Reign of Fire

From Zanecorpwiki

Summary

This is a fun post apocalypse action movie that's not without it's flaws. For all the number of players, it's really about two guys, which makes the movie feel a little lopsided. There's a huge back story that's a little hard to swallow. It would have been easier and less distracting to have gone the no one remembers how it all started route.

But none of that is what the movie's about. The movie's about gruff talking bad asses fighting dragons. The movie's budget could have been spent a little better on a slightly different movie, but none of that matters too much.

Notes and Details

Spoilers ahead.

A pet peeve: I'm all for the dramatic scene. When Van Zandt goes leaping through the air with an ax: awesome. When he comes rolling up on a settlement with a tank leading an armed convoy, causing the settlement to go on war footing to repel what they think are marauders: stupid. There's no reason not to radio ahead.

Speaking more on the lopsided feel of the movie. Part of it is the sheer number of featured extras that die. Maybe 40 almost characters die during the film, and a further 120 die before the action starts. In the end it comes down to three characters who end up pulling the rabbit out of the hat. Of course, an action movie with an improbable victory is hardly a problem. It's more the idea that the dragon hunting army unit had survived for year, apparently with some success, only to be all but wiped out save a single member in the space of a week or two.

Neither of these are critical problems. The movie's a period piece, about the costumes and post-apocalypse attitude, and it succeeds there. It just tries a little hard and loses control of the situation a bit and ends up skidding to its conclusion in a bit of a frazzle.