The premise of the film is simple enough, what if dragons actually existed? The answer to that question is also fairly simple. We would all be turned into screaming human smores.

So, a dragon buried under London for centuries is awakened. It escapes, reproduces tons of baby dragons and that's all she wrote for humanity. The film mostly takes place twenty years after the initial encounter with Ol' Smoky. A small band of surviving humans are holed up in a castle, cuz y'know when the Red Dragon of the Apocalypse shows up for dinner with you on the menu, you're going to want to be hiding in an ancient castle instead of some fortified modern bunker or underground facility.

The survivors are led by Quinn (Christian Bale) whose leadership style pretty much relies on his ability to look as intense as a guy who ate too many pork and beans for lunch. Quinn does his best to keep the survivors surviving but their plans for survival really stink. Quinn's great plan is to stay put and wait to be cooked alive inside the castle walls the next time a dragon shows up. Oddly enough, everyone but Quinn thinks that waiting to have their flesh torched from their bones and then being a dragon's intestinal stuffing is a bad idea.

A group of American militiamen arrive, because even in the end days, in the middle of the English countryside, Americans still kick butt. The Americans are led by Denton (Matthew McConaughey) whose leadership style pretty much relies on his ability to be bald, tattooed and shirtless, covered in baby oil with smudges of charcoal. When this doesn't impress, his fall back position is to make his eyes look all crazy like and yell his lines.

Being an American, Denton inherently knows how to kick butt. He announces that he has an way to kill the dragons and save humanity. Everyone decides that going with Quinn's "let's hang out here and wait until the dragons make our home into a huge Weber Grill" idea is inferior to Denton's "Let's die screaming, flying through the air, wielding a super awesome battle axe" concept. Sure Denton's way is going to get everyone else killed but its sure to provide a few cool clips for the trailer.

The bottom line on this film is that it is utter pap. Then again, we know this going in. All that director Rob Bowman needs to do to succeed is to manage his action sequences so they're watchable and don't overwhelm the rest of the story. He does this. Which is why the film works despite its silly concept.

I'm not saying this a great movie. Its not. It is predictable in many places, there is clear projection prior to any character's death and Christian Bale is way too serious for the show. Bale acts like he's auditioning for a production Macbeth for the annual over-actors convention.

McConaughey is the one who strikes the right tone - hammy. He overacts as well, but he does so with his tongue wedged firmly in his cheek. Although, to be fair, it is very likely that Bale was squinting so much not out of trying to be intense but because he was being blinded by the sun reflecting off of McConaughey's glistening pecs.

Dumb movie, but it is very fun. This is a good guy movie and a solid pick when you don't know what else you want to watch.


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Labels: Christian Bale, film, Gerald Butler, Matthew McConaughey, movie review