Reign of Fire
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Movie Reviews of Reign of Fire
Movie Review: Modern firepower, dragon burgers, and crispy humans.
Summary: 5 Stars
A friend of mine recently brought this move over. I was blown away by it, but I was also not so sure about it. I liked it, but I realized up front that this movie could use some thoughtful consideration. There were plenty of things about it that made me unsure. The next day I picked up a copy and began to go over it. After watching it now for some time, here is my take on it. I disagree with criticisms that easily dismiss Reign of Fire, though they are probably not all unfounded criticisms. If you really look over the film, you might find that, though it may not be a grand masterpiece or whatnot, it really is very well done in light of the films premise and the parameters given. In my opinion, this movie is certainly better than a lot of films that have managed to reach the ever so subjective status of being a "Classic". Though one can easily pick apart some things in the movie, the script is fine. There is a dark grittiness to this film that stands as a real testimony to everyone who worked on the film, especially the director and actors. The measure of realism in Reign of Fire is placed at a decent level fitting for the movie, yet does not really get to the point where it becomes just another B grade action flick IMHO. The Road Warrior meets Dragonslayer? Yes, but also Aliens meets a very dark Robin Hood. And on and on. Sure the movie has it influences, but everything is influenced by what comes before it. The superb gritty look even reminds me of Black Hawk Down at times! In Reign of Fire, like in any good, creative movie, the influences do not present themselves in such a way as to be overtly distracting.
The acting is wonderful. This is one of those straightforward, no B.S. kind of scripted dialog movies, and understandably so. Some of the British accents or whatnot can be hard to make out at times if you don't blast your TV, but hey, blast away. Some of the mumbling and such may also get to some people, but it fits the dark material. It's a dangerous post-apocalyptic world with dragons on the verge of making humankind extinct! But humans are resourceful, determined, etc. The pace of the move is by no means slow. There is PLENTY of action in this movie. Yet, I think the action level is also constructed realistically allowing character development to come through splendidly. There is a lot of creativity in this movie and it makes for a unique and pleasant experience. I'd love to see a squeal. Maybe next time the dragons can win.
Movie Review: How to dress a dragon
Summary: 5 Stars
We start in London underground in a tunneling project. When they cut into a void, a problem for tunnel rats, they send in the son of the shift foreman who happens to be visiting mom after school. He doesn't know whats in there but he knows he's scared & goes for momma. She's the expert here.
A raging fire blows down the tunnel as he & his mom get in the cage of the manlift. This works until the dragon climbs his way up the shaft just happening to kill mom as he passes them. The son is left shaken & stirred.
20 years later the dragons dominate the world as mankind has found no way to deal with them. There are small pockets of people in hiding trying to survive & outlast the dragons. Add a great homage to Star Wars here. Enter the Americans- who have quite by accident discovered a way to kill dragons & are headed to London to kill the main trouble maker. You'll love their answer. The rest of the show centers on what a dragon does to make him & his kind vulnerable & whether its best to wait out the dragons or go offensive & kill them. Terrific stuff here. No lag at all. End of confrontation is blow you away stuff. End of movie great.
There are great actors & actresses in the main roles here but the lead star is the DRAGON created for this movie. This is what a dragon should look like. So often they are too long or too bulky or too winson or too anything. Dragons are referred to as worms also & need to be strong & middling in length so flight looks possible & speed obvious. They must be muscled & fearsome as the ultimate predator. Aggressive, smart & calculating they shpuld be a master of tactics & of course the fire must be beyond description. This dragon is all that and so much more. I've waited years for someone in the movie buisness to make a dragon like Morkeleb the Black from Barbara Hambly's book "DRAGONESBANE". If your not familiar with this story I recommend you get it. Used they start at 1 cent.
This is the best look I know of into a dragon's mind & purpose. REIGN OF FIRE matches DRAGONSBANE in my mind. I now have hope for Smaug in THE HOBBIT. Hope they don't blow it. REIGN OF FIRE GETS 5 STARS.
