Reign of Fire (2002)

 

I love dragons. So it goes without saying that most films with those mythical monsters grab my attention, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. I'm glad to say this is one of the 'better' ones, even if it did seem at the time not a lot of people took this one to their bosoms. 

It's also wyverns and not dragons that are present here. Dragons have four limbs and wings, wyverns two legs and wings, so there's that little nitpick out of the way. 

During excavations in London for a new tunnelsystem, engineers accidentally stumble upon a vast hollow where it turns out a massively menacing monster lurks. It escapes and soon after the world is set ablaze with countless wyverns burning everything down. It turns out these creatures devour ash, so that explains something. They also procreate like crazy, so all efforts of military and other instances to stop them are fruitless. 

Fast forward to the futuristic year of 2020, and most of humanity is gone and small, isolated pockets of survivors eke out a living amidst the ruined lands, hiding from the dragons whenever they get near. One of these settlements is led by Quinn (Bale), who actually saw the first wyvern escape. He has his community holed up in an ancient fortress in Northumbria and is trying to keep it together, as he figures the wyverns will die of starvation and then people can emerge once more. But it is a tough life and there is some discontent among his flock. 

Into all this rides Denton Van Zan (McConaughey), a slightly insane soldier leading a small force who slay dragons through a rather inventive yet deadly way. He has come to Britain because he believes the root of the wyvern-problem lies in London. 

This is also where the film gets that bonkers' logic in the lifecycle of the creatures that honestly makes no sense from any evolutionary point of view. See, most of the creatures are females and there is only one male. Kill the male and the creatures die out. The male happens to reside in London and is also the first wyvern to escape back in the day. 

Naturally, Quinn and Van Zan don't see eye to eye and it takes more casualties for both men to join forces and head into ravaged London to take on the big bad beastie. 

You have to switch your logic circuits off for this one, as most of the biology makes absolutely no sense and neither does Van Zan's idea, because that is one hell of a gamble to make. Nevertheless, this film does get the atmosphere of a ruined Earth quite right. Everything looks grey and charred, just as it would be when firebreathing creatures torched literally everything. It's grim and depressing and makes you get that sense of postapocalyptic darkness. 

Most of the actors are also good at what they do, even if it does feel a bit strange to hear Christian Bale use his British accent. This one is the start of Gerard Butler's bigger career as well and he is good in his supporting role as Creedy. It genuinely stings when he dies.

Sorry, spoiler. 

One thing that does feel off kilter, is Matthew McConaughey as Van Zan. His performance is as if he read a lot about PTSD and watched Marlon Brando in 'Apocalypse Now' on repeat and never quite managed to make it realistic. He chews the scenery with a vengeance and that 'I'm crazy, but buff and gruff and did I mention I am crazy yet?' doesn't always hit the mark. 

The wyverns look great, though. You don't see them a whole lot, but their design is well executed and they do feel like a sort of realistic animal from a bygone era. You can tell the designers spend a lot of time looking at bats (especially vampire bats) for the movements both on the ground and in the air, and the way they spew forth flames is actually based on spitting cobras and bombardier beetles. 

'Reign in Fire' is a fun creature feature with some decent action, competent acting and enough suspense to keep you entertained throughout.