Reign of Fire Review

Reign of Fire


Release Date: 31st October 2002 - Australia


Production Companies
Spyglass Entertainment
Touchstone Pictures
Tripod Entertainment
World 2000 Entertainment
The Zanuck Company

Distribution
Walt Disney Studio Motion
Pictures Australia


Genre: Fantasy

Rating: M

Runtime: 101 minutes


Budget: $60,000,000

Box Office Gross: $82,150,183
(Worldwide)


Plot Summary
In present-day London, 

twelve-year-old Quinn 

watches as his mother, a 

construction engineer, 

inadvertently wakes an 

enormous fire-breathing 

beast from its centuries-

long slumber. Twenty years 

later, much of the world 

has been scarred by the 

beast and its offspring. 

As a fire chief, Quinn is 

responsible for warding off 

the beasts and keeping a 

small community alive as 

they eke out a meager 

existence. Into their midst 

comes a hotshot American, 

Van Zan who says he has 

a way to kill the beasts and 

save mankind - a way 

Quinn's never seen done.


Cast
Christian Bale - Quinn Abercromby
Matthew McConaughey - Denton
Van San
Izabella Scorupco - Alex Jensen
Gerard Butler - Creedy
David Kennedy - Eddie Stax
Scott Mouter - Jared Wilke
Alexander Siddig - Ajay
Ned Dennehy - Barlow

Rory Keenan - Devon

Terence Mayward - Gideon

Doug Cockle - Goosh

Randall Carlton - Burke (Tito)

Chris Kelly - Mead
Ben Thornton - Young Quinn
Alice Krige - Karen Abercromby
Malcolm Douglas - Stuart
Duncan Keegan - Michael
Laura Pyper - Lin
David Herlihy - Oliver
Gerry O'Brien - Jerry
Patrick Foy - Paddy
Anne Maria McAuley - Rose
Maree Duffy - Rachel
Alex Meacock - Alvarez
David Garrick - Jefferson
Andy Godbold - Piscatella

Crew

Director - Rob Bowman
Story/Screenplay - Gregg
Chabot & Kevin Perteka
Screenplay - Matt Greenberg
Executive Producer - Jonathan Glickman
Producers - Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum
and Lili Fini & Richard D. Zanuck

Co-Producers - Chris Chrisafis, 
Derek Evans, James Flynn, Morgan O'Sullivan, 
Rebekah Rudd and Dean Zanuck
Production Designer - Wolf Kroeger
Supervising Art Director - Jonathan McKinstry
Art Directors - Ian Bailie, Alan Tomkins 
and Justin Warburton-Brown

Costume Designer - Joan Bergin
Director of Photography - Adrian Biddle
Stunt Coordinator - Nick Gillard
Special Effects Supervisor - David Gauthier
Special Effects Coordinators - Kevin Byrne, 
John E. Gray
Visual Effects Supervisor - Richard R. Hoover
Visual Effects Supervisor: Cinesite - Jason Piccioni

Co-Visual Effects Supervisor - Dan DeLeeuw
Additional Visual Effects Producer - Tom C. Peitzman

Creature Supervisor - Rob Dressel
Creature Designer/Visual Effects Art Director - 
Mike Meaker
Animation Supervisor: The Secret Lab - 
Eamonn Butler

Film Editors - Declan McGrath (Uncredited) 
and Thom Noble
Music - Ed & Brad Wagner

Review
Incomparable to anything I have seen before and could be described as a bit weird, this film belongs to the genre of a post apocalyptic/fantasy film by the director Rob Bowman. 'REIGN OF FIRE' delivers a story that mashes up two genres, but it is with disappointment to say, its story ends up so underdeveloped. It somehow just ended up a letdown of sorts, sadly more of a less than a fiery grandiose epic than viewers were promised. It's more like a B-grade picture that falls short from reaching its true potential. I just found it a little underwhelming and packed with too much typical glamorised action and not enough intellect used into story development.

Featuring actors like Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey, also complimenting the great cast are co-stars like Gerard Butler and Izabella Scorupco. The effects for the dragons were really spectacular and horrifying. This is a real testament to CGI magic that created the menacing beasts and also created a very believable world in ruins during a post apocalyptic event. There is some room for improvement with the script and story. If this had of been given more attention, this movie would be much better. 

I must say even though I have awarded this movie a disappointing three stars, that these are three very well earned stars. What this movie does do right it does very right. Incredible action sequences, explosions and edge of your seat moments. Good quality acting and realistic effects with appropriate use of soundtrack during most of the scenes.

For this case, I label 'REIGN OF FIRE' personally as a film with great potential which unfortunately did not reach its high standard due to the weaknesses I have mentioned. In the end, it was an average movie which I would not care to watch again.

Star rating: (3/5) Average

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