In the new film "Reign of Fire," man-eating dragons and their combustible breath are the true terrors.
Quinn Abercromby, a wee London lad, encounters the first of the long-dormant beasts when he goes beneath the earth's surface to visit his mother, a construction engineer working underground. Before his eyes, a creature bursts through the tunnels and effectively situates itself in pole position on the food chain.
Fast-forward 20 years into the future -- mankind has almost been wiped out. Nukes have done more harm than good, the major cities of the world have been reduced to rubble, and small bands of humans remain to play hide-and-seek with the monsters. Quinn, now an adult played by Christian Bale, is the leader of a small community holed up in a castle on the English hillside.
The group's existence is dark and dreary -- those two adjectives also go far in describing the film itself. Shades of gray dominate most scenes, save for when the vibrant reds and oranges of dragon fire present themselves.
The situation intensifies with the arrival of Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey), a fierce slab of American military muscle. He and his troops, including pretty pilot Alex (Izabella Scorupco), managed to cross the Atlantic in the hopes of getting to London, where the nightmare began.
Soon enough, Van Zan's aggressive and gung-ho nature clashes with Quinn's remedy of stay-put-and-defend. Here is where the film falls into a bit of a rut, losing inspiration and hope of being memorable along the way. While it doesn't exactly insult the intelligence, "Reign of Fire's" production obviously didn't involve a huge amount of thought. Yes, the dragons look fantastic, but other important aspects of the film are lacking in both style and substance.
One such area is the writing, but it isn't that huge of a concern. After all, when one is being chased by house-sized, napalm-spewing reptiles with wings and empty stomachs, coming up with witty remarks and well-directed barbs should be pretty low on the list of priorities. Talk is cheap when you're about to be eaten.
No, what really falters is the plot. Put simply, there isn't much of it. Take the dragons out, and you'd be hard-pressed to find it with a microscope. The creatures drive the human characters to do what they do and to say what they say. In today's Hollywood, digital creations make up the blood and guts of too many action flicks -- it's not a good thing when they provide the bare bones, as well.
The dragons' limited agenda is itself a hindrance -- they generally like to eat, sleep and then eat some more. Judging by how quickly the world was overcome by the flying menaces, they also breed like bunnies. According to Van Zan, there's only one male around to do all the fertilizing: the same beast Quinn saw as a boy.
