Reign of Fire

Huge, fire-breathing dragons terrorize hapless humans in the future, but they don't do nearly as much damage to the scenery as do stars Matthew McConnaughy and Christian Bale, who chew it furiously as, respectively, the super macho head of a band of dragon slayers, and the leader of a group of survivors. The two men ultimately (and predictably) join forces to end the dragons' reign, with the help of Izabella Scorupco, the post-apocalyptic world's best looking helicopter pilot. The movie isn't bad, exactly, but beneath all the huffing and puffing, it's rather thin gruel. The dragons and the world they inhabit are quite well rendered, but if half the effort lavished on the special effects had been devoted to plot and character, we'd have had a better time.