Roland Emmerich, the director of high-budget science fiction flicks like "Independence Day" and the 1998 American version of "Godzilla", has managed to find a sub-genre that has not been seen for decades.
He has created a caveman movie. One can easily guess that "10,000 B.C." is as cheesy and incredulous as "Godzilla". This is not the case, or at least not entirely. "10,000 B.C." has some interesting surprises, but also has its share of flaws. Perhaps it could be best described as a unique interpretation of an old cliché.
The plot itself basically combines many of the themes from "Conan the Barbarian" and "The Scorpion King". The conflict begins with the horse-riding slave traders ransacking the tribal grounds and capturing most of the cave people, including the main character's girlfriend. The main character, a young mammoth hunter, must set out with his mentor and a small band of fellow hunters and try to save his woman.
As the movie progresses, the group encounters several other exotic tribes who have also been attacked by the slave traders. After a disappointing encounter with one of the prehistoric beasts, the main character is declared a hero, and leads all of the tribes against the slave traders and their pseudo-Egyptian masters. Such is the plot of almost every "hero of the ancient world" movie.
Of course, this film sets itself apart from movies like "The Scorpion King" with its look and execution. "10,000 B.C." is meant to be serious and very loosely plausible in its presentation. One could not go as far as to say that it is authentic or realistic, but then, it is not supposed to be.
All of the actors and actresses are fresh, new faces. Instead of casting muscle-bound he-men, the filmmakers decided to go with people who seemed real. Even some of the plot devices are fairly creative, including a comedic interpretation of how a lone hunter would take down a 10-ton wooly mammoth.
Unfortunately, there are several scenes where the pursuit of plausibility backfires or disappears completely. Some of the warriors wore armor that consisted of a flimsy layer of bamboo and twigs loosely tied together.
Some of the made-up languages cause the viewer to chuckle during an otherwise somber scene. The concept of mammoths being used as beasts of burden in the Egyptian desert is ridiculous, even for a Hollywood movie. These scenes were the funniest parts of "10,000 B.C.," and they probably were not intended to be funny at all.
"10,000 B.C." is one of the more interesting movies about ancient heroes to come out lately. However, unless you are new to this genre, there probably isn't anything here that you have not seen before, aside from the mammoths and the prehistoric cavemen. It is worth consideration, but it should not be the average moviegoer's first choice.
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