10,000 B.C.
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Familiar but only fitfully involving epic taking place at the end of the Ice Age about a young tribal hunter (Steven Strait) pursuing marauding slave raiders who have kidnapped the young woman he loves (Camilla Belle), while fighting predatory birds, saber-toothed tigers and mammoths along the way. Director Roland Emmerich's often silly epic holds few real surprises, and has the sort of cliche-filled script standard for this genre, but the digital effects are quite impressive, especially the bustling pyramid-studded slave colony that brings the hero and his companions to its predictable action-packed climax. Intense but not gory action violence and killings and some pagan mysticism. A-II -- adults and adolescents. (PG-13) 2008
10,000 B.C.
The film begins with some portentous narration solemnly intoned by Omar Sharif putting the film in its fictional historical perspective.
But once the action gets going, "10,000 B.C." (Warner Bros.) proves an all too familiar and only fitfully involving epic taking place at the end of the Ice Age. A young tribal hunter, D'Leh (Steven Strait), must pursue the marauding slave raiders who have kidnapped Evolet (Camilla Belle), the young lady he has loved since childhood.
D'Leh had to grow up under the shadow of his father's apparent desertion of the tribe years before, but during the annual ritual of the hunting of one of the giant mammoths that still roam the earth, he accidentally wins the day and becomes the town's unlikely hero, possibly signaling that he'll be the one to fulfill the prophecy of the revered soothsayer known as Old Mother (Mona Hammond), who also has divined great things for the raven-haired, blue-eyed Evolet.
D'Leh, his mentor Tic'Tic (Cliff Curtis), a scrappy young kid named Baku (Nathanael Baring) and a few others venture off, fighting predatory birds, saber-toothed tigers and mammoths along the way.
It is D'Leh's compassionate rescue of a giant tiger, rather akin to Androcles and the lion, that comes in particularly good stead when the fearsome Naku tribe, headed by Nakudu (Joel Virgel), is just about to attack them.
The Naku are impressed as all get-out when the fearsome beast leaves D'Leh intact, and the tribesmen agree to join forces with D'Leh against the bad guys. (Nakudu has a vested interest as his beloved young son has been kidnapped as well. In a further bit of serendipity, it transpires that Nakudu knew D'Leh's father.)
Director Roland Emmerich's often silly epic holds few real surprises, but its cliche-filled script is basically standard for this genre.
Still, the digital effects are, on the whole, impressive, especially the bustling pyramid-studded slave colony on a desert plain. Here, we learn, the warlords (one of whom has his eye on the beauteous but defiant Evolet) are under the thumb of a pagan "god" and his evil henchmen-priests.
There's a predictable action-packed climax, during which D'Leh, in a distinctly un-Christian moment, vengefully delivers a death blow to a dastardly villain -- though not, it must be said, without provocation.
There are no sex or language issues here. Apparently four-letter words had not yet been invented; otherwise, D'Leh and his scruffy dreadlocked companions speak English remarkably well, uttering nary an "ugh."
The film contains intense, but not gory, action violence and killings and some pagan mysticism. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic
merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating,
the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief
synopsis of the movie.
The classifications are as follows:
- A-I -- general patronage;
- A-II -- adults and adolescents;
- A-III -- adults;
- A-IV**
- L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
- O -- morally offensive.
** Discontinued classification. All archived movies that were originally in the A-IV category are now classified as L.