Reign of Fire

The last few humans on Earth battle fire-breathing dragons in England in the year 2020. Along with massive computer-animated dragons—with the attendant nitro-napalm expectoration—this flick also boasts a decrepit castle, tanks, a helicopter, automatic weapons, fist fights, heavy artillery, horse stunts, underground tunnels, motorcycles, computer-imaging tchochtkes, extreme sky-diving, crossbow arrows with explosive points and a bona fide medieval battle ax. Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey and Izabella Scorupco add a homo sapiens element to all the hardware, which is admirably wrangled by X-Files director Rob Bowman. Comic relief, in the form of not-unpleasant quips in the face of danger, is provided by a charming Gerard Butler. Can you guess whom the dragons toast first? Call it a guilty pleasure if you must. But at its heart, this is a way-cool example of escapist sci-fi and fantasy.