This 23-Year-Old Hidden-Gem Dark Fantasy Movie Features 1 of the Greatest Casts of All Time

What’s now widely regarded as the dark fantasy genre has always been full of drafty castles, distressed peasants, and deadly dragons. However, what happens when the dragons wake up in 2008 and lay waste to modern Britain? Reign of Fire is a 2002 apocalyptic fantasy film that answers just that question. Mostly set in 2020, long after the wake of the first dragons being uncovered from their dormant state in the depths of the Earth, Reign of Fire follows a rural community held up in an old castle just trying to survive as best they can.

Although the plot is quite a far remove from knights in shining armor like Excalibur, or bare-chested barbaric warriors facing off against sorcerers and their beasts like Conan: The Barbarian, Reign of Fire still has some intriguing aspects to an otherwise shallow film. Taking inspiration from war films and creature features like Jaws, the movie tries to blend the suspense with the concept to sell it, and unfortunately, it falls flat. However, the redeeming aspects of this film largely have to do with some of the production quality as well as its cast, who carry proudly what little there is for the story.

This Unlikely Trio Stars In An Unlikely Film

Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey take the top billing of Reign of Fire as two contrasting characters. Bale’s Quinn Abercrombie is a man who was present during one of the first dragon uncoverings and now leads the community inside the Northumbrian castle shelter. Matthew McConaughey plays Denton Van Zan, a dragon-slaying soldier leading a ride-or-die troop of soldiers on the air and ground. Although well-equipped and eager to help kill dragons, Van Zan’s drafting tactics on the community and his dead-set attitude put him and Quinn at odds. Quinn’s best friend and second-in-command, Creedy, is played by an early-career Gerard Butler, who is a loyal contributor and keeps the community’s best interests at heart.

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Between these three, the film’s plot about a defensive community being turned into an offensive one is somewhat palatable. Bale as Quinn is convincing as a protector of the people and future generations as he fights with Van Zan’s hair-brained and adventurous ambition against horrid odds. Other notable actors include Izabella Scorupco, well-known for co-starring in James Bond: Goldeneye, and Alexander Siddig, who also played Doctor Bashir in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. All of these actors’ presence in the film is a time capsule for the time of the film, as it did its best to wrangle performers from many different genres.

Bale and McConaughey’s Characters Butt Heads.

As expected, both of these A-lister’s characters, one from the UK and the other from the US, are bound to butt heads, but in the end will end up needing each other to potentially carve a dragon-less future for humanity. Bale’s Quinn has always been cautious about keeping the children of the community safe, secure, and fed, which means living deep underground in dungeon-like caves beneath their castle. McConaughey’s Van Zan is all about the opposite, ever since he discovered how to kill dragons. Understanding some of their biology as well as the small window in the evening when their eyesight falters, he tries to convince people to join his army and set out to defeat a rare and massive male that is responsible for all the dragons’ procreation.

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Although some in the community are sick of hiding and willingly join, it’s not enough for Van Zan, who proceeds to try and draft people instead. Quinn naturally does not stand for it, and the pair share some heavy blows. Unable to agree, it takes a dragon’s annihilation of their base and his best friend, Creedy, to make him turn to Van Zan’s aggressive side. It’s at this point of the film that their performances become more important than ever, because the number of speaking roles drops significantly, and the action is focused on three actors and a massive CGI dragon.

The Film’s Effects Stole The Show Instead of the Plot

Unfortunately, this film does not have a very strong script, often making characters two-dimensional or building scenes just for the sake of a specific plot point, even when it doesn’t make sense. One example of this is how Quinn first discovers the dragon’s awakening as a child by haphazardly being allowed by friendly miners into a fresh opening in a dangerous mining operation. Other issues include the inciting incident of more dragon attacks, where some stubborn community members, having more hunger than sense, leave the castle to prematurely collect crops. Much of the film’s action scenes with the helicopter also feel a little forced just to show some skydiving action, even though the film establishes how fast and agile the dragons are in the air and would easily be able to outfly the chopper, let alone any of the paratroopers. With all of these great gaps aside, the actors did the best with what they were given, but the real star of the film was its special effects.

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Reign of Fire was released in the same year as Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, which was a revolutionary leap in special effects, CGI, and digital film, becoming a valid cinematic medium. With Reign of Fire being a much smaller film by comparison, its challenge to completely create a biologically-sound dragon from the ground up and believably render it for this gritty action thriller was an ambitious task. However, with its team of digital effects artists, concept artists, and the director researching countless animals and their behaviors, Reign of Fire did an incredible job in designing truly terrifying and realistic dragons. Of course, some effects are still antiquated, but often they are still surrounded by blending effects and practical elements that really sell the few seconds they have on screen. One very notable example of this is when the first dragon is slain, the body of the dragon was completely built practically and matched its CGI model so well that it helps the audience suspend their disbelief entirely. So even though most of this film isn’t up to today’s standards of writing, Reign of Fire‘s effects and interesting casting are enough to give it at least one good watch-through.

Reign of Fire

Release Date

July 12, 2002

Runtime

102 Minutes

Director

Rob Bowman

Writers

Gregg Chabot, Kevin Peterka, Matt Greenberg

• Christian Bale

  Quinn Abercromby

• Matthew McConaughey

  Denton Van Zan