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redfiona99Advanced warning - this got away from me a little bit and thus is stupidly long.
The Statement For The Prosecution:
Reign of Fire should and could have been much better. They had the money to make some very good dragon CGI but seemed to have forgotten that a film needs a coherent script as much as it needs dragons.
The largest part of the problem is that it's made of two different films that have been poorly squashed together. It begins as a reasonably realistic post-apocalyptic dragon film. Life is difficult for the survivors. There's a claustrophobic feel. It's actually a good film.
Into this is thrown an all-American action hero and action scenes, and you have the set up for a 'keep what you hold' vs 'attack is the best form of defence' argument.
Which is never resolved!
Because the film has the most unsatisfying climax ever.
Because, after an attack by Van Zan's (Matthew McConaghey) crew on a dragon, and another dragon's revenge, Quinn (Christian Bale) and Van Zan (and Alex (Izabella Scorupco)) go to hunt down the only male dragon, which is what maintains the dragon species given that the females have a very short lifespan. (Do not think about the science.)
The dragon eats Van Zan, and then, with a minimum of effort Quinn kills the dragon. End of plot.
The big end fight is over in two moves. And not because Quinn has done something clever. Since the end battle is what the film has been building to since Van Zan arrived, it really is a let down.
And the central argument over which of the two philosophies is right isn't settled, not in the good way, as in the film trying to say that both of them have a point (which I know they do), or in either of the arguments winning, which I'd also be fine with, but it just never gets mentioned again.
Personally, I side with Quinn's 'keep what you have' anyway, plus Van Zan pretty much gets 4/5ths of the adults in the film killed, which is also never discussed.
Anyway, a lot of Van Zan's part feels like he was added just to move the plot forward and provide an excuse for a few fight scenes, both between humans and versus dragons. He's a deeply unsympathetic character, IMO, which also unbalances the film towards the end because Creedy (Gerard Butler) who is the sympathetic one out of the castle lot, is dead and Alex, the sympathetic one out of the helicopter lot, barely gets any screen time, so you're left with Van Zan, and Quinn, who is one of Bale's more cheerful and friendly obsessive characters but ... it's Christian Bale doing obsessive.
The Scene Itself:
(Warning - the scene spoils part of the film)
This time I have it, if only because I recorded it off the DVD myself (yes, despite my issues with the film, I have it on DVD).
Why the Scene is so Good:
Cheating slightly, because the reason this scene works is because of a previous one right at the start of the film.
At the start of the film, Quinn and Creedy (Gerard Butler in what is still my favourite performance of his) are telling the children a bedtime story, which is a barely disguised two-man version of Star Wars (and is my favourite pop culture reference to Star Wars). At the end of the story, Quinn leads the children in a prayer, a list of instructions on what to do if a dragon attacks. And the children are about as attentive to this as we ever were to prayers at primary school.
This scene sets up a variety of things, including the fact that Quinn is perfectly happy to play the bad guy to keep the children safe because he's the one that says 'bedtime now' and makes them say their prayers, that Creedy is his best friend because he's the one he laughs and jokes with, and that Quinn will do anything to keep the children safe. It also sets up that this is some time after the apocalypse, long enough that this way of living has become normal.
All of this is important for the second prayer scene.
I've not clipped the set-up for this scene for the sake of time (and keeping it to one scene), but basically after Van Zan's failure of an attack against the dragons (which kills all of his troops except Alex), a dragon stages an attack on the castle that has everyone else in, killing most of the people in the castle. Quinn, who was away looking at dragon skeletons for plot-related reasons, comes back to try and rescue people, and succeeds in rescuing one child by being more terrifying than the dragons. He is about to go and rescue more people when Creedy takes his place, because Creedy thinks that Quinn is more valuable than he is.
This part, while not clipped, shows another one of the problems with the film. The script has them arguing, the actors have them doing that thing friends and family do where they're shouting at each other because they love each other and is certainly warmer than the script, and the director is focusing just over the actors's right shoulders at a wall. There's a certain lack of cohesive purpose.
The dragon breathes fire at just the wrong moment, shutting Quinn and the children in their dragon shelter and killing Creedy. Cue Quinn burning his hands on the door trying to get to Creedy, which is why the clip opens with Quinn with skin flaking off his hands. Which I thought was a nice touch, and is another example of the film being better when it aims for "realism" than when it aims for bombast.
The thing I like about the scene is that the film has set Quinn up as a man of will, someone who subsumes his desires, his needs, everything, for the greater good. So once he realises that there's no hope (or rather two ticks after he realises, which makes it worse, because he's banging on the door knowing there's no hope) he turns to the children, who are all crying for Creedy, and makes them say the prayer. Which makes sense, because he's trying to drill it into them, and for the only time in the film, they're actually saying it devoutly, because what's in it is what has saved them this time, but Quinn cannot say it with them. This man of will cannot make himself do something he considers to be vital. And there's this horrid pause (in the good way) as he's trying, desperately, to make the words come out and nothing is coming, and the children are terrified because of everything, and one of the few remaining adults takes over the prayer-reading just in the nick of time, and it's one of those moments that hits. Because Quinn, who as I said is iron-willed the rest of the time, just cannot, completely can't, and it shocks everyone, from the kids upwards, and himself, I suspect. But the things he's done in the rest of the story means that people can take over from him as necessary, and the look the other adult (the character isn't given a name AFAIR) gives him is such a perfect mix of worried, confused and 'I have a plan' and then everyone follows her lead, which gives Quinn enough time to recover himself while they wait to get rescued.
