Movie Info
Movie Name: 10,000 BC
Studio: Warner Bros.
Genre(s): Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Release Date(s): February 22, 2008 (Premiere)/March 7, 2008 (US)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
D’Leh (Steven Strait) has become the hero of his people through an accident. Now, he carries the White Spear and is betrothed to Evolet (Camilla Belle) who has her own prophetic future. When Evolet is kidnapped by invaders from a faraway city, D’Leh must lead a rescue mission and find true courage. Evolet and D’Leh could live up the prophecy surrounding them and provide the only hope for the future of their people.
Directed by Roland Emmerich (who also penned the screenplay with Harald Kloser), 10,000 BC is an action-adventure film. The movie was met with negative reviews but a big box office return.
10,000 BC is the type of unappealing movie that I know will do well. Touting “by the director of Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow” on the poster, even the trailer for 10,000 BC didn’t have appeal. I finally watched 10,000 BC, and it lived up to my expectations.
The movie isn’t very long, but it feels like it. The story plods along and just adds things like sabretooth tigers, terror birds, and mammoths. It doesn’t make much sense to call it 10,000 BC since it doesn’t seem to have much basis in history…it might as well have been a fantasy (and I might have respected it more). It also could have had any fantasy elements if that were the case.
The cast is dull, but it isn’t entirely their fault. The movie pushes the actions and visuals and ditches the actors. Steven Strait “leads” the cast as the uninspired D’Leh while Camilla Belle plays the romantic interest. Cliff Curtis plays the friend of D’Leh, but he too is left behind by the script. Omar Sharif provides the narration for the film in one of his last roles.
The movie touts its visuals, but even the visuals are rather less than impressive and have not held up well. The movie’s effects are mostly computer animated and not practical effects. I don’t know that more of an attempt at realism would have helped the plodding plot, but it at least would have made the movie more interesting.
10,000 BC is a clunker. It is a shiny, expensive movie that has little soul or feeling. I wish I had been wrong about the movie and that it had been a fun romp, but the movie was a groaner. Unlike a solid “bad” film, it wasn’t even so-bad-it-is-good. It was just a time filler.