29 out of 29 people found the following review helpful:
Style wins over substance yet again
Vivacia from ,
25th March, 2008
10,000 B.C. was one of the most anticipated movies of 2008. Sadly this 'epic' proves itself to be more of a damp squib than a blast, and seems to have left the golden rules of story telling in the cave it crawled out from. And be warned, this is no historical movie, but instead a purely fantasy based tale that never fully realises the obvious ambition behind it. D'leh is a young mammoth hunter and would be leader of the tribe when the woman he loves, along with most of the tribe, are kidnapped by men on horseback, the 'four legged demons'. Pursuing these invaders he and two others track their people, overcoming sabre tooths and other tribes along the way. There's also a lot of stuff about prophecies and chosen ones but don't let that fool you, this is a 'journey' film, pure and simple. At the risk of giving away certain plot points (if you REALLY don't want to know look away now and go straight to the below paragraph) 10,000 B.C. is in fact two different films slammed together to make a whole. The first half is a pre-historic version of 'Fellowship of the Ring', with a small band trekking across beautiful landscapes in search of their 'precious'. The second half is Stargate, which coincidentally was directed by a certain Roland Emmerich. If you've seen Emmerich's other fantasy work you will have a strangely strong sense of deja vu when we discover where the prisoners have been taken. Emmerich clearly enjoyed it so much he decided to make it again, this time with cavemen. 10,000 B.C. is not without it's positive aspects. The graphics are excellent and the mammoths are some of the most believable you'll see in cinema (except for Manny in 'Ice Age' of course) and it certainly isn't the dullest film you'll ever see. As long as it's taken for the mediocre fantasy film it is there's a lot to enjoy, especially with the final battle at the end (though be warned that this film has one of the most ludicrous endings to grace the silver screen). Other than this though there isn't a lot going for this pre-historic mish mash. Admittedly Emmerich isn't exactly known for 'substance' in his movies but with 10,000 B.C. he excels himself - vapid story telling has rarely been done so well. So turn your brains off and get out the popcorn - you're going to need it.
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