Rating: 
Summary: If only the DRAGON had won...
Review: ... Now audiences are presented with something called REIGN OF FIRE starring Christian Bale (who is fine casting) and Matthew McCaughnahay (who seems to chew his lines as much as he enjoys rubbing his bald head and chews his cigar). Too bad for the dragon. He has little to do. While the adds made this film out to be like BLACK HAWK DOWN meets DRAGONSLAYER, the actual plot is a total letdown. The effects are good. The 'castle' is a reject from some old ROAD WARRIOR film. And the supporting cast are simply in the picture to become toasted weenies for the dragon's breath. The lead female is wasted unless you enjoy just watching a pretty face and nothing else. I love a good dragon story. I love dragons. They are the flip side of the unicorn. Bad vs. good. Dragons fascinate. ...
Rating:
Summary: Bad editing + bad execution + good story =missed opportunity
Review:
Great FX and good acting plus a promising scenario bring the light to this movie, but it was ultimately only so-so. Since I expected it to [stink] thanks to word-of-mouth, I was actually a little surprised I enjoyed it.
Too many editing chops in this! The scene where Van Zan finishes off the crashed dragon cuts too early. The scene where he dies is too abrupt, and almost gives a cheap laugh instead of being heroic - all because it was edited too hastily. I blinked at that scene and had to ask 'what happend to Van Zan? Was he eaten or did he fall?' The chopper pilot had bricks falling on her from like 20 meters, then in the next scene she's just limping. WTF happened? They should have had better editing and continuity.
Also, the archangels scene, I think, should have been a success so we get a feeling for how good these guys and gals are. It was kind of a letdown to see them bounce and fail instead of take down the dragon. Otherwise, that was a great scene. And what was with the triangulation on motorcycles? It basically only provided a reason for the hero to ride out there on his horse. They could have used the radar system they had to track the helicopter.
Speaking of radar, the dragons would have been toast in the real world, if we assume they are mortal, as portrayed and described by Van Zam in the movie: "They have a heart, a brain, a liver." We could have used radar-directed anti-aircraft artillery like Russian ZSU-23, or the US Navy PHALANX CWIS - a weapon system that would rip a flesh-and-blood dragon the size of a fighter jet into a spray of blood, or shoulder-fired missiles to take out the 1,600 pound dragons, to say nothing of the capabilities of the fighter jets in the world's air forces. The movie could have had a world that underwent a phase shift of types, in which our technology is rendered useless while the realm of magic comes alive - a world in which dragons are the ultimate embodiment of power. But they had a mixed world in which dragons are supposed to be able to conquer us despite our technology, and this didn't really makes sense to me.
Also, Van Zam either totally underestimated the strength of the main dragon, or he was dumb to have his column lined up so it would be completely consumed by one dragon strike.
The dragons looked pretty good in this. There were some good moments of action and humor. It's just sad that this wasn't a greater movie. It had all the elements of a great, intelligent action movie, but something got lost in the mix. Hell, the hero didn't even get a kiss from the heroine in the end. And what happened to all the female dragons? Did they just dive into the sea out of despair when the one male was killed?
Definitely wait for this to come out on TV, unless you just can't wait to see dragons, in which case it's worth DVD, I guess, but not theater. Maybe the .99 cent theater, or a super cheap matinee. On the light side, this movie will probably be good for kids under 14 who haven't seen so many movies and aren't particularly concerned with plot holes and missed opportunities.
-- JJ Timmins
Rating: 
Summary: Magnificent Dragons & Bale
Review: The most wonderfully created dragons ever seen. Bale is completely a different person from any others. Great and lovely performance of his. You'll come to love both QUINN and the DRAGONS. Great action scenes of battles between dragons and humans. Cool!
Rating:
Summary: Huh?
Review: That one word just about sums up the whole movie. Christian Bale did some excellent acting and Matthew McConaughey looked good, but that's also about all there is to say. The director or writer, or whomever was in charge, could have done so much and gone in so many directions, but they did not. I thought, while watching the film, WOW, what will happen next?! Unfortunetly though, the movie was predictable and the plot went nowhere.
The few good things I can say, are that the special effects were amazing, and like I said, Christian Bale did an OUTSTANDING job acting.
So please, save your money and wait until it comes out on DVD or video.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent Movie
Review: Reign of Fire is a decent movie. Way better then movies that made a whole lot more. Wish it would make more money. Anyways, the movie is pretty good considering it wasnt anything like I thought it would be. Like a whole lot of people I thought the movie was going to be all action. It wasnt, but I still liked it. It never really slowed down and it kept a pretty good pace. Good movie. You should see it. Its at least worth a rent.
