A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Reign of Fire

Date Viewed: 7/14/02

Details:

Matthew McConaughey

Christian Bale

Izabella Scorupco

Gerard Butler

Director: Rob Bowman

Score: 1/4

The Review: Apocalypse soon: drilling for the London Tube extension is about to encounter a "void" deep underground, and inside is the catalyst for global destruction and cataclysm. Jump to the future, twenty years out, when low-tech fragments of humanity cling to the edge of civilization in isolated xenophobic pockets. The focus is on one such cluster centered around mine rubble and a ruinous castle in Northumberland, and their encounter with the Yanks.

Decent acting with few "big names" (but including a remarkably "buff" McConaughey), low-budget sets, not much expenditure on bright lights -- if you go into this movie with low expectations, you will be pleasantly surprised. Global catastrophe and low-tech ruin lends itself to minimal budget (with the exception of Waterworld), meaning you have to make your statement with good scripts and acting.

Very good dragon SFX: much better than expected, and much better than all previous attempts, to my memory. It appears that a substantial portion of the cost went into these effects, and the priority was worth it. The critters' species biology might be a bit suspect (considering its purported pre-dinosaurian evolutionary background and the ability for multi-millennial estivation), but on the whole it doesn't require a lot of suspended disbelief. I was disappointed that molecular biology and genomics could not have done more in the undocumented battle: granted, there are few known or studied reptilian viruses (mostly paramyxo- and some adeno-like), but there are lots of avian examples to turn into specific disease vectors. (Perhaps that's why there were no chickens in this future? Look closely.) And I still have some residual problems with their lift/gross and glide ratios. While tackled fictionally by McCaffrey, Dickson, Callander and many others, none has ever been physically or biologically convincing. Someone should sit down and design a real dragon (size, flight armature, anatomy, metabolism), taking into account Haldane and Schmidt-Nielson and Darcy Thompson, and see what body plan is absolutely mandated; that would be fun!

Situated in Northumberland with an excursion to London (that's quite a distance: where do they get their fuel?) -- actually filmed in Ireland, which explains the black sedimentary cliffs supposed to be on the outer coast of the Thames estuary.

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