Reign of Fire (2002)

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Frequent X-Files director Rob Bowman helms this action-packed monster movie about the last remaining humans on Earth battling dragons in post-apocalyptic England. Christian Bale plays the cautious leader of a colony of survivors who have taken up residence beneath an old castle. Matthew McConaughey plays a confident American dragonslayer who throws in with them. The two men have differing philosophies about how best to prevent their extinction, but as you can probably imagine, success ultimately calls for teamwork.

Bowman makes sure to give viewers a good action scene every fifteen minutes or so, and does a pretty good job revealing the monsters without over-exposing them. Bale and McConaughey make the most of their parts. They’re both given slight backstories and inner demons to conquer, but the film gets more mileage out of the pervasive, existential threat posed by its scaly, fire-breathing villains. Some of the more engaging scenes show Bale and a comrade (300‘s Gerard Butler) educating and caring for a group of orphan children they’ve rescued along their journeys.

Despite an epic concept, the film is decidedly more claustrophobic in nature. It feels stifling at times. A sense of humor might have done wonders. But for a popcorn genre movie with good actors and relatively solid visual effects, you could find a lot worse than Reign of Fire. With Izabella Scorupco and a cameo by Alice Krige.