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Reign of Fire
Touchstone Pictures


6.2

based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 38 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for intense action violence

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Christian Bale, Izabella Scorupco, Gerard Butler, Alexander Siddig, Benny Nieves, Randall Carlton, and Doug Cockle

An exciting tale of adventure and survival that fuses a medieval past with a post-apocalyptic future. (Buena Vista Pictures Entertainment)

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Gregg Chabot (also story) Kevin Peterka (also story) Matt Greenberg
DIRECTED BY:	Rob Bowman
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: November 19, 2002 Video: November 19, 2002 Theatrical: July 12, 2002
RUNNING TIME:	100 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The fact that Reign of Fire does what it sets out to do is a cause for celebration amongst those who like special effects-laden action movies featuring fire-breathing monsters and mayhem.

Chicago Reader Hank Sartin

An odd cross between "Mad Max" and "Dragonheart," this movie is all borrowed ideas, but it's still trashy fun.

LA Weekly Paul Malcolm

Bowman and production designer Wolf Kroeger do an excellent job of evoking a twice-baked England, while writers Gregg Chabot, Kevin Peterka and Matt Greenberg keep the script devilishly pitched just shy of preposterous (it's McConaughey who stumbles beyond).

New Times (L.A.) Gregory Weinkauf

The beasts are employed to splendid metaphorical effect, which may be lost on viewers perceiving nothing but an action romp.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Loads of fun. It has a jamming B-picture buzz -- the kind of swift filmmaking and high spirits that have been missing from movies for a while.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The film delivers the goods, reptile-wise. Though the computer-generated villains look a bit clumsy at ground level, they're superb in the air.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

This is quite enjoyable as creature features go, and Bale continues to demonstrate his curious under-the-radar appeal. As for McConaughey, let's just say a star is reborn. Suddenly that whole naked-bongo-playing incident makes a lot more sense.

Chicago Tribune Chris Jones

It's a decent, fast-moving and visually powerful summer action romp for the teenage demographic-the dragons are deliciously evil critters, with a nice retro identity.

Variety Joe Leydon

An uncommonly satisfying mix of medieval fantasy, high-tech military action and "Mad Max"-style misadventure.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

A collision of medieval fantasy and commando action movie, where you can almost believe in the high-concept mix-and-matching.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Stops dead the second the monsters fall out of view. It doesn't help that the movie's post-apocalyptic future is of the unimaginative backlot variety, or that the movie takes itself so seriously.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Though Reign of Fire's concept of a humans-versus-dragons smackdown is a good one, the way it's worked out on screen is more silly than compelling.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The script gives the actors less of a chance than the dragons give to Homo sapiens.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Clearly, nobody's going to win any awards for this, but maybe Bale and McConaughey knew what they were doing after all. The music is loud, the action is fierce and the bodies are buff.

Film Threat Michael Dequina

Surprisingly lifeless monster movie.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Like a dog walking on its hind legs across a freshly waxed floor -- awkward, slow, deliberate, seeking approval -- the action thriller Reign of Fire gets from start to finish, somehow, without tumbling into complete disaster.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Will make monster fans ache for what might have been.

TV Guide Frank Lovece

Some great things can found in this fluidly kinetic film, well-directed by X-Files series and movie veteran Rob Bowman, including no-nonsense dialogue, epic photography and a terrific score. It's too bad the story is so sloppy and stupid.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Often incomprehensible (a combination of jumpy editing and lots of thick British Isles accents) and hardly ever entertaining - even unintentionally.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

It strains belief that nuclear weapons couldn't kill off the dragons, but three people with crossbows could.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The story doesn't clarify why the dragons hibernated for hundreds of years, nor why they awakened. Clearly, however, the filmmakers might have benefited from more sleep before penning the script.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Reign of Fire never comes close to recovering from its demented premise, but it does sustain an enjoyable level of ridiculousness.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Director Rob Bowman seems at a loss as to what to bring to the film, which, even with its good choice of leads, plods along from one dragon fight to the next, all of them staged to showcase Fire's impressive CGI dragons, but none choreographed with any real flair.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

It's just silly, loud and goofy. The dragon needed a bigger part and the two stars smaller ones.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

Peaks early with a vertiginous dogfight; thereafter, spotty CGI and a bamboozling plot conspire toward a colossal anticlimax.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

One regards Reign of Fire with awe. What a vast enterprise has been marshaled in the service of such a minute idea. Incredulity is our companion, and it is twofold: We cannot believe what happens in the movie, and we cannot believe that the movie was made.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

So what's not to like? There's the bad CGI, the choppy pacing, the comically intense acting, the repetition, the dullness and mostly the idiot plot about how there's only one male dragon and everything will be fine if they kill the Big Dick. Wha? Somebody get a hose and put this Fire out.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Dragons torch the earth as manly men with weird hair battle them in this colossally misconceived dud.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

A disaster of a drama, saved only by its winged assailants. You know a picture's in trouble when you find yourself rooting for humankind to lose.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Truly awful.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.2 (out of 10) based on 38 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

TK gave it a7:
Not the best movie ever... but mildly entertaining. The characters are somewhat likable and the story was predictable but decent. PS Aron, your not cool and couldn't write a review worth reading to save your life... regardless of what Mindy might think.

Aidan P. gave it a10:
I love this movie, its great. Don't know why it received such bad reviews, after all, its fantasy.

Louis's brother gave it an8:
Best epic of the year! I was at the edge of my seat throughout the whole movie. The only problem is that the story needs some work.

Sam gave it a7:
Far from the classics that were also released in 2002 such as Signs and Spider-Man, yet good silly entertainment none-the-less. Don't expect much more, though.

Chris Mc gave it an8:
Good, enjoyable rubbish!

Nat D. gave it a 4:
Like a lot of people I avoided this movie when it was in theaters. However having seen it I was actually quite impressed with it in the beginning. The first 1/3 of the movie, the "set up" stuff before the real conflict begins was actually good. I wasn't expecting that. I thought it started to go downhill fast during the first battle with a dragon. From that point on it is mostly a battle between the conceited-American caricature played by McConaughey verses the less risky Eurapean European played by Christian Bale. The dragons look good in the relatively small time they are on screen.

Col R. gave it an 8:
This ain't a world beating movie by any means, but the CGI is VERY strong (see this and compare it to the big budget Harry Potter flix to see what I mean), and the overall delivery of the plot is very good. I can watch this movie over and over - it has an almost "Highlander" feel to it, and I'm sure one day, people will hold it in mind as a cult classic. It's very enjoyable and quite well acted. Anyone who didn't enjoy it really needs to ask some serious questions about their definition of fun. See it - you will like it.

Reign of Fire Touchstone Pictures

Reign of Fire
Touchstone Pictures