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The film opens in contemporary London where a young adolescent named Quinn Abercromby (Ben Thornton) visits the underground construction site overseen by his mother, Karen (Alice Krige). The workers have broken through a wall of a vast void; when Quinn crawls into the catacomb-like cavern, he discovers that man has awakened a long buried, fire-breathing dragon. He could not possibly have fathomed that this is the beginning of the end of civilization. It seems that this dragon species lives on the ashen remains of life, and when their food supply is exhausted - as it was in the age of dinosaurs - the dragons simply go into an extended subterranean hibernation as life recovers and repopulates above.

Over the course of the next two decades, mankind is ravaged. Society has broken down. Little technology is left. Few weapons remain. Small enclaves of humans huddle together in scattered communities and try to survive. One such group has taken refuge in a medieval fortress in Northumberland. Quinn (Christian Bale) survived his discovery in London of years before and has grown into a leadership role. His decisions and defensive posture are affected by the deaths he witnessed when the dragons were unleashed. He and his deputy, Creedy (Gerard Butler), concentrate on keeping the families and the children safe. They've created new prayers to motivate caution and entertain the children by playing out scenes from motion pictures (there is a witty scene in which they perform a pivotal moment from The Empire Strikes Back). There is conflict among the community; Eddie (David Kennedy) tries to pilfer the enclave's few vegetables in order to feed his family. He has little hope for the future and would rather die with a full belly than be hungry for whatever time remains. Quinn barely manages to maintain control.

Into this dreary, apocalyptic landscape comes an unexpected visitor, an American named Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey). He's in an M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank leading a short column of combat vehicles. They even have air support in the form of a helicopter flown by Alex Jensen (Izabella Scorupco). They are the survivors of a flight from the States to England in a cobbled together Lockheed C5A Galaxy transport. They have a supply of fuel and weapons and they've come to rid the world of the dragon scourge. Van Zan and Quinn butt heads, competing for authority and disagreeing over the best strategy to survive. But the future of the human species is at stake, and you know that whatever their differences, ultimately they must join forces.

Reign of Fire is a B-movie elevated by splendid special and practical effects and the participation of talented players. McConaughey is great as the obsessed dragon slayer, almost a caricature of the rigid and driven military archetype. Bale is just as good as a man haunted by conscience and terrible childhood memories. The film is quite a ride, and on that level it's a lot of fun. But why the settlement and the column of military vehicles don't operate with a little more stealth may pull the viewer right out of a willing suspension of disbelief. Director Rob Bowman helms with a firm hand and a great eye, creating a disquieting world that makes us cringe and squirm and take pity on the future. He and screenwriters Gregg Chabot, Kevin Peterka, and Matt Greenberg created credible creatures (the dragons may have been better thought out than the human characters), and I particularly appreciated the first reasonable explanation I've seen on film for a dragon's ability to breathe fire.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film's original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is presented in anamorphic video. Cinematographer Adrian Biddle and director Bowman manipulate the palette, leaning toward blue for most of the film; as the dragons reign, that chroma shift adds to our discomfort. The implication is that the extensive fires caused by the dragons and the residual effects of a futile attempt to fight the dragons with nuclear weapons may have caused a long-term overcast that blocks the sun. Consequently, the film tends to be a bit dark, even during daytime scenes. This may reduce the contrast, but edge halos still intrude. The overall impression is ever so slightly soft, since textures are not as well defined as on some better transfers; regardless, small object detail remains quite reasonable. On displays of fifty inches or less, the video should be excellent; on larger, more revealing displays, the video will be merely good. Shadow detail is excellent and I noticed no mosquito noise or blocking.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

Touchstone Home Entertainment has included three 5.1 tracks on this disc. The two English tracks are in Dolby Digital and DTS. That the surround channels are going to be extremely active is apparent from the very beginning of the film. As the young Quinn walks through London's Trafalgar Square, hundreds of pigeons take flight, immersing the viewer in a torrent of flapping wings - a portent of things to come. This is not an official EX mix, yet the center surround channel decodes perfectly throughout. During this opening sequence, the flapping wings are all around the viewer, not only to the left and right. And during the many dragon and helicopter orbits around the viewer, the sound can be heard panning from the front to the side to the rear to the opposite side and back to the front. Deep, satisfying bass is present, but not quite as seismic as on some other releases. Ed Shearmur's bombastic orchestral score is presented across a broad soundstage, expanded with some judicious leakage into the surrounds. The dialog is sometimes overwhelmed by the sound effects and music, but I suspect that the accents may have contributed to the rare instances of intelligibility degradation.

The comparison of the Dolby Digital and DTS tracks revealed - after careful gain equalization - that for DTS, the bass was slightly deeper and had more authority. The score, when not masked by sound effects, had a slightly more revealing timbre, and surround imaging was marginally improved in the DTS track, as well.

The alternative language track is in French and is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The audio is supported by subtitles in French and English, for which Closed Captions are also included.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Touchstone has included three informative featurettes on this DVD with an aggregate length of 35 minutes; all are presented in full screen and letterboxed non-anamorphic video. The first is entitled Breathing Life Into The Terror (8:26). This is another look into how CGI is generated. The Secret Lab - an effects house unfamiliar to me - performed the work, and several of the staff explain the process. We've seen this kind of thing before, but it remains interesting just the same. The second short is If You Can't Take The Heat... (15:00). Here we learn about the practical fire effects that were performed in front of the camera. Special effects supervisor Dave Gauthier narrates and guides us through this dangerous work. The amount of liquid propane consumed while making this show is truly impressive, as were the safety precautions taken and stressed. (I'm a bit surprised that a crew member is seen smoking while working with that highly combustible fuel.) Finally, we have Conversations With Rob Bowman (11:51) in which the director describes his approach to the film and to the mythological creatures we find here.

The film's original 1.85:1 theatrical trailer is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen. Sneak Peeks offers two film trailers (The Count of Monty Cristo and Bad Company) and two videogame promos (Reign of Fire and Kingdom Hearts); all are shown in non-anamorphic video. The 102-minute feature film is organized into eleven chapter stops.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

After the Touchstone Home Entertainment skin has loaded on top of your InterActual DVD player, click in the online option. Four buttons will appear. The first allows you to register your DVD (exchanges for defective authoring sometime occur). The others are for a sweepstakes form, the Disney Movie Finder site, and the official Touchstone website.

Parting Thoughts