| Reign of Fire |
Reign of Fire film poster |
| Directed by |
Rob Bowman |
| Produced by |
Richard Zanuck,
Lillieni Zanuck,
Roger Birnbaum,
Gary Barber |
| Written by |
Story:
Gregg Chabot,
Kevin Peterka
Screenplay:
Matt Greenberg,
Gregg Chabot,
Kevin Peterka |
| Starring |
Matthew McConaughey,
Christian Bale,
Izabella Scorupco,
Gerard Butler,
Alice Krige,
Ben Thornton |
| Music by |
Mad at Gravity,
Ed Shearmur,
Brad Wagner |
| Cinematography |
Adrian Biddle |
| Editing by |
Declan McGrath,
Thom Noble |
| Distributed by |
Touchstone Pictures
Spyglass Entertainment(Some markets) |
| Release date(s) |
12 July 2002 |
| Running time |
102 min. |
| Country |
United Kingdom,
United States |
| Language |
English |
| Budget |
USD$60,000,000[1] |
| Gross revenue |
USD$82,150,183[1] |
Reign of Fire is a 2002 action/science fiction film directed by Rob Bowman and starring Matthew McConaughey, Christian Bale, Izabella Scorupco, and Gerard Butler. It takes place in the year 2020 in England, after dragons have reawakened. The film grossed about $82 million[1] on a $60 million budget[1].
Plot
During Underground construction in London around the year 2008, a huge, hibernating dragon is discovered and springs to life, instantly incinerating all construction workers with its fiery breath. The only survivor is 12-year-old Quinn Abercromby, whose mother (Alice Krige) was chief of the construction crew. The dragon escapes, and soon thousands of them work their way across Europe and eventually the rest of the world, burning everything and multiplying at an exponential rate.
Brief newspaper and TV news accounts reveal that among other things, Paris was burned by the dragons but terrorists were initially suspected, an attack in Kenya kills dozens of people, paleontologists discover dragon fossils in Antarctica during Arctic heating, scientists prove the dragons are a separate species that coexisted with the dinosaurs, and who were responsible for the dinosaurs' extinction. Scientists infer that when the dragons began to starve, they went into hibernation until the Earth could replenish itself. The United Nations calls an emergency session after a large dragon nest is discovered in Pakistan. By late 2010 (as the news accounts also reveal), the world powers begin to use Nuclear weapons which only hastens the destruction of the planet, causing a nuclear holocaust, and soon all semblance of organized government and society falls apart, save for small communities of survivors.
Twelve years later, in 2020, the adult Quinn (Christian Bale) leads a small community of survivors living in a medieval stone castle in Northumberland. Their hope is to outlast the dragons, wait until they die out again (as they presumably did several times before) and go into hibernation. Unfortunately, the people are beginning to starve while waiting for their crops to ripen. Eddie Stax (David Kennedy) and his children attempt to leave the castle for food, but are stopped by Quinn, who confiscates the keys to their harvesting truck. Later that night, Quinn and his best friend Creedy, perform the famous "I Am Your Father" scene from the movie Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (With Quinn lying, saying he made up the entire sequence) for the children who are in the castle, who then say prayers, and are sent to bed.
Once everyone is asleep, Eddie steals the keys from Quinn, gathering the group which was originally supposed to get the crops for the community. They head down to the field and start gathering crops. However, the group is heard, luring a dragon to them. One of the children is killed, and the remaining group is surrounded by a ring of fire. They are rescued by Quinn, Creedy, and Jared (Quinn's "adopted" son) in fire-proof trucks and suits. While trying to escape, the dragon lands in front of them, and blows fire, killing Eddie's son. The dragon then feasts on the ash.
Days later, a team of American volunteers arrive, led by Denton Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey) and bringing a Chieftain tank and an Agusta A109 helicopter, piloted by Alex Jensen (Izabella Scorupco). Van Zan and his heavily armed band of 200 soldiers have devised an elaborate tracking system to hunt and kill dragons. Mistrusting, but needing each other, Quinn and Van Zan work together and kill the dragon that destroyed the crop. The inhabitants of the castle celebrate the victory, only to be chastised by Van Zan, who is disgusted by their behaviour, having lost three of his men in the battle.
