Reign of Fire continues the long Hollywood tradition of presenting an apocalyptic view of the future, where the survival of man is threatened by some force or situation: we have had man vs machine, man vs natural disaster, man vs chemical/biological warfare and so now it is the turn of man vs mythical beast.

By setting the effective enemy as creatures which only exist in legend, the film-makers have given themselves a license to mix the medieval and futuristic in a fantastical manner: tanks, choppers and action scenes with the requisite size and frequency of explosions can be coupled with sending dark-cloaked men off on horses and having them live in semi-ruined, candle-strewn castles.

It is all, obviously, utterly silly.

Story-wise, we find the English, dragon-fighting, contingent barely surviving in their Northumberland abode. Christian Bale is the resident leader with a heart, Quinn, who, as an unattached feeling male has become the general father figure to all around. This includes the smattering of children who wander around their partially destroyed castle in regulation, orphan-esqe blue pyjamas, no matter the time of day. This band of unlikely survivors is decreasing by the minute with no food, no hope and seemingly an uneven supply of razors: Quinn fashions a carefully dishevelled yet attractive barnet along with some interesting facial fur. Obviously if you are on the edge you don't have time to shave. Cue the arrival of a forceful,'he has to not feel to carry on' American with an equally unrelenting-sounding name, Denton Van Zan, to force them in to a more aggressive and pro-active plan of action. He just happens to have much more impressive facial fuzz, yet an utterly smoothly shaved skull. Maybe the discrepancy between the hair on one's head and face becomes greater the more uncompromising one is.

Generally the dragons are very big, sometimes very scary and always able to breathe a burning oil-rig's worth of fire over their victims. It's a good job these victims are in England as those American clap-board houses wouldn't last very long. (Maybe this is the real reason for Van Zan's appearance). It's a great film for pyromaniacs and if nothing else, I can't think of a recent (or old) action film set in Northumberland. It takes it itself too seriously at times, but then maybe you just need to embrace this as a wonderful part of its overall insanity.

E. Buckle 04.09.02