Reign of Fire

Play trailer

Reign of Fire

PG-13

Released Jul 12, 2002

1h 41m

Fantasy

Adventure

Action

Sci-Fi

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

41%

Tomatometer

172 Reviews

49%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

In present-day London, 12-year-old Quinn watches as his mother wakes an enormous fire-breathing beast from its centuries-long slumber. Twenty years later, much of the world has been scarred by the beast and its offspring. As a fire chief, Quinn (Christian Bale) is responsible for warding off the beasts and keeping a community alive as they eke out a meager existence. Into their midst comes a hotshot American, Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey), who says he has a way to kill the beasts.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Stream Now

Critics Consensus

Reign of Fire gains some altitude with its pyrotechnic action and a smolderingly campy Matthew McConaughey, but the feature's wings are clipped by a derivative script and visual effects that fizzle out.

Read Critics Reviews

SMH Staff

Sydney Morning Herald

The characters are sketchy, the plot is full of logical holes and the story is all fight and flight. But despite its flaws, it is enjoyable if you like special effects, warriors and computer-generated dragons.

Mar 31, 2019

Full Review

Anthony Quinn

Independent (UK)

For all its silliness, Reign of Fire never bores, and may actually appeal to your inner twelve-year-old.

Mar 31, 2019

Full Review

Tim Robey

Daily Telegraph (UK)

The poor dragons - on screen not nearly enough as it is - stand no chance pitted against this kind of heavyweight ham.

Mar 31, 2019

Full Review

Leah Rozen

People Magazine

Better than the trailers made it seem, but nothing to get fired up about.

Mar 31, 2019

Full Review

Malcolm Johnson

Hartford Courant

For all of its design and special-effects artistry, "Reign of Fire" is seldom convincing -- only slightly more alive than the silly 2000 "Dungeons & Dragons."

Mar 31, 2019

Full Review

John Wooley

Tulsa World

Look too closely at it, and you'll find a question or two that aren't satisfactorily answered by film's end. But it deserves high marks for not being quite like anything else -- for being, in fact, just different enough to impress.

Rated: 3/4

Mar 31, 2019

Full Review

Read all reviews

Brian H

Bale, McConaughey, Butler all giving good performances on a script that left something to be desired. The visuals are at times intense. The action only stops to build the story. A better movie than it gets credit.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/03/25

Full Review

Hughe J

Reign of Fire was released in theatres in 2002 and stars Mathew McConaughey, Christian Bale, and Gerard Butler. The movie is set on post apocalyptic Earth where dragons have arisen and destroyed society. The movie centers around a surviving community led by Bale's character in England that is confronted by McConaughey who leads a group that arrives to destroy the only female dragon, which by killing it will stop them from breeding. Both groups must band together to fight the dragons, after a contest of wills by their leaders, to save humanity before it's too late. This is obviously a "turn off your brain" movie as the dragons can be killed so why didn't our world's military do just that. Regardless, the CGI is pretty good and I liked how the dragons were presented. The fight scenes were fun to watch, the plot moved along fine, and the set pieces were well done. Bale and McConaughey had great, if somewhat over the top, performances which were perfect for this type of movie. Overall it was a fun watch and has aged well over time.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/27/25

Full Review

Garett S

The poor rating I gave this is solely based on the fact that I want my favorite podcast “cinephobe” to do an episode about it.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

09/21/25

Full Review

Jerod S

Reign of Fire suffers from being lopsided with A-list heroes and a CG antagonist dragon that doesn't evoke the fear it should.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/12/25

Full Review

Korra N

Far better than folks give it credit for & a movie deserving of a franchise. Most of the visuals are still jaw-dropping & the direction from "X-Files" veteran Rob Bowman is very solid.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/22/25

Full Review

TI H

I saw it in the theater many years ago, and I liked it. I thought everyone did, but the reviews speak otherwise. I think it deserves 3.5 stars, and part of that is the premise, which I enjoyed, for we see dragons that have nothing to do with a sword & sorcery medieval setting. I don't see why the effects are being criticized, although they don't measure up to today's standards. (Has that been done before? I don't think so.)

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/13/25

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Rob Bowman

Director

Christian Bale

Quinn

Matthew McConaughey

Van Zan

Izabella Scorupco

Alex Jensen

Gerard Butler

Dave Creedy

David Kennedy

Eddie Stax

The Time Machine

28%

38%

The Time Machine

Watchlist

Star Trek

94%

91%

Star Trek

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Star Trek

X2

85%

85%

X2

Watchlist

TRAILER

for X2

X-Men

82%

83%

X-Men

Watchlist

TRAILER

for X-Men

X-Men: The Last Stand

56%

61%

X-Men: The Last Stand

Watchlist

TRAILER

for X-Men: The Last Stand

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Synopsis

In present-day London, 12-year-old Quinn watches as his mother wakes an enormous fire-breathing beast from its centuries-long slumber. Twenty years later, much of the world has been scarred by the beast and its offspring. As a fire chief, Quinn (Christian Bale) is responsible for warding off the beasts and keeping a community alive as they eke out a meager existence. Into their midst comes a hotshot American, Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey), who says he has a way to kill the beasts.

Director: Rob Bowman
Producer: Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber, Richard D. Zanuck, Lili Fini Zanuck
Screenwriter: Gregg Chabot, Gregg Chabot, Kevin Peterka, Kevin Peterka, Matt Greenberg
Distributor: Touchstone Pictures
Production Co: Spyglass Entertainment
Rating: PG-13 (Intense Action Violence)
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Action, Sci-Fi
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 12, 2002, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 10, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $43.1M
Runtime: 1h 41m
Sound Mix: Dolby SR, DTS, Dolby Stereo, Surround, SDDS, Dolby A, Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

Most Popular at Home Now