The Associated Press REIGN OF BOREDOM: Matthew McConaughey stars as Van Zan in 'Reign of Fire.' 'Reign of Fire' is showing at Carmike 10 and Cinemark 16. It is rated PG13 and runs 100 minutes.

Talk about halitosis. When the dragons in "Reign of Fire" exhale, their napalm breath wipes out entire villages.

In fact, by 2020, there's very little left of the civilized world. The few remnants of humanity have been driven into a primordial existence in caves. Dragons now rule the world, feasting on the barbecued ashes of any living creatures they come upon.

Among the survivors is Quinn (Christian Bale), the leader of a handful of humans in hiding in the hills of Scotland. Quinn has a vested interest in the dragons -- as a young boy in London in 2002, he first unleashed the terror when he came upon the dragons' underground lair.

Quinn's philosophy is to try to out-wait the dragons, to stay hidden underground as long as possible. But Quinn's world is upset when a gang of gung-ho American ruffians arrives at the camp.

They're led by the bald-headed, cigar-chomping Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey), a tattooed warrior doing a Bruce Willis imitation who believes you can only defeat the dragons through combat.

Thus, "Reign of Fire" becomes a Hollywood combo platter, part "Dragonslayer" and part "Road Warrior" and not as good as either.

Under the direction of Rob Bowman, "Reign of Fire" requires too much suspension of disbelief.

Despite a bevy of exciting special effects and lots of swooping, fire-breathing dragons, you may find yourself puzzling over the improbabilities in the film's post-apocalyptic world.

As Van Zan and his troops go into combat, they drive tanks and fly a helicopter, but where did they get the gasoline?

For that matter, what's powering the lights and appliances in Quinn's Scottish cave?

If you find yourself mulling over such nonsense during a film, it's a sure sign the movie isn't working.

If it grabs you with its action and puts you under a fantasy spell, maybe you wouldn't worry about the availability of gasoline.

But that's not the case.