Hey folks, Harry here... Of the 'great unknowns' ahead of us this summer, if I could pick the film I most want to kick ass hard... it is REIGN OF FIRE. I like Rob Bowman, the concept and trailer for the film hits a very special place in my heart and I want it to rock hard. It is with great enthusiasm that I present Birdie Num Num's review. Now, for you new readers, Birdie Num Num was a spy that we heard from a bit back in late 1999 and early 2000, but has gone undercover to avoid capture from the droogs of Joe Farrell. Which basically meant he had to stop wearing "I WRITE FOR AICN HATS" which is a hard habit to break. But back in his day, Birdie told us that Scorsese's BRINGING OUT THE DEAD was a flawed, but masterful film. That you needed to go see MAGNOLIA twice at least. And months before anyone, he said that SHANGHAI NOON would be a sleeper hit. Well... This time out the 'call it as he sees it' Num-Num says that this movie kicks ass. I'M DYING TO SEE THIS MOVIE NOW! ME WANNA SEE! ME WANNA SEE! ME WANNA SEE!
Harry --
Long time since I've piped in with my two cents. Been too busy to see many research screenings. That, and some computer problems (die WINDOWS!!), but that's neither here nore there....
Caught a movie last week at the Disney lot that there hasn't been much buzz about... YET. REIGN OF FIRE, is the name of the flick. If all you know about it is the dragons taking over the planet stuff from the trailer (which, admittedly, looks a little cheesy), prepare to be pleasantly surprised. The movie is a crowd pleaser and kicks some major ass. And for all of you out there who've been waiting patiently for Matthew McConaughey to live up to his badass leading man potential... well the wait is over. First a rundown of the story....
The trailer makes it seem like the movie takes place in 2084, y'know -- one of those overdone clichÈd dystopic futures. This is not entirely the case -- the movie opens in present day London. A young boy visits his mother who is the foreman of the citywide subway reconstruction project. 150 feet under ground, it seems the workers have hit a void of some sort. The boy wanders away, enters a moss-covered cavern and practically wets himself when fire starts dripping from the ceiling and a dragon unfurls itself. The dragon proceeds to burn the entire tunnel, killing everyone including the boy's mother who sacrificed herself to save her son.
Cool prologue. Cut to the year 2020. We're treated to a brief montage of dragons pretty much destroying every major city on Earth and humans helping them do this through nuclear collateral damage. It's their planet now and they own the skies. Back in England, the boy has grown up and is now a buffed out Christian Bale. He's the leader of a castle full of people who are barely surviving. Food and resources are scarce and they're not even sure if anyone else on the planet is still alive. Bale's philosophy is to outlast the dragons in a war of attrition.
Enter Matthew McConaughey as the commander of a rag tag group of military men who also wants to kill the dragons. Bale and McConaughey butt heads. McConaughey wants to go to London to kill the main dragon.
**SPOILER ALERT**. Turns out that dragons are like fish, for example... one male, many females, many eggs, many spawn. Bale doesn't want to go to London. Another castle years ago went to London, got annihilated en route, then the male dragon backtracked them and laid waste to their castle, killing everyone. Bale is afraid this will happen again. McConaughey doesn't care. He and Bale brawl, McConaughey kicks his ass and goes to London, taking some of Bale's men with him. On the road to London, the male dragon attacks, kills everyone (except for McConaughey and some stragglers) then goes back to Bale's castle and kills pretty much everyone there too. With no choice now, Bale, McConaughey and Izabella Scoropuro (the babe-a-licious blonde from VERTICAL LIMIT) team up, fly into London and hatch a plan to slay the male. This plan involves sacrifice, explosive arrowheads, a 100 foot chimney and a burned-out subway car. **END SPOILER**.
So how's the movie? Pretty bad-ass. The effects are on par or better than most of the stuff we've seen lately, the sets look like a cross between ROAD WARRIOR and ALIEN and the dragons look real, sound great and are intensely scary -- like amped up dinosaurs from JURASSIC PARK. The skydiving action sequence is especially crazy. These guys jump out of the helicopter without parachutes and play chicken with the dragon! This is everything a good B-summer popcorn movie should be -- lots of adrenaline, cool action, a total ride.
Christian Bale is an action hero. Far from Patrick Bateman, he's dirty, bearded, ripped and kicks ass. My only complaint is that he's a little cold. In fact, the whole movie felt a little somber. It's not quite a stand-up and cheer summer movie like ID4 or THE MUMMY. It takes itself more seriously and is a lot more intense.
That said, however, I'm all for reverence in my action movies and Rob Bowman of X-FILES fame does a good job with the tone here. McConaughey, for his part, is totally f-ing insane. He's like a deranged Patton - shaved head, covered with dragon tattoos, chomping on a fat cigar and running around with a crossbow and a battle-axe. Izabella, though she's sweet on the eyes, was sometimes unbelievable as the dragon scientist/pilot (shades of Denise Richards as a nuclear scientist in that Bond movie).
All in all, much respect to the people who made this movie. This is a hell of a vision and a ballsy move to construct a movie with this crazy a premise around Bale and McConaughey. Good thing it paid off. This could be a sleeper. Check it out for yourself.
I AM DRAGON, HEAR ME ROAR...
Birdie Num-num
