The second of Chief's triple header and things are going downhill quickly. Oh dear
In 7 words or less: Dragons v Man in the near future
What's it all About? A load of dragons (ahem, load?) come out of nowhere and destroy civilisation. Cut to 18 years later and we witness Quinn (Bale) trying to ensure the survival of a small band of people in the Northumberland countryside. Things get shaken up when a rogue American military unit led by Denton Van Zan (McConaughey) show up on a quest to kill all dragons.
Best bits? Not much to mention here except McConaughey's bald headed, beard wearing, sawn off jacket tank top sporting yankee doodle dandy. Macho over the top sheenanigans in abundance.
Did it make you think thoughts? Yeah, what a wasted opportunity. Dragons vs a struggling human population is a great set-up and could have and should have been a massive hit. You don't really feel for the characters and you're not really bothered about what happens as long as you see some knock down drag out beast vs huamoid combat. Instead we're left with not much in the way of actual dragon fighting. We get a fight scene about half way through and then a shortish finale battle. Sadly it's not enough.
I also feel that I have had my eyes opened in a big way. When did Christian Bale become such an acclaimed actor? I was one of the sheep who thought he was amazing but now on reflection and looking back at his previous performances I have come to the conclusion that he is wildly overrated. I would actually go so far as to say he wouldn't make it into my top 50 actors maybe not even the top 100. He was good in American Psycho and tolerable in The Fighter but that's about it. Let's not even start on his horrendous portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman. In Reign of Fire he is all cockney mockney and sounds terrible. Matthew M outshines him in every scene and gives by far the better performance.
Would you watch it again? Nope. This is the second time I have seen it (1st at the cinema) and will be the last. At least.
Would you watch it again? Nope. This is the second time I have seen it (1st at the cinema) and will be the last. At least.
Rating (out of 100%): If I want to see dragons I'd rather watch Harry Potter than this and I don't even like the bespectacled chopper. I fear for the next Batman movie (the trailer looks terrible) as Bale is woefully miscast, but as for Reign of Fire it gets a smoldering 30%
