I only recently had the pleasure of watching this sleeper hit. I am a HUGE fan of Christian Bale, Mathew McC, and Gerard Butler, and seeing the three of them together in leading roles in one movie was a treat. This movie delivers excellent lines, acting, and some amazing very scary dragon special effects, not sure why people are calling this 'low budget'.
The movie tells the tale of a near future England where sleeping dragons have been released from an ancient tomb. They quickly multiply and overwhelm human military capabilities, and we are soon in a doomsday world where humans scrounge beneath the earth for survival while dragons rule the skies and the world above. Enter Matthew McConaughey as tough talking former US army commander leading a rag-tag unit of dragon hunters, to teach the limeys how to fight again.
Which leads me to this movie's major downfall: STORY AND PLOT HAVE HOLES THE SIZE OF DRAGONS IN THEM...
Story and Plot are sadly lacking in this movie, which is otherwise brilliantly acted and brilliantly filmed. The tired old story of the US coming to Britain's rescue was done in WW2, and rather insulting nowadays. Gerard Butler dies one of the most useless and hilarious deaths in film, walking upstairs to confront an elder male dragon with a fire extinguisher (I AM NOT KIDDING). OMG....
Matthew McConaughey has a rather childish hissy fit when the English decide to throw a victory party for their first group dragon kill, as some of the Americans got killed... kinda silly.
And the solution to all their problems is simply to kill the one male dragon... uh, what if another male hatches? Wouldn't the dragon 'species' have a solution to that??? Other than these truly dragon-sized plot holes, the movie delivers a gritty doomsday flick about dragon fighting. Not quite up to the epic and still undefeatable DRAGON SLAYER, but a worthy addition to the Dragon Movies overall.
With a bit more cash and a bit more attention to plot and story, this could have truly been an epic movie. As it stands, it's still well worth renting for anyone with an interest in dragons and doomsday type flix.
The movie tells the tale of a near future England where sleeping dragons have been released from an ancient tomb. They quickly multiply and overwhelm human military capabilities, and we are soon in a doomsday world where humans scrounge beneath the earth for survival while dragons rule the skies and the world above. Enter Matthew McConaughey as tough talking former US army commander leading a rag-tag unit of dragon hunters, to teach the limeys how to fight again.
Which leads me to this movie's major downfall: STORY AND PLOT HAVE HOLES THE SIZE OF DRAGONS IN THEM...
Story and Plot are sadly lacking in this movie, which is otherwise brilliantly acted and brilliantly filmed. The tired old story of the US coming to Britain's rescue was done in WW2, and rather insulting nowadays. Gerard Butler dies one of the most useless and hilarious deaths in film, walking upstairs to confront an elder male dragon with a fire extinguisher (I AM NOT KIDDING). OMG....
Matthew McConaughey has a rather childish hissy fit when the English decide to throw a victory party for their first group dragon kill, as some of the Americans got killed... kinda silly.
And the solution to all their problems is simply to kill the one male dragon... uh, what if another male hatches? Wouldn't the dragon 'species' have a solution to that??? Other than these truly dragon-sized plot holes, the movie delivers a gritty doomsday flick about dragon fighting. Not quite up to the epic and still undefeatable DRAGON SLAYER, but a worthy addition to the Dragon Movies overall.
With a bit more cash and a bit more attention to plot and story, this could have truly been an epic movie. As it stands, it's still well worth renting for anyone with an interest in dragons and doomsday type flix.