Afterwards, Van Zan and Alex tell Quinn that all dragons his unit have encountered so far are female. Their hypothesis is that there is only one male worldwide. Alex was said to have discovered this two years before, while working out how they breathe fire (the dragons secrete two separate chemicals in glands in their mouth, and then emit a flammable gas which sparks a giant explosion). Van Zan orders his soldiers to pick the best of Quinn's men at the castle, pressing them into service in Van Zan's band. This enrages Quinn and he engages Van Zan in a fight; however, Van Zan is a battle-tempered and hardened soldier and he begins to beat Quinn mercilessly until others run to pull him off of Quinn. Made to look weak in front of his community, Quinn becomes angry and shouts at everyone that are now willingly joining Van Zan that the dragon will follow them and then backtrack their trail to find out where they came from. He warns that the castle will be destroyed if this happens. Quinn is also frightened because he has seen the male dragon before: it was the one that killed his mother and all of the construction workers at the beginning of the movie.
Van Zan and his unit go to London to find the single male dragon and discover a road block. Van Zan then sends Alex to find a new way around. The male dragon soon arrives and incinerates nearly the entire number of Van Zan's soldiers, save for Alex, Van Zan, and a wounded soldier. Van Zan realizes the mistake he made in trying to engage the dragon, as it had killed almost everyone in his unit within a few seconds (with just 'one pass'). Quinn's warning is realized, as the male dragon follows their route back to the castle and attacks it. Some castle inhabitants successfully hide in an underground shelter that is designed to survive the intense heat. Quinn's close friend, Creedy (Gerard Butler), attempts to bring more castle inhabitants down to the shelter but is killed by a follow-up attack that also seals the shelter entrance.
Defeated, Van Zan returns to the castle, freeing Quinn and the surviving children from the castle's shelter. Quinn tells Van Zan that they and Alex will hunt the male dragon in London. They use the helicopter to follow the River Thames to the city, unnoticed, where they see that there are hundreds of dragons in the ruined city. They watch as the smaller dragons flee from the much larger male who is starting to resort to cannibalism. With only the male dragon left in the city, Van Zan, Quinn, and Alex move into the city. Van Zan's plan is to fire a magnesium and C4 explosive charge, placed on a crossbow bolt, into the dragon's chest during the brief moment it exposes its chest as it inhales, drawing air to produce fire. During the battle, Van Zan is unable to destroy the dragon using his crossbow and attacks the dragon with no more than his battle-axe in a head-on leap. He is killed when the dragon swallows him in mid-air. Quinn and Alex are able to lure the dragon to street level, and Quinn destroys it with his own crossbow by firing the explosive bolt into the dragon's mouth.
At least three months after the male dragon is slain, Quinn and Alex, who is now living with Quinn's community, are seen erecting a radio tower and receive a transmission from another group of survivors in France. The sun is shining brightly, and it is said that there have been no dragon sightings for three months. The now hopeful Quinn resolutely dedicates himself to rebuilding civilization, undaunted by the remote possibility of the dragons returning, stating, "They'll burn, we'll build."
Cast
Critical reception
Reign of Fire received generally negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives it 40% on the "tomatometer" based on 147 reviews, and labels it "an enjoyable B-movie if you don't use your brain." Metacritic gives it a score of 39 (out of 100) based on 30 reviews from critics, with a score of 6.2 (out of 10) from users. Roger Ebert panned the film, giving it one star and calling it a "grim and dreary enterprise."[2]
Awards
Reign of Fire was nominated for one Saturn Award, one award from Festival de Cine de Sitges, and won one other Sitges award:[3]
Distribution
Reign of Fire was distributed to theaters by Buena Vista Pictures, and on DVD by Buena Vista Home Entertainment in America.
On 7 July 2005, ABC had scheduled a broadcast of Reign of Fire, but because of the terrorist attack on London that day, it was replaced with another movie, Big Fat Liar.[4]
See also
References
External links
