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(About Our Ads) "REIGN OF FIRE" (2002) (Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey) (PG-13) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Mild Moderate Moderate *Heavy Extreme Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Mild Minor Extreme None Moderate Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence *None Minor Moderate Mild Heavy QUICK TAKE: Action/Adventure A small group of English survivors in a post-Apocalyptic world must contend not only with the fire-breathing dragons that have decimated the planet, but also the gung-ho Americans who've arrived and are intent on killing the beasts. PLOT: It's the year 2020 in Northumberland, England and a large number of huge, fire-breathing dragons - accidentally unleashed twenty years earlier -- have laid waste to most of civilized society. In the ruins of a remote castle, Quinn (CHRISTIAN BALE) is the ruler of a ragtag group of survivors who are simply trying to get by. With the aid of Creedy (GERARD BUTLER), Quinn and others have taken in many orphans including Jared (SCOTT JAMES MOUTTER), but must contend with dissenters such as Eddie (DAVID KENNEDY) who want to harvest the latest crop before it's ready. One day American Denton Van Zan (MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY), chopper pilot Alex Jensen (IZABELLA SCORUPCO) and Van Zan's small army arrive at Quinn's compound looking for supplies and claiming to have killed dragons. Quinn is suspicious of such claims, but when the Americans not only fend off an attack but also kill a hostile dragon, they begin to believe them and take some stock in their theory about how to kill the beasts. It seems that they've discovered that one male dragon is fertilizing the eggs of the many female dragons and have concluded that if they kill him, they'll wipe out the species. Armed with such knowledge and the belief that the creatures can't see that well at dusk, Van Zan and others then head off toward London in hopes of accomplishing their goal. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? If they're fans of anyone in the cast, dragon-related movies or killer monsters on the loose types of plots, they just might. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13 For intense action violence. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: CHRISTIAN BALE plays the initial survivor of the dragon attacks who's now grown up and serving as the leader of a small group of other survivors. Having taken in a bunch of orphans, he's determined to protect them and not allow Van Zan's plan to endanger any of them. MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY plays an American dragon slayer who's so cocky and determined in his quest that he doesn't care whose toes he steps on or feathers he might ruffle. He uses some profanity. IZABELLA SCORUPCO plays a more compassionate chopper pilot who works with him. GERARD BUTLER plays Quinn's best friend and confidant. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: Here's a quick look at the content found in this action/adventure film that's been rated PG-13. Various people and dragons are killed in some violent encounters, but many of the human deaths take place off camera or are seen from a distance. While some blood is present, most of the deaths are not gory, and two men get into a brief fight. Some of those violent moments, others involving dragon attacks and people trying to hide and/or avoid being killed, and the general sight of the huge and menacing dragons might be unsettling, suspenseful or downright scary to some viewers, particularly younger ones. As always, however, that depends on their age, level of maturity and tolerance for such material. Profanity consists of at least 3 uses of the "s" word, while other expletives and colorful phrases are also uttered. A few characters smoke or drink, some bad attitudes are present, and a boy sees that his mother has been killed. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, some brief moments of that occur early in the film. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE In the past, Quinn's mom cools off cans of beer for workers and we then see her with one (that doesn't appear to be open). Moments later, the boy jokingly responds to his mother's question about whether he's been smoking by saying that he only smokes when he's been drinking. Quinn and Creedy drink some sort of liquor. A man asks another man what he's been smoking after the first states he's heard voices over the radio. Van Zan drinks from a flask (but it may just be water based on a later scene). Various people drink in celebration of killing a dragon. Van Zan drinks from a flask, hands it to Alex who drinks from it, and she hands it to Quinn who then notes that it's just water. A comment is made about getting a bottle of wine. BLOOD/GORE A dead woman has some blood on her face. A man has some blood on the side of his head. Quinn has some blood from his lip and around his eye after a fight. We then see a few drops landing in some water as Quinn tends to a bloody cut on his arm. Quinn pulls a gooey and large egg from a dead dragon (we hear the squishy sounds of his hands going inside the somewhat gory hole in the dragon). We see some charred human skeletal remains. A girl has a charred and bloody looking arm. Van Zan has various bloody scrapes and cuts on his head. