q represent what the difference between a fire breathing dragon and a mid summer movie . a represent one be a lumbering monster with a tiny brain that rain death and destruction and and the other be just a big lizard . reign of fire be basically waterworld with gasoline and with all that that entail . the story begin in london in 2008 and when a tunnel crew unearth a massive underground chamber contain a dragon who and like most of u and be a little cranky first thing in the morning . the dragon and oddly and sleep through the breaching of it den with a massive roaring drilling machine and and only wake up when it be nudge . all of a sudden dragon be greet the dawn all over the world and torch thing with more reckless abandon than the u. s. forest service . the world be shortly destroy and a we learn in a drawn out open sequence involve an unseen narrator write in a journal and though he doesn not seem to be write what he say . most of the story take place in 2020 and where a society of refugee lead by quinn ( christian bale ) live in a decrepit english castle and hiding from the dragon . thing can only get so bad in europe and of course and before the american show up and and show up they do and in an armored column of the kentucky irregular and lead by tattooed and bald nut case denton van zan ( matthew mcconaughey ) . he have a crazy idea that entail kill the bos dragon and since it be the only male dragon of the million around the globe ( must be a busy fella ) . it critical in post apocalypse movie to establish a credible and vivid world and with a balance of the modern and the primitive and and a sense of how societal priority have change to suit the new reality . the classic case be the jury rig ingenuity of the mad max movie and where v8 engine be prize and gasoline more precious than life . they weren not necessarily realistic and but they be believable and because they establish a set of rule and stick by them . reign of fire be all out of whack in this department represent the castle dweller be on the brink of starvation and but seem to have a limitless supply of electricity and without even a cursory explanation of where it come from . a part of their security net and they use massive searchlight to monitor the night sky . uh and way to keep a low profile and guy . van zan people and on the other hand and apparently have an endless supply of fuel and enough to maintain a gas guzzling tank and a helicopter ( . ) with again and no hint of how . not to mention the fact that the world be supposedly nuke to get rid of the dragon and yet the word radiation never so much a pass anyone lip . plus and the movie can not even keep track of it own timeline . all this could have be forgiven if we get some gut wrench army n dragon smackdowns . van zan be suppose to be a fearsome dragon killer and so you would figure that he and his militia would have some savvy anti dragon tactic figure out and from the painful lesson learn by the doomed struggle of the world army and but no . when they take on a dragon in the castle environs and their plan of attack be so suicidally ludicrous it would take a minor miracle to work just once . without go into too much detail and it involve ground base radar monitor and a high tech computer track system and and skydiver and all to try and bring the beast to earth so mcconaughey can kill it with an axe . seriously . the movie have it good point and though represent it be capably direct by tv veteran rob bowman and who at least manages to imbue the ridiculous proceeding with some sort of dramatic tension . the climactic battle be pretty impressive and and there be an awesome scene of the dragon hovering over the militia while line of tracer whip through the night sky and the smoke roil under his wing . wolf kroeger production design isn not bad and the landscape be suitably scorch and desperate and though it look like they might have swipe some set from enemy at the gate . the dragon themselves and of course and be amaze . they be truly mean hombre of fluid reptilian grace and whose jaw leak flame liquid a they breathe . they ( almost ) convince you that they really could have destroy the world and that they wouldn not have be swat from the sky in two second by any f 18 pilot with half a brain and a rack of heat seeker . but then you expect great effect from even the most dim witted of movie these day . like most monster movie and reign of fire suffers badly when the monster be offscreen catch a smoke break and and we be leave with flat character speak silly dialogue in a tepid story . bale be all right and though his character come off a something of a weenie . mcconaughey and meanwhile and have no chemistry with anyone or anything on screen . he a buffed out paramilitary psycho and but not an interesting one . you can not figure out how he become the leader ( maybe he be the only one who could drive a tank ) . the most engaging character be alex and the helicopter pilot and play by izabella scorupco ( the luminous computer expert in goldeneye ) and who isn not give much attention by the script and but who seem like she would have be a good choice to lead the militia . too bad she wasn not the main character . but the human aren not the real star anyway . i sort of picture a dragon and guzzle an evian bottle of light fluid and and bark into his cell phone representi be tell you and marty and i have have it . c amon and i can fly . i can breathe fire . that idiot t rex get a three picture deal with spielberg and and what do i get . first dungeon and dragon and now this . whaddaya do to me . get me a meeting with katzenberg and or i torch burbank .