Skip to main content

Reign of Fire 5/10

Image
By
So going into this movie I was very skeptical, and perhaps even swayed already that this wasn't going to be a very good movie because of the bad reviews I read. I like Christian Bale, however that doesn't really matter if I don't care about his character (which I didn't). The story goes something like this. It is post apocalypse England in the year 2020 or something. Dragons have been sleeping under the earth for a long time waiting for it to replenish itself so they can eat tons of folks. Apparently they come out and feed every few thousand years or something. Anyway, they come out and destroy everything and a little band of Brits survive. Then they meet this super had core American group (and there is a somewhat lame line like "oh, there is only one thing worse then dragons and that is Americans" and I wondered if that was supposed to be funny or something else) that kills things. Tons of folks die and the little group succeeds in killing the big evil dragon and it is all happy.

Good things. I thought the set design, cinematography, and graphics were good even though many critics didn't think so. The story had a very interesting setting and that really made it a better movie then other end-of-the-world ones like "Day After Tomorrow" or "Children of Men." And I really liked the scene in which they jump from a helicopter to try and snare the dragon in a net - that was pretty amazing.

Bad things. The acting wasn't weak, it was just the fact that the script was and the actors didn't really have much to go off of. I honestly didn't care about any of the characters (except the kids). I just never felt I got to know them. Everyone was always running around getting burned or trying to fight a dragon. There was no character. The music never really developed and for me dragons = good music. "How To Train Your Dragon" understands this essential point as well as story.

So, 5 out of 10. Not a horrible movie, just one I probably will never see again. Nothing too deep that I could wrench out of it however it had its exciting moments and interesting concepts.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hinckley's Two Month Update

By
I can't believe it has only been two months since Hinckley joined our family! It feels like a lot longer than that and he is growing so big way too fast! At his two month check-up today, he weighed 13 lb 12 oz and was 26 1/4 inches long. Apparently he is so tall that he is off the medical charts for his age. Hinckley is such a happy, easy-going baby. He smiles, laughs, and coos a lot. Having him in our family is so fun because he helps us realize the joy of everything once again. He smiles at bright colors or new sounds, enjoys kisses and cuddling, and squeals in delight at seeing nature when we take walks. Yesterday at church it was like he had a rubber neck; for about five minutes he just kept turning back and forth to take it all in--the sights, sounds, and smells. Today he had to get three shots at the doctor's office and even that didn't phase him for long. Oh he screamed and his face got redder than I have ever seen it. I held him and fed him afterwards and then ...
2 comments
Read more

TMA 185 3 minute film

By
The final product of "make me a match" that I labored over exceedingly. I was actually sort of unhappy with it all not because of the performances of anyone but mainly just the story. We had to write all so quickly and the re-write it time after time and then storyboard it and really break it down. In all this rush I didn't realize till I was actually shooting it that I really didn't care much for the story as a whole and thus my motivation suffered greatly. I don't think I need to tell epic dramatic tales to care about them but I do want to have a strong point and also a specific conflict or issue that is approached and resolved. I am starting a screen writing class tomorrow and possibly I will gain some insights as to how to develop good stories. Ones that I care about. I don't know why I feel so interested in telling stories - particularly in that I haven't felt very confident with the stories I have come up with. It is extremely hard for me to come up ...
5 comments
Read more

Dishes

By
It is that time of day when the house is quiet, the table is half covered in pots, pans, and tuber ware with food scattered across. The car isn’t in the garage and the dog lies sleeping on the blue blanket. The sun lies somewhere back there, behind the cloud over those mountains. It makes some nice gold colors on the rocky face of the mountains outside of the window. I guess it is so nice because at this time of year there is a lot of plants and flowers in the back yard so the gold makes it seem sort of dreamlike. Yeah, I’ll do em I guess. Call it being nice or being bored. Does it matter? Approaching the sink I am nipped by the denting smell. The eggshells, scraps of mango, carrot peel, and chunks of tofu drip in my fingers. Oh yes, the trash is under the sink these days. Drip once, drip twice on the floor. The water in the frying pan trembles, shaking the crusty flakes of burnt egg. Yogurt and peanu...
7 comments
Read more