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Eddie disobeys Quinn's orders to stay in the compound. Van Zan's determinism regarding killing the dragons makes him come off as having a bad attitude regarding others' safety. For those who have problems with evolution, a character mentions, "Here's to evolution." FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence" as well as the sight of the various dragons and their attacks on humans and related close encounters might be unsettling, suspenseful and even scary to some viewers (particularly younger ones). In the past, Quinn climbs into a cave of sorts where he suddenly encounters a huge dragon that spews some sort of liquid goo on him. He then races out, some workers there are apparently torched, and his mother attempts to get him out of the construction site via the elevator as flames approach them. The dragon, however, flies up, momentarily stops at the elevator cage and partially crushes it, and then flies off. Eddie and several other people attempt to harvest some crops from a remote field, and don't realize a dragon is approaching (we do). They then try to elude the dragon and its attacks, as do various rescuers who arrive to save them. There's a lengthy scene where Alex and her chopper crew lift off in an attempt to snare a dragon, while Van Zan and his men attempt to set up their related operations on the ground. Suddenly there's a dragon behind the chopper and one of the jumpers is prematurely knocked out when it bumps the chopper. The others then jump out and fall through the clouds as the dragon chases after the first as all plummet toward the ground. Van Zan has Quinn act like bait on horseback for the dragon and the latter then races back toward the camp with the dragon in hot pursuit. A dragon repeatedly attacks a castle, shooting flames down inside it and destroying much of it (and presumably killing various people), with chaos and panic ensuing inside it. Quinn, Van Zan and Alex try to kill a dragon in a burned out city and avoid being killed in the process during a several minute scene that includes some close calls. GUNS/WEAPONS Rifles/Automatic Weapons/Machine guns/Tank/Battle Ax/Harpoon/Explosives: Carried and/or used to threaten others or fire upon the dragons. In a montage, we briefly see some battleships firing, some missiles being fired and a nuclear explosion. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "What brings you to the asshole of the world?" "Bloody" (adjective), "Poor bastard," "You wanker," "Buggered," "Bitch" (dragon), "Sure as hell," "Hurts like hell," "This town's gone to hell" and "Run like hell." Van Zan has various tattoos on his body. JUMP SCENES A flame suddenly erupts below young Quinn. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) An extreme amount of suspenseful and ominous music plays in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY At least 3 "s" words, 5 hells, 4 damns, 2 asses (1 used with "hole"), 1 buggered, 1 S.O.B., 1 wanker, 3 uses of "G-damn" and 1 use each of "Christ," "Christ Almighty" and "Oh God" as exclamations. SEX/NUDITY None. While a man and woman are seen sleeping on a bed together, there's no nudity or sexual activity. SMOKING Van Zan occasionally has an unlit cigar butt in his mouth, while a miscellaneous man briefly smokes. In the past, Quinn's mom asks whether he's been smoking and he jokingly responds by saying that he only smokes when he's been drinking. TENSE FAMILY SCENES In the past, we get the sense that Quinn's mother is divorced or separated from his father. After the initial encounter with the freed dragon, he sees that his mother has been killed. Eddie is noted as having lost his wife and several kids. Various kids are noted as being orphans. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT For younger viewers, the existence of such dragons. What life in a post-Apocalyptic world might be like. The various questions and implausible material the film doesn't address (such as where the fuel and electricity come from, why killing a male dragon would stop the attacks if females would presumably still live for years after that, etc.). VIOLENCE Several workers are apparently torched by the dragon's flames (we don't see the impact) and Quinn's mother is then killed when the dragon flies by and partially crushes an elevator cage they're in. We see a montage of destruction caused by the dragons over time and we later see some publication articles showing the same from the past. A dragon attacks some people in a field, blowing fire through it and seemingly biting a person. It then torches a vehicle and blows flames at some rescue vehicles and a man in a fire suit riding on top of one of them. We hear the sound of a dragon flaming and killing a person. A dragon bumps a chopper in flight. A skydiver crashes into the ground and dies (we see a readout showing this rather than the real thing), while a dragon apparently eats another. Van Zan fires a large harpoon that kills a dragon right after it blows flames at him. He then swings a large battle ax into the dragon, but we don't see the impact. Quinn and Van Zan get into a fight over leadership of the group and many punches to the face and body are exchanged between the two (with Van Zan delivering more of them). More tussling follows and Van Zan head-butts Quinn before punching him some more. A dragon attacks a group of people and kills many of them (we see the flames engulfing them from a distance) as they fire upon it with various weapons. A dragon repeatedly attacks a castle, shooting flames down inside it and destroying much of it (and presumably killing various people), with chaos and panic ensuing inside it. A male dragon kills a smaller dragon (seen from a distance with no gore). A man fires an explosive at a dragon, momentarily stunning it. A dragon kills a man by catching him in its mouth in midair. A dragon fires upon some people with its flames and an injured person shoots a machine gun at the dragon that crashes through wreckage while coming after them. A person fires an explosive into a dragon's mouth, killing it. Reviewed July 9, 2002 / Posted July 12, 2002