Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

I avoided this movie scrupulously when it came out for 2 reasons. First, the advertising made it out to be this hip modern movie about dragons. I’ve been burnt by that flame before. Hip modern movies about medieval stuff? Can anybody say Knight’s Tale (http://www.epinions.com/content_22132592260)? The other reason was a wholehearted thumbs up from someone I know who has consistently bad taste. If Phil likes it, it must be awful. Years later, here I am playing with my brand new Korean cable in Seoul and it comes on.

This isn’t a hip modern movie about medieval lore.

This is a disaster movie.

I love disaster movies. Especially good ones.

This one I don’t dislike and it fills time in English.

For the purposes of the movie, dragons are real. They burnt the Earth to a crisp millennia ago and then went into hibernation when they ran out of fuel. A construction project in London one wakes up and they rapidly repopulate, wiping out most of the human population in the process. Quinn has managed to assemble a small band of survivors in a castle in Northumbria. They are found by small band of American soldiers who want to go after the male. They’ve determined that there is only one male dragon and if they can kill it, the whole species will die. Let the action shots begin.

My main disappointment with this movie is that all the pieces are there, but nobody bothered to fit them together right.

The story is an interesting idea except that there is no way there would only be one male. Nature doesn’t work that way. There is also no way the dragons eat only ash. It just doesn’t fly. But I could forgive that if…

The characters had worked. Quinn (Christian Bale) is a good guy trying to survive. He’s a pretty stock character for these types of movie. You could pull him out of this script and drop him into just about any other disaster movie with just minor dialogue changes. But he is one of the better ones because he really had heart. Denton Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey) is also a stock character. The tough guy with a chip on his shoulder. What made him really shine was that he was such a jerk. The American military jock looking to do some damage. McConaughey plays him to the perfect degree that keeps him from becoming either a cartoon or the hero. Alexander Jenson (Izabella Scorupco) is the heart. The pretty girl and the conscience, they tried to give her the twist of being military, but she remains the damsel in distress only she can shoot. While all stock parts, the actors did a great job of breathing life into them. Especially McConaughey. It could have made the movie if…

The director hadn’t been so into the effects that the movie suffered. The dragons were cool and the fires were impressive, but the movie is supposed to be about people. The Towering Inferno isn’t about a burning building, it’s about people trapped in a burning building. The Poseidon Adventure isn’t about a capsized boat it’s about people trapped in a capsized boat. The director of Reign of Fire seemed to believe the movie was all about sfx dragons and fire. If I want to watch fire, I light one. If I want to play with dragons there are video games.

Movies are not games for a reason. Games are all about the action, not the story. Movies are about story and since we’re all human here, the story is about the people. The actors knew this and they tried, but the director and the producers seemed to miss that point. Not so sure about the writer either.

The effects were astonishingly good. The dragons had weight, which a lot of computer generated stuff fails to have. (Hmm, Dragon Heart?) The fire was also well used. It wasn’t just fire to light the thing. It worked for me.

The features were ok. One about the effects (no surprise there) and one where the director talks about the effects. They pretty much bored me, but I didn’t buy the disk for them.

This movie isn’t a total failure. I bought it (used) because I really love disaster movies and there’s enough potential there for me to ponder what could have been. In the movie itself. enough people tried in the correct direction to keep it from being a bomb, but it’s no Towering Inferno. If you like big effects and just need a ride movie you are in luck. If you need a story, well you better choose something else. After Shock was really good.

Review of After Shock:
http://www.epinions.com/content_67098611332


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older