It's just a wonderful character bit for everyone in the scene.
The Statement For The Prosecution:
Reign of Fire should and could have been much better. They had the money to make some very good dragon CGI but seemed to have forgotten that a film needs a coherent script as much as it needs dragons.
The largest part of the problem is that it's made of two different films that have been poorly squashed together. It begins as a reasonably realistic post-apocalyptic dragon film. Life is difficult for the survivors. There's a claustrophobic feel. It's actually a good film.
Into this is thrown an all-American action hero and action scenes, and you have the set up for a 'keep what you hold' vs 'attack is the best form of defence' argument.
Which is never resolved!
Because the film has the most unsatisfying climax ever.
Because, after an attack by Van Zan's (Matthew McConaghey) crew on a dragon, and another dragon's revenge, Quinn (Christian Bale) and Van Zan (and Alex (Izabella Scorupco)) go to hunt down the only male dragon, which is what maintains the dragon species given that the females have a very short lifespan. (Do not think about the science.)
The dragon eats Van Zan, and then, with a minimum of effort Quinn kills the dragon. End of plot.
The big end fight is over in two moves. And not because Quinn has done something clever. Since the end battle is what the film has been building to since Van Zan arrived, it really is a let down.
And the central argument over which of the two philosophies is right isn't settled, not in the good way, as in the film trying to say that both of them have a point (which I know they do), or in either of the arguments winning, which I'd also be fine with, but it just never gets mentioned again.
Personally, I side with Quinn's 'keep what you have' anyway, plus Van Zan pretty much gets 4/5ths of the adults in the film killed, which is also never discussed.
Anyway, a lot of Van Zan's part feels like he was added just to move the plot forward and provide an excuse for a few fight scenes, both between humans and versus dragons. He's a deeply unsympathetic character, IMO, which also unbalances the film towards the end because Creedy (Gerard Butler) who is the sympathetic one out of the castle lot, is dead and Alex, the sympathetic one out of the helicopter lot, barely gets any screen time, so you're left with Van Zan, and Quinn, who is one of Bale's more cheerful and friendly obsessive characters but ... it's Christian Bale doing obsessive.
The Scene Itself:
(Warning - the scene spoils part of the film)
This time I have it, if only because I recorded it off the DVD myself (yes, despite my issues with the film, I have it on DVD).
Why the Scene is so Good:
Cheating slightly, because the reason this scene works is because of a previous one right at the start of the film.
At the start of the film, Quinn and Creedy (Gerard Butler in what is still my favourite performance of his) are telling the children a bedtime story, which is a barely disguised two-man version of Star Wars (and is my favourite pop culture reference to Star Wars). At the end of the story, Quinn leads the children in a prayer, a list of instructions on what to do if a dragon attacks. And the children are about as attentive to this as we ever were to prayers at primary school.
This scene sets up a variety of things, including the fact that Quinn is perfectly happy to play the bad guy to keep the children safe because he's the one that says 'bedtime now' and makes them say their prayers, that Creedy is his best friend because he's the one he laughs and jokes with, and that Quinn will do anything to keep the children safe. It also sets up that this is some time after the apocalypse, long enough that this way of living has become normal.
All of this is important for the second prayer scene.
I've not clipped the set-up for this scene for the sake of time (and keeping it to one scene), but basically after Van Zan's failure of an attack against the dragons (which kills all of his troops except Alex), a dragon stages an attack on the castle that has everyone else in, killing most of the people in the castle. Quinn, who was away looking at dragon skeletons for plot-related reasons, comes back to try and rescue people, and succeeds in rescuing one child by being more terrifying than the dragons. He is about to go and rescue more people when Creedy takes his place, because Creedy thinks that Quinn is more valuable than he is.
This part, while not clipped, shows another one of the problems with the film. The script has them arguing, the actors have them doing that thing friends and family do where they're shouting at each other because they love each other and is certainly warmer than the script, and the director is focusing just over the actors's right shoulders at a wall. There's a certain lack of cohesive purpose.
The dragon breathes fire at just the wrong moment, shutting Quinn and the children in their dragon shelter and killing Creedy. Cue Quinn burning his hands on the door trying to get to Creedy, which is why the clip opens with Quinn with skin flaking off his hands. Which I thought was a nice touch, and is another example of the film being better when it aims for "realism" than when it aims for bombast.
The thing I like about the scene is that the film has set Quinn up as a man of will, someone who subsumes his desires, his needs, everything, for the greater good. So once he realises that there's no hope (or rather two ticks after he realises, which makes it worse, because he's banging on the door knowing there's no hope) he turns to the children, who are all crying for Creedy, and makes them say the prayer. Which makes sense, because he's trying to drill it into them, and for the only time in the film, they're actually saying it devoutly, because what's in it is what has saved them this time, but Quinn cannot say it with them. This man of will cannot make himself do something he considers to be vital. And there's this horrid pause (in the good way) as he's trying, desperately, to make the words come out and nothing is coming, and the children are terrified because of everything, and one of the few remaining adults takes over the prayer-reading just in the nick of time, and it's one of those moments that hits. Because Quinn, who as I said is iron-willed the rest of the time, just cannot, completely can't, and it shocks everyone, from the kids upwards, and himself, I suspect. But the things he's done in the rest of the story means that people can take over from him as necessary, and the look the other adult (the character isn't given a name AFAIR) gives him is such a perfect mix of worried, confused and 'I have a plan' and then everyone follows her lead, which gives Quinn enough time to recover himself while they wait to get rescued.
It's just a wonderful character bit for everyone in the scene.