Rating: 
Summary: Only fire of choice should be the director
Review: Although hyped and attractive through the trailers, this film falls completely flat. The most wonderful aspect of this film is the brief display of the dragons' prowess to destroy and the one initial sequence of a dragon capture and kill. Other than these aspects, there isn't any redeeming value to this film. The films begins with the uncovering of the sleeping dragon, then morphs to the post-apocalyptic period with the human race barely surviving in a dragon dominated planet. The script has so many hole in the design, it is very surprising that the script was not mistaken for swiss cheese. So many questions left unanawered ...Why have the dragons so dominated the planet? When the planets population became so devastated, how did the dragons continued to survive?..on and on. This film rightfully earned the right to receive Howie worst rating of one star.
Rating:
Summary: Dragonslayer, Part II
Review: When I first saw the trailer for this film, I was reminded, as was the ... reviewer, of 1981's "Dragonslayer". After having seen "Reign", I am sure that this is life an extension of the former film.
Let's just say that one of the offspring of the dragon slain by Peter MacNichol in the earlier film had survived, existing in the caverns underneath "merry Olde England". It was then "awakened" by Alice Kringe and crew, brought back to wreck havoc on the Earth. Thus, this set up for this film allows McConaughey, Bale, and their respective motley crew to do battle with the progeny of this creature. There are some lapses in logic and the dialog is rather wooden, but the film is still a pretty decent way to spend an afternoon. Hopefully, the theater is well air-conditioned...'cause the dragons in the film are HOT!
Rating:
Summary: ...poor film, little kids might like it.
Review: This movie was poorly made, the only thing that prevented me from walking out was the CGI dragons. The acting is bordering on indie films and the scenery is the standard apocolyptic cliche, albeit the castle they live in. Several plot holes easily distract viewers from the (thin) storyline and dialog. Thinking back on it, I'm not sure any emotion was played out until the last minute or two of the film, and much of the action was standard stuff as well ... this movie was more like a D&D Mad Lib than a hollywood movie. Asides from the decent looking dragons (admittedly they did pull a few stunts to ease their jobs as animators, such as clouds and speed blurs) this movie [is bad].
Rating: 
Summary: Much better than expected
Review: Before I start, I have to admit up front that I went into "Reign of Fire" with exceptionally low expectations - I figured they'd find a way to really muck up what could have been an interesting story; after all, doesn't that frequently happen with fantasy films? Look at "Dungeons & Dragons," ferinstance - ugh! But, braving the potentially awfulness, I went to see it. Imagine my pleasant surprise upon being very entertained through most of the film. I'd actually give it 3.5 stars - if only Amazon allowed half points, alas. There defintely are some rather large holes in the plot, but amazingly they detract only slightly from the overall effect. The dragon effects were very good, the direction was better than I expected, and the acting was above par. There were some excellent suspense scenes, a handful of decent emotional scenes, and far less gratuitous, meaningless, over-the-top action sequences. There were actual *nuances* in facial expressions, tones of voice, et cetera. I feel they could have explained more of the back story, but as the film is nearly two hours long as cut, that would have been pushing things just a touch. This would very likely make an excellent book, which could go into more detail, character motivations, dragon culture, and so forth. The film isn't high art, but I don't think any of us expected that, right? It's very enjoyable for someone looking for a little mindless entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: Someone should sue Touchstone for false advertising.
Review: I came away from Reign of Fire very disappointed. The trailer showed an action packed movie with modern technology battling dragons. An idea that is very cool in concept, but very poor in this execution. Based on all the TV, print, and trailer advertising, I was expecting a fast-paced action movie with dog fights between the dragons and the humans in aircraft. It seems like the logical sort of action for a movie with this premise. Imagine my disappointment when the movie turned out to be mostly a survival drama with long gaps between mediocre action sequences. Set 20 years AFTER the dragons have destroyed most of the Earth, you have a small community of survivors holding fort in an old castle, and an even smaller group of soldiers with very little in the way of an arsenal or army. It's like taking the 1500s time period and injecting a couple of military vehicles and dragons. The poster for the movie shows 14 helicopters. There was only ONE in the movie. The poster also shows 6 dragons. We only see TWO. The advertising and the movie being advertised were two complete different animals. If they had shown at least one of the first battles between the humans and dragons -- instead of just *telling* us about it in voice over and skipping ahead 20 years -- I might have let this movie pass with a higher rating. But as it stands, it is a so-so movie that in no way delivers what the advertising promised.
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