Reign of Fire (2002)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Rob Bowman

Writers (WGA):

Gregg Chabot (story) &
Kevin Peterka (story) ...

Release Date:

12 July 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Fight Fire With Fire

Plot:

A brood of fire-breathing dragons emerges from the earth and begins setting fire to everything, establishing dominance over the planet.

Plot Keywords:

Dragon | Fire Breathing Dragon | Fire | London | Post Apocalyptic

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 4	4:00 PM	AMC
Sun. July 5	1:00 PM	AMC

Cast

Christian Bale	...	Quinn Abercromby
Matthew McConaughey	...	Denton Van Zan
Izabella Scorupco	...	Alex Jensen
Gerard Butler	...	Creedy
Scott Moutter	...	Jared Wilke (as Scott James Moutter)
David Kennedy	...	Eddie Stax
Alexander Siddig	...	Ajay
Ned Dennehy	...	Barlow
Rory Keenan	...	Devon
Terence Maynard	...	Gideon
Doug Cockle	...	Goosh
Randall Carlton	...	Burke (Tito)
Chris Kelly	...	Mead
Ben Thornton	...	Young Quinn
Alice Krige	...	Karen Abercromby

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense action violence.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

UK | Ireland | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Malaysia:U | Iceland:12 | South Korea:12 | New Zealand:M | USA:PG-13 (certificate #39148) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Denmark:11 | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | Japan:R | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:12 | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

Ardmore Studios - Herbert Road, Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland

Company:

Spyglass Entertainment

Trivia:

The method by which the dragons expel fire was inspired by two actual animals; the spitting cobra and bombardier beetle.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Part of the film is set in treacherous mountain terrain, allegedly in Norfolk - famously one of the flattest counties in England, with only one hill rising over 300 feet above sea level.

Quotes:

Van Zan: It was your idea to come to London.
Alex: Yeah, well that was at thirty five thousand feet.
Van Zan: Yeah. Well life has a way of turnin' that different though don't it?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Day the Earth Stood Still: T4 Movie Special (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Burn

An Uneasy Mix Of Two Genres

Watching REIGN OF FIRE I was left with the impression that the script was originally written as a bleak post apocalyptic drama in the tradition of John Wyndham and John Christopher , where a Hollywood studio decided the script wasn't marketable enough so a studio executive decided to introduce dragons into the screenplay as a commercial gimmick

Where REIGN OF FIRE works best is in its survivalist themes . Quinn leads a band of survivors and when they hear " Edinburgh is gone " they react if it's the worst news in the world . You can believe these guys are starving to death , that all hope is gone and when they see Denton's American militia arrive you know that the undercurrents of tribalism and rivalry are going to surface . Unlike 28 DAYS LATER this movie almost works as post apocalyptic thriller

These "Shattered Earth " ideas are very convincing but as soon as the dragons are introduced the illusion falls apart because for a film marketed as featuring fire breathing dragons ( You have seen the posters right ? ) they seem to be there as an after thought and are totally underdeveloped in the script . There's no real explanation as to how or why the dragons were hibernating in the London underground and the whole concept doesn't bare up to any close scrutiny . Why weren't nuclear weapons effective against them when a dragon can be killed with a road pick ? Very little thought indeed seems to have gone into this aspect of the script and needless to say the ending is a cop out

Note to Hollywood executives - If you're going to finance a film that features a desperate band of survivors can you cut out gimmicks like zombies and dragons please ? Thank you