You know, I can just about remembered reading a quote — although lord knows where I actually saw it — from noted science fiction writer, John Wyndham.
He of Day of the Triffids fame, in case you didn’t know.
To the effect that says he — Wyndham — tried to write science-fiction that had two words as the central idea.
“What if … ?”
Day of the Triffids … ? What if plants COULD walk … ?
Chocky … ? What if your child’s imaginary friend … wasn’t imaginary … ?
Oh, and The Trouble With Lichen … ? What if there was just one anti-aging treatment that actually worked … ?
Trust me, there’s a point to this.
You see, I’ve just had a quiet night in, with a borrowed copy of the 2002, Rob Bowman directed film, Reign of Fire.
And ended up thinking “Well … what if dragons really DID exist … ?”
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18/1/2012
Which is actually a good question, isn’t it … ?
What if they did … ?
Well, I’m thinking, here, that the film I saw, last night …?
Was a very entertaining attempt to try and answer that.
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2002’s Rob Bowman directed film, Reign of Fire sees Christian Bale playing Quinn: a man who’s grown up in the aftermath of his mother’s discovery — some twenty years earlier, and told in a flashback in the first parts of the film — of a nest of dragons found during digging under London.
Twenty years on, of course, and the world has been devastated by Ash eating dragons, burning their way across the globe and by the nuclear bombs the USA has dropped in an effort to wipe out the dragons.
And left it to small groups of survivors, struggling to grow crops and survive dragon attack.
One of which is a community lead by Quinn: a man who’s struggling emotionally with the memories of his mothers death, and and to support the small band of refugees’s he’s struggling to lead.
Until one day … ?
One day, the group is joined by a bunch of American troops, lead by Denton van Zan — Matthew McConaughey, in full-on John Wayne* mode — a man who claims not only to be able to kill dragons …
But also to have a plan to wipe out the entire species …
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Now …
Have I used the word, ‘impressed,’ yet … ?
Well, no.
It’s certainly the case, though, that Reign of Fire is certainly a film I was impressedº by.
OK, granted, it’s not an art-house movie about the meaning of life or mankind’s capacity to enlighten an otherwise corrupt and degraded universe.
Of course not: it’s about Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey fighting 40ft long, fire breathing dragons, after all.
But Reign of Fire a VERY entertaining film worth both watching and investing in, I felt.
Here …
Let me leave you with this …
Reign of Fire
★★★★
* Or possibly Slim Pickens.
º Rather than — going by one alternative in my Thesaurus — embossed …
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