Reign of Fire
2002, UK/USA, Directed by Rob Bowman
Colour, Running Time: 98 minutes
DVD, Region 2, Buena Vista, Video: Anamorphic 2.35:1, Audio: DTS
Tunnelling work beneath London reveals a hitherto dormant race of dragons that break loose and reap havoc on mankind to the point of near genocide. Spreading like a plague across the planet the dragons, who were supposedly the cause of dinosaur extinction before going into subterranean hibernation, once more become the dominant species while surviving humans are forced into small groups of stationary or travelling communities. Two such communities come together but their leaders are prone to differing views on how to proceed, Quinn (Christian Bale) believes that they should remain put to survive, whereas the militaristic Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey) clicks on to the probability that all of the dragon eggs are fertilised by one male and wants to take a chance to track it down to kill it, and therefore the entire reptilian race.
An apocalyptic science fiction (though not set that far ahead in the future), Reign of Fire was not critically successful but coming to the film after all the negative fuss died down I found a reasonably entertaining thriller, though possibly a little miserable in its general ambience. Bale continues to prove versatility as an actor and McConaughey is unrecognisable as the perpetually angry marine. The dragons themselves, while hardly evident of a risk-taking design ethic, are amazing creations but remain less used in the plot than one would have expected. Reduce your expectations and you may have a fairly good time with this, plus at an hour and a half it doesn’t outstay any welcome.
Being a recent film it’s no surprise that the transfer is DVD demonstration material: an exceptionally detailed image combined with aggressive 5.1 tracks (including DTS). Though under-specified as far as extras are concerned Reign of Fire makes for something worth risking a few quid on certainly.