Under the lens takes a deep look at films by focusing in on one or two particular areas of the picture that helped to define it for better or for worse.
Reign of Fire is a 2002 action-horror picture directed by Rob Bowman and stars Matthew McConaughey, Christian Bale, and Gerard Butler. The story follows a brood of fire-breathing dragons that emerges from the earth and begins setting everything ablaze, establishing dominance over the planet. As a group of survivors must team up with a band of insane mercenaries to defeat them once and for all.
Under The Lens: FX Work and Originality
FX Work: One of Reign of Fire‘s strengths is its incredible FX work, the picture was released in 2002 but does not look it at all. The Dragons themselves are marvelous to look at, with a huge amount of detail being given to their heads, bodies, scales, and eggs. Never once did the FX work take me out of the scene when a dragon was being shown, and with such good effects they truly stood out as a chilling and evil threat.
Originality: End of the world pictures are a dime a dozen, we have seen every incarnation of them, from pandemics to natural disasters to alien invasions. Reign of Fire takes this idea and twists it, making the “Alien” threat one that is from our own earth’s prehistoric future. It’s a fresh and original take on the end of the world scenario, and while the picture does fall into some of the tropes of that genre, its basic story setup makes these overused tropes easier to watch.
Highlights
Matthew McConaughey transformed himself into a musclebound hulk who is borderline insane and absolutely sells it.
The picture is a whose who of “Before they were famous” actors and actresses
The script takes a worldwide event and manages to make it small enough to still have personal stakes
Quotable Quote
Quinn Abercromby: If they come, they’ll burn, we’ll build. Or maybe I’ll just kill ’em.
Something to think about
Have you ever had the weight of leadership? When you had to make unpopular decisions? How did you handle it?
Conclusion
Reign of Fire is a fun action picture with some light horror elements. Its uniqueness is that it takes a mythological and fantasy-filled story and plays it straight. There is very little humor, and no wink wink nod nods that we see so much in modern-day fantasy and superhero pictures. The cast plays their roles well and we get some truly fun and tension-filled action set pieces, in the end, Reign of Fire knows what it is, and embraces it, it places you in the shoes of the protagonist, and does not try and sell you on dragons existing, no it simply says “They are here and you got to survive now”
Reign of Fire is worth watching for the excellent FX, the fun story, and the stacked cast of actors.