Cinema review (From Barry And District News)

Cinema review

Reign of Fire

EVEN if you are a dreadful director, it takes a lot of demanding time to put any film together. Rob Bowman however, is a fantastic director who is set up for super stardom.

After a painful two years of putting this film together, he must have expected critical praise, but he must have nearly fainted when he saw the marketing.

Set 20 years into the future, the Earth has been scorched by fire breathing dragons. Cities such as New York, Paris and London have been burnt to the ground. Quinn leads a small community in the wastes of England to battle the dragons, but as the dragons out number them, not a place on Earth is safe.

With a poster of dragons burning down Big Ben, helicopters doing battle with them and the tag-line, 'Fight Fire With Fire,' surely this could be one of the greatest blockbusters ever. However, the marketing people have fooled us, and has resulted in critics slating the film for the wrong reasons.

Forgetting all that though, what you get is a great film. Surely it could have had more action in certain places but Rob Bowman has delivered a gripping and original tale of man versus dragons.

There are not enough special effects but when there are some, they are incredible.

However, to make up for the lack of effects, the performances between Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughy are first class.

If the film had another $30 million spent on it, then it could have been so much more. But as it is, it's good enough and if you are in a really good mood just go and see Reign of Fire.