Movie Review: Favorite Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't mean to say this is the greatest movie of all time, because its not. I went to film school and have seen a lot of movies in my time, but for some reason this one I can just watch on repeat and it always makes me happy, not to say that this is exactly a happy film. It brings me hope in the ability of the human race to be itself. We are a waring people, and even though the Christian Bale Character is far from it, there is still this battle readiness that he has to rise to because that is what the world expects of men. The American seems to have scared off some viewers as either being unrealistic/ because no one saw warriors as being that all or nothing viking types, or too scary because humans are the worse evil of all according to some points. I admit that this movie did not reach for the stars, but what makes this movie for me is all the little details. I love the ways the dragons were handled in this film. I thought there would be more from the way that the trailors made it look, and I remember teh first screening thinking about it, but that fades in subsequent viewings because there are all these moments, like the star wars retelling, with live stage actors. Star wars is an amalgimation of Greek and Japanese stories retold from a land far far away, but when all the texts books that would have gone away, the story gets recreated. I know that to a lot of scholars this is a travesty for human history, but I think its what most would pass on, similarly to how the dragon myths got passed down. I think that everyone behaves realistically, especially the dragons, which seem to have a team of biologists considering every art choice for the film. This movie is about survival and it does make me hopeful to human strenths.Movie Review: Good action, nice package
Summary: 5 Stars
Perfect, everyone disses reign of fire over something. Nothing is ever good enough, well listen up.The movie is about these dragons, laying waste to the world. They breed, and kill the humans. Eventually the dragons die off from hunger, and the humans rebuild, and it starts over. What really gets me is how noone feels like putting in the good word for the movie except a few people. Story rocks, its cool with dragons, knowing this is the best dragon movie out there probably. The characters are done perfectly, and you don't end up hateing them because they are not whiners.
The action heats up with the first dragon you get to see attack the humans. Scary isn't he? All the dragons are done perfectly, they look real, and look like they would rip your face off. One dragon could take out 20 people easily. Then theres the movie itself. Is it good, does it end well, is there a stupid love story? The answers to your questions, is yes. It is a good movie, action mixed with some talking. It ends great, seems a fitting spot to end and not capitalize for a sequel like so many movies try to do now. The love story is extremely small, they hardly talk about it or try to get involved with it, but its there. I would reccomend this dvd to everyone.
The sound is perfect. DTS sound is like "JEEZ MAN". yes, the dts really adds to those scary dragons. They wanted to beef up the dvd, and this was the perfect way to do it. The extras are alright, who really cares about them though. Anyways, go see the movie. They kill some dragons. Also, Pip is a good character, even though he doesn't seem like it at first.
Movie Review: A cheap B movie
Summary: 5 Stars
I thought this movie would be pretty good and that it'd have a lot of great dragon visuals, but it turned out to be just a cheap, low grade B movie set in a post-apocalyptic world, like some other cheap, junky movies. You never even get to see the dragons properly! They're always far away and all you see is dark silhouettes of them. They're not impressive at all. Also, the entire movie is filmed in darkness, probably to try to hide how little they spent on the movie. I wouldn't have minded all this if I had seen the movie for free on TV, but I bought a used copy of the DVD. The old Dragonslayer movie was a much better dragon movie than this one. I want to see a proper dragon movie with lots of great CGI visuals of lots of dragons, with a good budget and production values, and a good story. It should be possible to do now with all the CGI technology available. I thought Reign of Fire was going to be it, but it totally was not! I just got a trashy post-apocalyptic B movie! Also I would like a dragon movie where the dragons are allies of humans, not just stupid monsters which must be exterminated! It would be more fun to see lots of closeups of dragons being used in war like horses. It's time to abandon the western tradition of seeing dragons as being evil enemies. Why do the movies have to stick to that stupid old idea? It's from the middle ages! Why continue that idea? Let's do something different! I'm really not interested in seeing dragons treated as evil enemies in the movies. I think dragons are special and I don't want a movie about exterminating them!