Reign of Fire
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: July 12, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
39
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
10
Negative:
12
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
38
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Often incomprehensible (a combination of jumpy editing and lots of thick British Isles accents) and hardly ever entertaining - even unintentionally. Read full review
38
New York PostJonathan Foreman
It strains belief that nuclear weapons couldn't kill off the dragons, but three people with crossbows could. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The story doesn't clarify why the dragons hibernated for hundreds of years, nor why they awakened. Clearly, however, the filmmakers might have benefited from more sleep before penning the script. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Reign of Fire never comes close to recovering from its demented premise, but it does sustain an enjoyable level of ridiculousness. Read full review
30
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Director Rob Bowman seems at a loss as to what to bring to the film, which, even with its good choice of leads, plods along from one dragon fight to the next, all of them staged to showcase Fire's impressive CGI dragons, but none choreographed with any real flair. Read full review
30
Washington PostStephen Hunter
It's just silly, loud and goofy. The dragon needed a bigger part and the two stars smaller ones. Read full review
30
Village VoiceDennis Lim
Peaks early with a vertiginous dogfight; thereafter, spotty CGI and a bamboozling plot conspire toward a colossal anticlimax. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
One regards Reign of Fire with awe. What a vast enterprise has been marshaled in the service of such a minute idea. Incredulity is our companion, and it is twofold: We cannot believe what happens in the movie, and we cannot believe that the movie was made. Read full review
20
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A disaster of a drama, saved only by its winged assailants. You know a picture's in trouble when you find yourself rooting for humankind to lose. Read full review
20
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Dragons torch the earth as manly men with weird hair battle them in this colossally misconceived dud. Read full review
20
Rolling StonePeter Travers
So what's not to like? There's the bad CGI, the choppy pacing, the comically intense acting, the repetition, the dullness and mostly the idiot plot about how there's only one male dragon and everything will be fine if they kill the Big Dick. Wha? Somebody get a hose and put this Fire out. Read full review
0
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Truly awful. Read full review
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