Minor spoliers ahead:
Saw this today because I had some spare time to go to the theatre (the last time I went was to the lord of the rings-put me to sleep and before that to from hell) This one opened today. It's an entertaining movie and the dragons in it are certainly cool and well done (the cgi looks great in this film) A lot of the movie features dragons attacking the survivors of the world that is now all but destroyed. It takes place in England in the year 2020 (the dragon invasion started in 2008 when one magicallly appeared out of a tunnel beneath the ground- it isn't explained why these monsters are here throughout the movie.) Basically the remaining people hide in a castle until a US group of soldiers stops by and aims to fight against them. They realize that the dragon population is almost completely female and that there is only one male who is larger and fertilizes the eggs for they can continue to reproduce. They soon decide to go after this one male and that's basically the premise of the movie. Little weak on the story itself but entertaining none the less. I liked it and I'm usually very tough on newer movies that come out.
It had its weak points, but for sheer action and spectacle it was the best movie since SPIDER-MAN. The dragons were some of the best CGI creatures I've seen yet.
And Matthew McConaughey (sp?) as an action hero?!? Who'd have thunk it, but he's a badass in this movie!
Very fun film that suprised me with it's likable characters. Usually in a big summer film characters are cutouts of previous bankable hero types. Christian Bale is very likable and Matthew McConaughey is excellent in his
over-the-top role. The story wasn't near as predictable as some of it's critics have tried to make it out as and the plot-holes are all quite forgivable (this is make-believe guys) as opposed to something that takes itself seriously, like, let's say Minority Report. All in all, very glad I seen it in the theater and after this and Frailty, I am actually looking forward to what McConaughey does in the future (if someone told me I's say that a year ago I would have punched him in the eye).
I've been excited about this one for a while and it did not disappoint. Imagine, a summer movie with good characters (!), competant direction (!) and real thrills (!). Spider-Man, Minority Report, The Bourne Identity, and this add up to the most entertaining summer in a long while.
I have to say that after seeing MIB2 that I wasn't expecting much. I thought all the good movies of the summer had already came out. Boy was I wrong. My son was so excited after seeing this movie, as was I. I must admit that the CGI effects were better in this than a lot of films I've seen, almost on par with JP. I would be willing to see this again.
Went to the 7:00 show today that started at 7:10(that's my home town for ya). A very well done movie. Christian Bale and Matthew McCaunahey are awesome in this movie. I agree the cgi is well done. Whoever thinks action and/or fantasy movies are just a bunch of bad acting and nonsense should be beaten up then shown this movie. I must say that Matt has been on a role this year. Hope he has plenty more good offers come his way in the future. Same for Bale.
haven't seen it yet but i just saw ebert's review on tv. it discussed a plot issue.
question: if there's one male dragon left, then killing him would prevent future baby dragons being born. but why do all the femal dragons stop attacking people when they kill the male dragon? wouldn't they be p**sed off and attack even more?
-mr. henry
mr. henry wrote:
>
> haven't seen it yet but i just saw ebert's review on tv. it
> discussed a plot issue.
>
> question: if there's one male dragon left, then killing him
> would prevent future baby dragons being born. but why do all
> the femal dragons stop attacking people when they kill the
> male dragon? wouldn't they be p**sed off and attack even more?
>
> -mr. henry
See, that's what I thought. Hey, the big guys dead. I bet all the rest of these dragons go out in an orgy of incredibly destructive violence. Apparently they all just dropped dead, like when you kill the main vampire.
Of course, when they introduced that particular plot point I thought to myself, "That's stupid." I mean, I bought that this was a species that lay dormant for hundreds of millions of years, you have to buy that or there's no movie. But a single male that you kill and wipe out the species? That's just lazy writing. (Speaking of lazy writing, have you read Ebert's review? I like the guy when he's on a roll, but an apathetic Ebert is no damn good.)
Still, I liked REIGN OF FIRE quite a bit. The skydiving scene was one of the more gripping action sequences I've seen in a while. And a lot of the dragon scenes just looked amazing. If you're going to see it, see it in the theater. I have a feeling a lot of the good stuff won't cross over well to DVD. (Unless you have a gigantic TV.)
i haven't been going to new stuff like i used to, but i'll hit this one at a discount theater. sounds like it is enjoyable as a b-plot effects flick.
nope. i didn't read the ebert review. just saw the tv show. he's not my favorite critic or anything but he had the best tv-review of "battlefield earth"---"two thumbs down...Way Down...WAY WAY DOWN...way way way down!"
...and he did include the anime "metropolis" in his recent university of illinois film festival.
and speaking of dragon movies...i need to catch up...i missed that one with sean connery's voice work. i guess the last dragon movie i saw was "pete's dragon." wait...i recently caught "dragonslayer" on tv.
-mr. henry
Ohhhh, there are lots of points to deal with, Mr. Henry. Like....how do the dragons fly so well....with gapeing holes in the wings!? Talk about a loss of lift! Are the holes from dragon "Catfights"? When the Big Dragon attacks the armored convoy, he gets hit with lots of .50 cal , which can pierce 1/2 inch armor at 600 yards. He lives? Maby because of the same biology that let him sleep for all those centuries? Also......whats the deal with the concept, of a species that destroys all the sources of "Food", then canniblises itself to extinction, till the one key member (A male!), is awakened. If the male is the last survivor...where did the eggs come from!? If the thing carries some eggs along in case of just such an eventuality, why can't they pull a "Jurrasic park " and develoup from Male to Female as needed? See.....it warn't so well written after all, were it? Gives me a reason to drink..................
Repost from another thread:
Well, let's see. We have an idiot for a hero. How stupid is he? He's given an exploding arrow, DROPS it, and doesn't notice until he's run away! He waits until the big dragon is *almost on him* to start loading his crossbow. When faced with potentially hostile enemies, he goes outside the gates of his castle to talk to them, rather than staying behind it. He plants his crops far away from his castle, so far away it apparently takes all night to drive there.
We also have an incompetent, arrogant dickhead who disgraces whatever branch of the military he was in. He utilizes a plan that amounts to three men committing suicide to kill one dragon. He keeps his helicopter in the air almost constantly despite the fact he's low on fuel (and there's no chance of ever getting more). He kidnaps people from their homes to use as fodder and acts righteous about it. He leads his men into an area they can't escape from, an obvious trap, despite the patrolling helicopter that must have seen it from miles away.
Then we have the dragons themselves. They don't have personality, they are just big, dumb brutes. They eat ash, except when they eat people. There is one male -- ONE -- for the entire population. Not one male per flock, one male in the ENTIRE POPULATION. (Good thing, too, or else it would have been hard to make them go extinct.) They reproduce like fish, with the females laying eggs and the male flying over and spilling his load on them (the eggs, not the females). I'm not sure how that works since he never leaves his nesting ground, where there are no eggs in evidence. (This method of reproduction is only a theory of the idiots - er - protagonists, but it's apparently right since the dragons disappear after the male dies.)
I was prepared to like this movie but it was just too dumb. And if a movie is so dumb *I* don't like it, then, whoa.
Oh, yeah, and I never realized that fire has such immense concussive force. Heck, it can knock over stone walls!