Reign of Fire (2002)

A brood of fire-breathing dragons emerges from the earth and begins setting everything ablaze, establishing dominance over the planet.

Director:

Rob Bowman

Writers:

Gregg Chabot (story), Kevin Peterka (story)

Stars:

Matthew McConaughey, Christian Bale, Izabella Scorupco

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christian Bale	...	Quinn Abercromby
Matthew McConaughey	...	Denton Van Zan
Izabella Scorupco	...	Alex Jensen
Gerard Butler	...	Creedy
Scott Moutter	...	Jared Wilke (as Scott James Moutter)
David Kennedy	...	Eddie Stax
Alexander Siddig	...	Ajay
Ned Dennehy	...	Barlow
Rory Keenan	...	Devon
Terence Maynard	...	Gideon
Doug Cockle	...	Goosh
Randall Carlton	...	Burke (Tito)
Chris Kelly	...	Mead
Ben Thornton	...	Young Quinn
Alice Krige	...	Karen Abercromby

Storyline

It is twenty years in the future, and the planet has been devastated by vicious fire-breathing dragons. The last vestiges of humanity now struggle for survival at remote outposts. In a ruined castle in the English countryside, Quinn is desperately trying to hold together a band of frightened, restless survivors. As a boy, Quinn watched his mother die protecting him from one of the beasts, and is still haunted by the memory. One day, a group of American rogues shows up, led by a brash, tough-guy named Van Zan. He claims to have discovered a way to kill the dragons once and for all, and enlists Quinn's help. But doing so will force Quinn to confront his own frightening memories. This, and Quinn's responsibilities to those that are under his protection, results in a battle of wills between the two men. In the end, events cause them both to realize that they must work together to defeat the monsters--both without and within.

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Plot Keywords:

dragon | fire breathing dragon | survival | militia | castle | 

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Taglines:

Fight Fire With Fire

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense action violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan] Official site [UK]

Country:

USA UK Ireland

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 July 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Where Heroes Go Down

Filming Locations:

Black Castle, Wicklow, Ireland

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$15,632,281, 14 July 2002, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$43,061,982, 27 October 2002

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$82,150,183

Company Credits

Production Co:

Spyglass Entertainment, Touchstone Pictures, Tripod Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the production team first began scouting for Irish locations, it was announced that Arnold Schwarzenneger would be starring.

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Goofs

Van Zan tells Quinn the explosive crossbow bolts are magnesium-tipped C4. Assuming the magnesium is being lit from impact or from the dragon's breath, the C4 would not detonate; C4 detonates only with combined heat and pressure usually only obtained from detonating a blasting cap embedded in the C4. Unless the magnesium tip was purposed as the ignition source of a blasting cap that wasn't mentioned in the arrow head the C4 would not have detonated.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Worker #1: Hello, Quinn.
Worker #2: Good morning, Quinn. How's is going mate.
Young Quinn: What's up, guys.
Worker #3: Working the late shift, are ya?
Young Quinn: Ha! Someone's got to clean up after you guys.

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Connections

Referenced in Ban the Sadist Videos! Part 2 (2006)

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Soundtracks

Interlude 1
Music by Mad at Gravity
Performed by Mad at Gravity
Courtesy of ARTISTdirect Records

User Reviews

A very underrated film that deserves to be seen

Caught this on DVD recently and was happily surprised. It's a 'post-apocalypse' story where mankind is reduced to living an almost stone-age existence by a global disaster, but this time the apocalypse is brought about not by nuclear weapons but a race of dragons unleashed from the depths of the earth by over-ambitious mining! OK, it's a pretty silly concept, but the whole thing is handled with panache. Director Rob (X-Files) Bowman is obviously at home with this kind of subject matter and the visuals are excellent thanks to cinematographer Adrian Biddel, a dab hand at photographing the impossible thanks to his work on the two Mummy films and The World Is Not Enough. Critics here in the UK panned it when it came out, saying that it needed more special effects, but they completely missed out on the charm of the film, which was in the ingenious ways that it showed the human race had been changed by the onset of the dragons. I loved the scene where Quinn and his sidekick, having to entertain a castle full of children without the benefit of TV or video games, enact a scene from Star Wars, providing both dialogue and narration as they go.

Don't listen to the critics, this is definitely worth a look.