The most shocking moment of “Reign of Fire,” a preposterous, but fun men-versus-dragon action film, comes mid-way when tanks roll up to a castle in a futuristic burnt-out England. Matthew McConaughey pops out of a vehicle, and with a shaved skull, blood-shot eyes and a cigar in his mouth, the surfer boy delivers a kick-ass performance. Is this the same guy who regularly backseats to his white teeth and chiseled chest in everything from "Sahara" to 10 so-awful-they-hurt rom coms? Yep.
McConaughey holds his own against an equally bad-ass Christian Bale as an Englishman desperately and pointlessly holding onto a ragtag lot of widows and children. All are hunted by the dragons that rule the earth, unwittingly unleashed on the world when Bale was a child. This ain't plot heavy, folks. The action is a spectacle, though, and that’s all you ask for in a film where nearly every line is delivered in that tough guy, make-a-speech bravado. Alas, "Reign" smokes out with an outrageous plot twist that would make Darwin double over in laughter if Darwin were still alive. And as the film rattles and races to its sign-posted end, a tough-as-nails female soldier suddenly turns damsel in distress … for no solid reason than the film needs a damsel in distress. Ho hum. C+
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