Reign of Fire - Actually quite good fun

There are some films which don't really make it big at the Box Office, but then go on to find a cult following on DVD.  As far as I'm aware, 'Reign of Fire' hasn’t done either - which is a shame in my opinion, as it's pretty good fun - for what it is.  Maybe it's because it's got dragons in it and I always found them pretty cool, especially as villains.  Basically, while digging deep under London, a team of engineers accidentally awakens a dragon, who then goes on to re-populate the world with thousands others like him.  And our new winged companions don't seem to like sharing the planet with us!

All that happens in about the opening ten minutes (including convenient exposition monologue during the opening titles) and we soon find ourselves in a stricken, apocalyptic world where humans are forced to hide for fear of being burned to a cinder.  One such settlement is led by a (pre-Batman) Christian Bale and a (pre-anything of note) Gerard Butler).  They're just about managing to keep their colony happy and hidden, doing their best to 'outlast' the winged beasties who now rule the world, when a bunch of Americans (led by a practically-unrecognisable Matthew McConaughey) descends on them, claiming to have the answer to the dragon invasion.

As I say, it's enjoyable - for what it is.  It's one of those films where if you go into it expecting something amazing, you'll leave disappointed.  Whereas if you know what you're getting (and the film's flaws) then you should be forgiving enough to just go with it and actually have quite a good time.  First of all the actors all play their parts well - possibly Mathew McConaughey’s crazy marine being the most notable of the leads.  And the special effects are also pretty up to scratch.  You're never going to realistically portray a world ravaged by dragons without using major CGI and it all looks good.

But on to, what I consider, to possibly be why 'Reign of Fire' isn't remembered by the majority.  It's probably down to the story, or rather 'story structure.' Basically, it's a bit all over the place.  It speeds up, slows down and never really knows whether it wants to be a gritty and realistic take on an apocalyptic future, or an all-out action epic.  Then there's the ending.  It's the one things that always stuck with me about the film - right from when I first watched it in the cinema, to every time I re-watch it on DVD.  It just sort of ends.  I always wondered whether the film-makers ran out of money and therefore had to scale down the ending for budgetary reasons.  I would say that a film like this deserves a big pay-off at the end, but it doesn't really happen.  You get the pay-off, but just not as 'epic' as the preceding hour and a half has promised.

So, if you're prepared for the negative as well as the excellent special effects (for the time and budget) it's a harmless enough little fantasy-action film which may well have been passed over by the masses, but definitely deserves a little more love that it got at the time.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that