Film Review: 10,000 BC

Going way back in time - long before the rise of civilizations, long before the bronze age, and long before ancient history as we know it - this film brings to life a prehistoric world of rampaging wooly mammoths, wicked saber-tooth tigers, giant birds, and warring native tribes. It is a brisky-paced, visually fantastic epic with plenty of action and peril.

At the same time, it is pretty much more of the same. But while common sword-and-sandal epics like Centurion, The Pathfinder, and the various Conan movies make the effort to be grim and bloody, 10,000 BC takes the silly, cheesy, popcorn-movie path. It's a formula that Roland Emmerich works with very well, but it's not a particularly good formula for this genre. Most of the dialogue in 10,000 BC is pretty bad, a lot of scenes are incredulous (some are even laughable), and the film overall just looks too slick for its own good.

This story covers pretty standard epic-movie ground. It's actually the same type of story as Apocalypto; both movies involve a tribe being subjugated by a superior race and marched to a more advanced city as slaves. But while Apocalypto was purposefully violent, grim, and authentic-looking, 10,000 BC is the exact opposite; it's bloodless PG-13 fare, with colorful scenery and formulaic heroes and villains. Characters don't really stand out at all, even though the film does its best to invoke themes of destiny and heroism. In the end, there's nothing much enlightening to this film; it's strictly a light and shallow adventure.

This film employs some good, solid photography and editing. As for most everything else, I can't help but to shake the feeling that this is 21st century people in 21st century make-up and clothes in 21st century sets with 21st century special effects and 21st century props, trying so hard to replicate a prehistoric look and style. Despite all the neat-looking designs, every set, prop, costume, and special effect just looks so clean and slick that it never really looks right; the effect overall is like seeing a museum diorama brought to life. This even extends to the acting and writing; everybody does their best to sound and act like natives, but the dialogue is so simple and modern that it never really works, and the performances are pretty iffy. On the plus side, the music is alright.

I wonder if 10,000 BC would have been awesome under the direction of Mel Gibson, Marcus Nispel, Peter Jackson, Ridley Scott, Zack Snyder, or any number of other good directors of epic films. Heck, I even wonder what this would have been like under Terrence Malick. But with Roland Emmerich behind the wheel, this is straight-up light and silly. If you're really curious, or a big fan of historic epics, then this might be worth a rental, but otherwise, average audiences can find better.

3/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Average | Film: Marginal)