Within the useless of winter, it’s at all times enjoyable to seek out these consolation motion pictures to get via the lengthy days. And whereas the 2002 dragon movie Reign of Fireplace might not be campy or “so unhealthy it’s good”, it’s usually criminally missed and its contribution to how popular culture designs dragons can’t be understated. Not solely that, nevertheless it’s a surprisingly respectable film, one I loved rewatching.
Regardless of the idea of dragons getting back from a deep hibernation and unloading holy hell onto the earth, Reign of Fireplace is a surprisingly critical and gritty film with no room for trivial issues like humour or cheese. It takes its story and idea fairly severely, to the purpose the place extra moments of camp could have been warranted. I for one, that mentioned, welcome the grim tone the movie opted to take. In a time when comedian guide motion pictures had been simply beginning to take off with the likes of X-Males and Spider-Man, this film determined to not search for the enjoyable in its idea, however the terror and the dread. In an age the place all the pieces wants Marvel quips, this film’s grim tone is surprisingly welcome.
The movie opens with a child named Quinn venturing right into a mineshaft to go to his mother at work, just for a dragon to emerge from the depths of the operation. The dragon escapes into the wild, killing Quinn’s mom within the course of. Flashforward eighteen years later and the planet is a scorched wasteland as a result of dragonfire and the nukes that had been used to attempt to cull the dragons, who shortly multiplied. Quinn, performed by Christian Bale, leads a bunch of survivors in a stone citadel within the English countryside. Meals and water are brief, and so are folks’s endurance attributable to hungry bellies.
As if that wasn’t sufficient to juggle, a bunch of American Dragonslayers come knocking at their door at some point, led by the cigar-chomping and really bald Denton Van Zan, performed by Matthew McConaughey, with help from Alex, performed by GoldenEye’s Izabella Scorupco. Quinn is skeptical of the declare that they kill dragons, however permits Van Zan and his small military into the compound, full with a helicopter and tanks after being satisfied that these teams are the actual deal and never simply marauders. Naturally, these two leaders will probably be at odds as they sort out the dragon state of affairs and butt heads over what must be carried out. Enjoyable truth, McConaughey requested demanded to be referred to as Van Zan all through the manufacturing, even off-set.
Directed by Rob Bowam (X Recordsdata), Reign of Fireplace is a movie that I feel didn’t succeed because it was billed as an action-heavy, early 2000s man vs dragon romp, however ended up being extra of a post-apocalyptic survival film with dragons in it. Regardless of the copious quantities of dragon imagery and relevance to the plot, there isn’t a complete lot of dragon really within the film. Truthfully, this was a superb transfer. Very similar to Jaws, not overplaying the monster card created extra stress and worry as a result of restraint proven. Plus, from a manufacturing standpoint, it saves on prices.
Reign of Fireplace can also be a landmark movie for each the design of the dragons, in addition to how they had been animated. Prior to Reign of Fireplace, scaley creatures within the 90s had a rubber look to them (assume Dragonheart). Reign of Fireplace’s manufacturing group wished to keep away from this impact, which was attributable to layering painted textures atop the mannequin. This stretched and warped the pores and skin of the creature when it moved. So the animation studio, Disney’s Secret Lab, used the identical expertise that was used for Disney’s Dinosaur however utilized it to dragons in a live-action movie, which resulted in way more real looking motion and look, because the pores and skin would contract and transfer naturally in relation to the motion of the creature. This was fairly necessary contemplating the dragons can be flying more often than not. The dragons had been additionally modelled on animals from our personal world, similar to massive cats and bats, which resulted in them being extra acquainted, and actually stay a number of the best-looking dragons round, even in 2025, from a design perspective. To bolster the sense of realism, actual pyrotechnics had been used on set, leading to round 800 tons of liquid propane and some thousand gallons of diesel had been used for the manufacturing.
The most important contribution the movie has to the fantasy style although is the way it modified dragon lore, so to talk. Prior, dragons would breathe hearth from their bellies, spewing out flames from inside. In Reign of Fireplace, this isn’t the case, with Quinn highlighting that the flames are created when two liquids, saved in two separate glands within the dragons’ mouths, are ejected and uncovered to oxygen. Impressed by spitting viper venom, this design would stick with it into the likes of Harry Potter and Recreation of Thrones‘ dragon designs.
Unsurprisingly, the film didn’t do nicely with critics or on the field workplace. One widespread criticism was the film was simply too grim, one thing I disagree with. Sure, it’s grim, however I don’t see that as a unfavourable. Not all the pieces must be a comic book book-style film, that’s simply enjoyable campy escapism. Whereas the subject material is fantastical, treating it with a dour sense offers the movie extra of a Mad Max really feel, quite than the sense of marvel and awe present in Jurassic Park, for instance. If you happen to’ve by no means seen it, or haven’t seen it since childhood, perhaps give this one a go this winter, chances are you’ll be shocked.
