My Thoughts on Reign of Fire...
The dystopic story of the earth after it has been almost completely decimated by dragons. The movie starts off with quite a jolt as the dragons are unleashed and begin wreaking havoc within the first 10 minutes of the film. A tunnel construction disturbs the millennia-long hibernation of a few dragons which spawn at a devastating rate and burn the entire surface of the earth to ashes. The story picks up with an outpost of some of the surviving humans in Europe, probably one of the British Isles, who happen to be on the edge of despair. The main characters are the community’s leader and his best friend. They offer their guarded trust to a convoy of American marauders that has asked for refuge. The Americans are not trusted and are indirectly characterized through their leader, at first, as being arrogant and foolhardy. This pretense is mitigated by the civility of some of the rest the convoy. After this point, the story is focused on exemplifying the kind of lives that these survivors are leading and the differences between the suffocating defensive stance of the Europeans and the suicidal offensive aggression of the Americans. Finally the Europeans realize that they can’t wait it out, but that such a stance will lead to their eventual extinction. The Americans realize that they cannot forcialy take the aide of the community, but they must respect the fear that the Europeans have for things that the Americans have learned to fight instead of to fear.
The special affects are absolutely amazing. The dragons were created with seamless integration between the realistic movement, detailed textures, believable biology, interaction with the real set, and terrifying audio. The developers were careful to make them complete in every way. The movie was a wonderful visual experience, enhanced and supplemented with other sensory details to complete the visual affects.
It is interesting to note the similarities between this movie and the current terrorism situation. There is an uncanny correlation between the way that the Americans were characterized as reacting to the event and the way that the Europeans reacted. I don’t think that it was coincidence that the Europeans were the ones biding their time trying not to confront the problem head-on. Then the Americans were the arrogant, brash, offensive ones who were not willing to wait for the dragons to kill them all. I think that this is an uncanny commentary on the way that the world has reacted to the terrorism crisis. Too many of the Europeans were willing to let 9/11 slide, while the Americans weren’t going to allow someone to kick them around in their own home. Many European nations tried to be non-confrontational and negotiable so that the terrorists would leave them alone. The problem that "Reign" addressed is that ignoring the problem of terrorism won’t make it go away. They will kill, maim, and destroy no matter how compliant and pacifist we are. On the other side of the coin, America needs to be sure that they are willing to pay the price that freedom asks. America must be sure that they know what they are getting into so that they are not brash and foolhardy.
Overall, a good movie. Some foul language, but not too much. No sex and most everyone that is touted as a good guy is also decent and respectable.
The special affects are absolutely amazing. The dragons were created with seamless integration between the realistic movement, detailed textures, believable biology, interaction with the real set, and terrifying audio. The developers were careful to make them complete in every way. The movie was a wonderful visual experience, enhanced and supplemented with other sensory details to complete the visual affects.
It is interesting to note the similarities between this movie and the current terrorism situation. There is an uncanny correlation between the way that the Americans were characterized as reacting to the event and the way that the Europeans reacted. I don’t think that it was coincidence that the Europeans were the ones biding their time trying not to confront the problem head-on. Then the Americans were the arrogant, brash, offensive ones who were not willing to wait for the dragons to kill them all. I think that this is an uncanny commentary on the way that the world has reacted to the terrorism crisis. Too many of the Europeans were willing to let 9/11 slide, while the Americans weren’t going to allow someone to kick them around in their own home. Many European nations tried to be non-confrontational and negotiable so that the terrorists would leave them alone. The problem that "Reign" addressed is that ignoring the problem of terrorism won’t make it go away. They will kill, maim, and destroy no matter how compliant and pacifist we are. On the other side of the coin, America needs to be sure that they are willing to pay the price that freedom asks. America must be sure that they know what they are getting into so that they are not brash and foolhardy.
Overall, a good movie. Some foul language, but not too much. No sex and most everyone that is touted as a good guy is also decent and respectable.
posted by Matt at 09:01
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