What looks like a Discovery Channel documentary ends up being less compelling and much drier. The director of “10,000 BC,” Roland Emmerich, is better known for his action/sci-fi films like “The Day After Tomorrow.” This story of the far past has none of the elements which have made the director’s prior films entertaining. There is no charismatic heroic character the audiences can easily relate to, there is no humor to speak of, and there is little momentum to the story. The few action sequences are quite impressive to behold, with characters seamlessly interacting with long extinct animals. Despite the beauty of the landscapes and the special effects wizardry, this film has no spark of vitality, making for a grueling one hour and 49 minutes of viewing.
According to the narrator, this film is based upon a legend from long ago. A young girl, Evolet, escapes her destroyed village and is found and taken in by a new tribe. The tribe is led by a woman shaman, who sees the end of their way of life and the coming of a great enemy through a vision of the girl’s future.
By working together, the tribe’s many hunters are able to bring down woolly mammoths to feed their people, and Evolet grows up and falls in love with on of the young hunters, D‘Leh. The prophecy of the shaman also speaks of a great warrior from their tribe, who will show himself when the time comes. The tribe is unprepared for the coming of the enemy, as many are killed and others are captured and taken. D’Leh takes a small band of survivors after these men, hoping to save Evolet and the others. D’Leh could not imagine his journey would take him so far.
No one in the cast particularly stands out, as many of the characters look the same and are relatively interchangeable. D’Leh is a flawed character, making as many stupid decisions and getting lucky as often as he makes good decisions. Since the story wants to be taken seriously, it is too often miraculous the young man survives the many dangers he runs into, especially being so ill-prepared most of the time. Some of the action sequences get your blood pumping, especially a wary trip through an overgrown tropical forest. Watching the hunters bring down a woolly mammoth is also entertaining, and shows a level of coordination and teamwork amongst these prehistoric people. Whatever early anticipation these sequences garner, eventually dissipates as the trip is long and uneventful.
Evolet is lovely, brave and spirited, but being captured much of the film, is limited in what she can do. Once the final battle comes - which takes a long time to get to - you remember why you paid the price of admission. The trampling of people by herds of woolly mammoths and the armed uprising at the site of future pyramids almost makes the wait worthwhile. But even the ending is deeply flawed, as the audience’s sensibilities are betrayed and led to an all-too-convenient conclusion. Prehistoric films are hard to make compelling to a modern audience, which Emmerich proves: “10,000 BC” is his worst film to date.
2 out of 5
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence.
