What
the hell is it about Matthew McConaughey?
Right when I'm ready to write him off for
making incredible bland choices (THE WEDDING
PLANNER, HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS) he
surprises me and turns up in something like
FRAILTY (the sleepy gothic horror tale from
Bill Paxton) or this gonzo mix of post-apoc
flick and dinosaur movie.
Hell, if you ask me, Hollywood
needs more guys that get naked, play the
bongos and willingly appear in flicks like
this!
When a fire-breathing dragon
is accidentally unearthed below the streets
of London, all hell pretty much breaks loose.
The dragons multiply like rabbits and consume
the world's biggest cities with the liquid
napalm they spew. In a desperate attempt
to stop the creatures from destroying everything,
the world's governments launch nuclear missiles,
which never really solves anything. Let
alone your pesky flying dragon problem.
Fast forward a decade or so
and the remaining humans have relocated
to encampments outside the major cities.
There the survivors watch the skies and
hope to outlast the fire-breathers.
Leading the Northumberland
encampment is Quinn (Christian Bale), who
discovered the original dinosaur while his
mother (Alice Krige) was directing some
underground excavation. (Admittedly, this
is but one of the many suspensions of disbelief
that you have to employ for the flick to
work.)
After a rogue group of survivors
put everybody in harm's way, Vin Van Zant
(McConaughey) shows up leading a group of
Kentucky Irregulars armed with tanks, radar
and a helicopter. Bald, buff and bad, Van
Zant is summed up best when a survivor tells
Quinn, "Only one thing worse than a
dragon. Americans."
A certified dragonslayer,
Van Zant wants to march towards London where
they've tracked the lone male dragon responsible
for fertilizing all the females. Whatever.
This sets up the requisite tension between
Quinn and Van Zant that will lead to the
inevitable team-up against the biggest,
baddest dragon of 'em all.
REIGN is way better than it
has any right to be. There are a couple
spectacular price of admission sequences,
the leads are rock solid and the post-apoc
setting is depicted well. The dragons look
great on the small screen, too, and there
are some effective touches (such as a retelling
of EMPIRE STRIKES BACK for fascinated kiddies)
without bogging the action down with too
much sappiness or forced romantic entanglements.
Sure, you've gotta suspend
your disbelief for maximum enjoyment, but
at 102 minutes this zany actioner zips along
and totally delivers the goods!
