Cinema review (From Penarth Times)

Cinema review

Reign of Fire (PG)

From the director of the X-Files, Rob Bowman, comes a dark and eerie tale of dragons and human survival.

REIGN OF FIRE begins in modern day where a young boy, Quinn Abercromby, (Christian Bale) discovers a dragon in a cave, but this creature is not happy to be woken from his long sleep and attempts to kill him - it fails, but does manage to kill his mother.

Fast-forward 20 years, and the passage of time is shown superbly through a montage of spinning newspapers and dragons breathing fire over various cities around the world.

It is estimated that the dragons population is close to a million, as they drive mankind into hiding.

Quinn is the a leader of a community that is barely surviving in an old castle, but it's not until hotshot American, Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey), arrives with tanks and a helicopter that things really begin to change. Quinn is not sure if this new group will help or hinder the fragile community.

Van Zan claims he has tracked what he believes is the dragon in charge, to London, and he plans to destroy it. Quinn is asked to help, but his priorities are for his friends and family.

But a chain of events may force the reluctant hero into battle as the war to be the dominant species on our planet come to a fiery and explosive climax in the ruins of old London town.

REIGN OF FIRE is a movie that sits on the fence between good and bad. It has excellent special effects (the dragon sequences) and a great, but simple, plot line. But the characterisation is very shallow, thus letting the actors down, as they were limited to what they could do with their alter egos.

Over-all the film is entertaining, but easily forgettable.