Reign Of Fire

Not the most cerebrally challenging film ever made, but visceral and immediate enough to make for acceptably buzzy viewing, this futuristic post-apocalypse dragon-slaying adventure yarn makes up in charm what it totally lacks in originality. Directed by X-Files helmsman Rob Bowman, it’s a ludicrous, slightly Mad Max-influenced standard sci-fi set-up, whereby a devastated post-nuclear society of survivors have to compete for precious lebensraum with monstrous scaly dragons given to eating any human who crosses their path. Enter Christian Bale and Matthew McConaghey as two hot-blooded dragon-slaying heroes (with the look of escaped Alcatraz inmates) who engage our winged hordes in warfare over a sequence of dumb, predictable but mildly rousing action set-pieces.

Though Reign Of Fire lacks either the budget or the invention to qualify as anything other than run-of-the-mill summer fare, it’s fine if you leave the brain at home and bring plenty of popcorn.