December 8, 2002

Reign of Fire

Reign of Fire (ROF) starts innocently enough with a young boy, Quinn, visiting his mother at a London excavation site. She erroneously sets free a fire-breathing dragon that brings chaos to the modern world. Fast forward to 2020 where Quinn (Christian Bale) is fighting the battle of survival with a handful of his men. Apparently, they have devised mechanisms to warn them of the beast’s arrival, but actually fighting one is quite a challenge. Enter Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey), a tough-talking American looking for shelter with Alex Jensen (Izabella Scorupco), a daredevil helicopter pilot. Zan claims to have killed quite a few dragons using a technique that not only sounds far-fetched, but also ridiculous.

Quinn soon figures out that Zan and his men are completely insane. He asks them to leave and resists as Zan plans to recruit his men to finish off the flame spewing creatures. However, when Zan reveals there is just one male dragon hiding in London and producing millions of offspring, Quinn decides to join forces with him to encounter the beast one last time.

ROF portrays Americans yet again as the sole saviours of the world. Although we have adored dragons in movies like Dragonheart and Dungeons & Dragons, ROF brings to the screen their might and terror. The director, who has movies such as Airborne and The X-Files to his credit fails to electrify the viewer with more drama than action, unimposing special effects and a weak storyline. —Jawad Daud

White Oleander

White Oleander is a pure chick flick where one comes across all kinds of women with all kinds of problems, and the men in their lives are like the paintings on a wall which you see but hardly notice.

The movie, based on a novel, is the story of a young girl Astrid (Alison Lohman) who goes from one foster home to another when her selfish and eccentric mother Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer) goes to prison. Ingrid doesn’t display much motherly love because she believes love causes too much pain. As Astrid floats from home to home, she learns how to mould herself to the demands of every new place. Robin Wright Penn is the first of the foster mothers who is good at heart but unpredictable. Renee Zellweger is a rich man’s lonely wife who showers Astrid with love, but the girl soon has to move into Svetlana Efremova’s care, who is a shrewd immigrant foster mother.

The action is seen through Astrid’s eyes and newcomer Alison Lohman has carried herself well in this central role. Michelle Pfeiffer is as beautiful as ever. There are times when you need to reach for the box of tissues, but doesn’t that make all the women love a movie more? —AS

Die Another Day

James Bond 007 is back with yet another super spy adventure, Die Another Day directed by Lee Tamahori. Despite some flaws, the movie truly lives up to the expectations of Bond fans and action buffs.

Die Another Day is the 20th venture in the James Bond series. The plot has a familiar background with Bond hopping from continent to continent, traversing the borders of North Korea, Cuba, England and Iceland to “unmask a traitor and prevent a catastrophic war.” Jinx (Halle Berry) who is a tough American agent, is part of Bond’s mission and joins him in his exploits, getting in and out of every difficulty as comfortably as 007 himself. What follows are scenes stuffed with super-action sequences, explosions, fights and tanks. There’s even a scene where a Jaguar and an Aston Martin (these cars were a treat to watch) battle across the ice of Iceland. The exceptionally lavish sets, locations and stunts are the highlights of the movie in which characterization is given less importance in comparison.

Pierce Brosnan dominates the whole movie and does fairly well — after all he has been playing Bond for the fourth time. But sharing the domination is Halle Berry who also wins laurels for her performance. Who knows, we might have a female Bond next time. Like the previous Bond movies, this one also can only be watched if you have the stamina to endure two hours of non-stop sheer action. Only on this condition is this film recommended. Otherwise you won’t find anything in it. —Azeem Haider