This is the kind of role McConaughey excels in and Bale is similarly in rare form lending real dramatic conviction to a story about dragon fighters.Įven the clever way director Rob Bowman frames dragon-heavy sequences in Reign of Fire is worthy of recognition. Here, McConaughey’s focus isn’t on making every word sound like something that could be perfect in a clip at the Academy Awards, but rather on providing an amusing juxtaposition between his self-serious line deliveries and the ludicrous subject. It’s a mold this actor thrives in, even in a movie that’s heavier on CGI dragons and explosions. Within Reign of Fire, McConaughey, much like in his other all-time great performances in Magic Mike or The Wolf of Wall Street, plays a wild card that you can never predict. ![]() Unless it’s in something like Interstellar, straightforward heroics are not this man’s bag. The latter actor is especially at home in Reign of Fire, delivering a performance that reminds viewers where McConaughey really thrives. Lead performers like Bale and McConaughey also prove to be a good fit for this wacky material since they execute it without a wink and a nod. ![]() Reign of Fire isn’t necessarily campy, but it’s got a sense of confidence in its unreserved silliness. They breathe fire, they fly, they gobble up humans, these are unquestionably dragons. The dragons themselves are also classical visions of these medieval beasts rather than grounder interpretations of the creatures that strip away everything we love about dragons. This is a movie that just wants to have McConaughey lunge at a dragon with a big ax without feeling the need to acknowledge reality. ![]() It also unleashed a barrage of shallow features that thought dousing everything in grey and chaining up any vibrant emotions would automatically give you all the thematic heft of a movie directed by Christopher Nolan or Alfonso Cuarón.Ĭompared to the trappings of this age of the American blockbuster, Reign of Fire feels like a movie from an entirely different era rather than something removed by only a few years. Going this route would sometimes result in great movies that utilized tactility to explore complex human emotions. By the mid-2000s, the likes of Batman Begins and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban would establish grim and gritty as the default norm for big-budget American movies. This premise is a thinly veiled excuse for a series of unabashed ridiculousness, which is one of the best traits of Reign of Fire.
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