One of the best films i have seen

Lack of good storyline.

Fantastic!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

One of my favorites. I can never pass it up when it comes along.

One would think that a film about mercenaries fighting dragons in a dystopian England would be a sure-fire (no pun intended) hit. Alas Rob Bowman's film was not such a success despite the star power names involved and an interesting premise.The plot briefly: In 2020 Northumberland, England, a group of U.K. mercenaries led by the cautious Quinn, battle the terrifying dragons who are slowly wiping the world's population out when a group of American mercenaries led by the mysterious (and possibly deranged) Van Zan arrive and cause the conflict to collide head-on.Leading the rag-tag groups are the normally reliable talents of Christian Bale as Quinn and Matthew McConaughey as Van Zan. Bale does properly imbue Quinn with a sense of vulnerability and fear of the monstrous dragons due to the character's trauma of his mother's death when he was young. This gives Quinn a bit of a hatred for the creatures, but neither the script nor Bale actually taps into that vein leaving his motivation for protecting his group as he just wants to survive; a normal dystopian movie cliché. Meanwhile his American co-star brings a animalistic and deep-seated hatred for the beasts he is hunting. McConaughey is virtually unrecognizable as Van Zan with a beefed-up muscular physique, shaved head, beard and overly husky voice that masks the actor's trademark Texan accent. However like Quinn, the script never really delves into Van Zan's past or explain his full motive (other than he despises the destructive dragons for killing his fellow soldiers when they hunt them) and the actor must work with what he is given. The tension between Van Zan and Quinn is mostly believable as the American mercenaries' presence disrupts the tenuous harmony of Quinn's castle refugees which leads to a fierce fight between Quinn and Van Zan before they reluctantly truce to fight the climactic battle against the bull dragon.The film's script is a basic dystopian story of survivors trying to navigate the wasteland in which they live while making sure to have some mystical creatures to create conflict. However the film squanders the use of the dragons by just throwing one or two in at an odd time and having the heroes win far too easily; an exception would be the spectacle of how Van Zan and his team attack an invading dragon shortly after arriving at Quinn's castle. The visuals are adequate with the dragons looking realistic enough and the fire effects are basic like many films that feature the natural disaster. But with a lack of real depth to the story, there is not much emotional investment for the characters or the narrative itself.

This is a fairly entertaining post-apocalypse movie that sees a few huddled survivors living in squalid conditions in a Britain destroyed by fire-breathing dragons. It sounds ludicrous, but the good news is that this film never panders to kids in any way, meaning I had a chance to enjoy it. The running time is extremely short and action-focused, detailing efforts to destroy a dragon and put an end to the endless oppression faced by the human survivors. The script is nothing special, but it does the job and the scenes of spectacle it focuses on are all quite enjoyable if not anything we haven't seen before. The scenes of a destroyed London are well done and the CGI effects used to animate the dragons are very good indeed, on par with those in LORD OF THE RINGS. I also liked the climax and the only misstep was a ridiculous helicopter jump where the participants are descending through the air for about five minutes even though helicopters can't fly that far up.There are three notable cast members. The first is the hero, Christian Bale, on his ascendancy to fame after his success in American PSYCHO. He gives a typically intense performance here and one of the things I've always liked about him is the way he gives the same dedication no matter what genre of film – a light sci-fi crowd-pleaser like this or a dark-as-heck horror like American PSYCHO. He's supported by another up-and-comer, Gerard Butler, not bad in a rather limited supporting role. The American lead is an unrecognisable Matthew McConaughey who I thought was very good, playing a borderline psychopath with a real disregard for human life. While I don't pretend that this is a brilliant film – it's far too insubstantial and airy for anything beyond a popcorn flick – it mostly avoids the pitfalls of many a Hollywood blockbuster and provides a decent watch.

Although I expected more thrilling action, especially in the climax scenes, Reign of Fire is still engaging. And to see Mathew Mcconaughey, Christian Bale and Gerard Butler in one frame is like wow! The movie has an ashen look from start to end, probably the result of the nuclear explosions that was futile against destroying the dragon species completely. The performances are good from the entire cast and also the effects are realistic enough. Would I recommend it? No, because I felt disappointed with the final action scenes. Watchable for the acting(especially Mathew in a badass character) and some of the dragon encounters.