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Year One
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Reign of Fire

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 38 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Gregg Chabot (also story)
Kevin Peterka (also story)
Matt Greenberg
Directed by: Rob Bowman
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 12, 2002
DVD: November 19, 2002
Running Time: 100 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
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)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Elektra The X Files The X-Files: I Want to Believe
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
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.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Hank Sartin
An odd cross between "Mad Max" and "Dragonheart," this movie is all borrowed ideas, but it's still trashy fun.
Read Full Review >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).
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Variety Joe Leydon
An uncommonly satisfying mix of medieval fantasy, high-tech military action and "Mad Max"-style misadventure.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
The script gives the actors less of a chance than the dragons give to Homo sapiens.
Read Full Review >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.
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.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Will make monster fans ache for what might have been.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Often incomprehensible (a combination of jumpy editing and lots of thick British Isles accents) and hardly ever entertaining - even unintentionally.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
It strains belief that nuclear weapons couldn't kill off the dragons, but three people with crossbows could.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
It's just silly, loud and goofy. The dragon needed a bigger part and the two stars smaller ones.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Dennis Lim
Peaks early with a vertiginous dogfight; thereafter, spotty CGI and a bamboozling plot conspire toward a colossal anticlimax.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
Dragons torch the earth as manly men with weird hair battle them in this colossally misconceived dud.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
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.
