What a letdown
By Yahoo! Shopping User Jul 14, 2002
(SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW - BEWARE)(SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW - BEWARE)(SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW - BEWARE)Ah, what it could have been. Leaving the theater disappointed didn'tend my night well, but such is life.Quick plot outline: Near future, London. A small b...oyenters a construction site (never being given a hard hat)to visit his mother who is a worker there. While at the site, heis sent to check out a cavern that's been found while excavating.(did the notion of child welfare even exist then?). Not surprisingly, hefinds something in there: a (hostile) dragon. While trying to escapetogether in an elevator, his mother dies but he survives. Fast forward a fewyears, after the dragons have scorched the world. That same boy, Quinn(Christian Bale), is now a man, heading a commune of survivors. Thereare some nice touches here, such as Quinn acting in a smallplay (recreating a famous Star Wars moment) for the children of the commune.One day, Quinn's group spots tanks moving on their compound. The visitorsturn out to be headed by Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey), a stereotypicalAmerican right down to the half-chewed cigar and ballsy attitude. Alsostereotypical is a quip by Quinn's friend Creedy (Gerard Butler), sayingthat Americans are the only things worse than dragons.Van Zan came to the British Isles to try to exterminate the dragons afterexamining their epidemiology, but losta lot of men on the way and needed a place to rest and re-supply. It turnsout Van Zan knows how to kill dragons and is the head of a high-tech militaryforce that does the same task. Of course, the squad's helicopter pilot, Alex,is a drop-dead gorgeous chick (Izabella Scorupco). Why is it, as inIndependence Day, that the Americans are always the ones who are ahead ofeveryone else in trying to stop a global threat?Van Zan tells Quinn of his mission to eradicate the dragonsand wants to draft soldiers from Quinn's group. Quinn refuses saying it issuicide, arguing that they have a better chance of living in hiding. Van Zanargues that Quinn is just letting them die slower. This is one of the fewneat points in the movie: both end up gravitating toward one another afterthey both lose a lot of men (Van Zan through his arrogance, Quinn throughhis fear). I would have felt more sympathy for them had the moviefocused more on this aspect but it felt rushed.Anyway, Quinn, Van Zan and the hottie pilot go to London in a mission to killthe only male dragon. Needless to say, they succeed with only Quinn and thehottie pilot surviving, and Quinn fires the fatal shot at the dragon(presumably the same one who killed his mum), getting some payback.The story couldn't be more cliche but, as I said, there are somenice touches, albeit a very few. The movie spends some time developingthe espirit de corps of Quinn's group, and the dragons look prettysweet. Also, Van Zan has this nostalgic looking dragon-slayer axe thathe uses to deliver the death blow to a downed dragon. And Christian Baleis great: you can see a lot of emotions underneath Quinn's exterior, likea volcano about to erupt. He is tough but you can tell it is difficultfor him to keep his emotions in check.Aside from some neat touches, there's not much much else that differentiatesthis flick from many of the big budget blockbusters I've seen that borethe hell out of me. Without these good points I probably would've enjoyedthe movie more because it would have felt that the movie was succeedingin being mostly a special-effects and explosion extravaganza.In retrospect, I don't think I would've even paidthe matinee price for a ticket. All in all, it is a letdown. Read more Less
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