPPA and they fly in low until they’ve reached London. At the heart of London they snuck in to the male’s lair via tunnels. Things get intense on the street level as Van Zan fires an explosive crossbow bolt but the male deflects it with its fire. So like a BIG ASS MOTHERFUCKER, Van Zan comes flying off of a balcony towards the male as the male comes flying towards him ultimately the male kills Van Zan. Quinn set up his crossbow as he and the male have a tense stare down. As the male is about to fire Quinn fires the crossbow the arrow goes right in the mouth and explodes killing the male dragon and thus the film ends.
My Final Verdict: Say what you want but I love this film it was one of best summer films I’ve seen at the time. This is a decent post-apocalyptic film with a touch of fantasy in the mix. Unlike most post-apocalypse films nowadays, the pacing is good it doesn’t drag or wonders to the point of boring. And may I say that Reign of Fire is the one out of two best Matthew McConaughey films. The second being Frailty; oh I’ll get to that film soon enough.
Well we’re at the home stretch now so stay tuned next time for the conclusion of TOASTY OVERDRIVE as I review Firestarter.
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