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I went to see Reign of Fire Tuesday night. I was glad that I got in for free because I would've been really pissed had I paid good money to see it.

The basic premise is pretty interesting. Sometime in the near future dragons return to claim mastery over the earth. Too bad the movie does this theme a great injustice by making it seem so incredibly boring.

The movie's main plot revolves around a group of survivors holed up in what appears to be some kind of castle/power plant/collection of concrete in Northumberland some 30 years after the dragons showed up and wrecked civilization. Quinn(Christian Bale) is their leader. He preaches a doctrine of "Hold on and we'll wait them out". Some of his followers become disenchanted and try to make a break for it. A dragon shows up and well...Quinn's warnings are borne out.

Into the midst of this tranquility comes Van Zan (Matthew Mcconaughey) who apparently is a US Army officer. He rolls in with a mobile task force that includes a main battle tank and a functioning helicopter. Oh, did I mention that also includes some pretty sophisticated electronics. Of course, there's immediate friction between Quinn and him.

Quinn's ultimate goal is to find the " Single Male Dragon" who is the only one who can fertilize the females eggs and continue the species. He is in London and of course our heroes Van Zan, Quinn, and Alex (Isabella Scorupco) the helicopter pilot go to London to hunt the sucker down. The ending is pretty much as you might expect. (I'm being deliberately vague to avoid spoiling it).

This movie is disappointing for two reasons. First of all, I've seen this all before. The "Mad Max" trilogy was non stop roller coaster ride of motion and sound. "Dragonslayer" presented dragons as a mystical force full of as much wonder as terror. "Reign of Fire" does neither. It is basically a B level post-apocalyptic evil biker menace flick with dragons instead of bikers.

Secondly, the characters themselves are so bland and dull that I wound up cheering for the dragons. Interesting characters can usually overcome a simple plot (Independence Day). In "Reign of Fire" the dullness of the characters simply adds another layer of boredom to an already silly plot.

If there is one good thing about the movie, it is the dragons. I liked them. I wish that they would've won. They were more interesting than the humans.

Reign of Fire
Reign of Fire Capsule Review by Frank Frey on 15/07/02 Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 2 (Sparse) I got a free pass to see this movie. It was almost worth it. Product: Reign of Fire Author: Frank Frey Category: Movie Company/Publisher: Touchstone Films Line: Cost: Page count: Year published: 2002 ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Frank Frey on 15/07/02 Genre tags: Fantasy Science Fiction	I went to see Reign of Fire Tuesday night. I was glad that I got in for free because I would've been really pissed had I paid good money to see it. The basic premise is pretty interesting. Sometime in the near future dragons return to claim mastery over the earth. Too bad the movie does this theme a great injustice by making it seem so incredibly boring. The movie's main plot revolves around a group of survivors holed up in what appears to be some kind of castle/power plant/collection of concrete in Northumberland some 30 years after the dragons showed up and wrecked civilization. Quinn(Christian Bale) is their leader. He preaches a doctrine of "Hold on and we'll wait them out". Some of his followers become disenchanted and try to make a break for it. A dragon shows up and well...Quinn's warnings are borne out. Into the midst of this tranquility comes Van Zan (Matthew Mcconaughey) who apparently is a US Army officer. He rolls in with a mobile task force that includes a main battle tank and a functioning helicopter. Oh, did I mention that also includes some pretty sophisticated electronics. Of course, there's immediate friction between Quinn and him. Quinn's ultimate goal is to find the " Single Male Dragon" who is the only one who can fertilize the females eggs and continue the species. He is in London and of course our heroes Van Zan, Quinn, and Alex (Isabella Scorupco) the helicopter pilot go to London to hunt the sucker down. The ending is pretty much as you might expect. (I'm being deliberately vague to avoid spoiling it). This movie is disappointing for two reasons. First of all, I've seen this all before. The "Mad Max" trilogy was non stop roller coaster ride of motion and sound. "Dragonslayer" presented dragons as a mystical force full of as much wonder as terror. "Reign of Fire" does neither. It is basically a B level post-apocalyptic evil biker menace flick with dragons instead of bikers. Secondly, the characters themselves are so bland and dull that I wound up cheering for the dragons. Interesting characters can usually overcome a simple plot (Independence Day). In "Reign of Fire" the dullness of the characters simply adds another layer of boredom to an already silly plot. If there is one good thing about the movie, it is the dragons. I liked them. I wish that they would've won. They were more interesting than the humans.