10,000 B.C. (2008) - Good Defeats Evil! Movie Review: Four Stars! - Joseph Spence Sr's Blog

Is this a flashback to the days of hunter-gatherers? Could this be a reflection back to the Bering Straits? Consider the link from Siberia, Alaska, Yukon, and Beringia -- what a crossing! Where are the woolly mammoths really buried? Historians, archeologists, and museum experts would love this film, starring Camilla Belle, Cliff Curtis, and Steven Strait.

            In this 109-minute film, director, screenwriter, and producer, Roland Emmerich, again demonstrated his likeness for science-fiction and special effects in cinema. His creation of the saber-toothed tiger, which was rescued by the dreadlocked hero D'Leh, is impressive. The tiger returned the favor by saving D'Leh as the scrip progresses. Emmerich also directed The Day after Tomorrow, The Patriot, Godzilla, and Independence Day.

            The kinetic movement is excellent. Watch the overblown prehistoric ostrich-like predators with dinosaur proportions chasing the hero and pecking the villains, moving from right to left. This will get your blood boiling. You will be holding on to your seat as the tempo of the movie rises. The Red Bird slave ships with the captive beauty Evolet also move in the same direction. This is antagonistic movement at best!

            This mythological story starts with voice narration and continues through the script. I'm surprised it was not James Earl Jones. Maybe he had a cold. He is usually the man for voice narrated storytelling movies. 

            The sequence of the mythological plot is excellent. The mission was a significant undertaking, and the hero started walking, an epiphany existing, linking up with new friends, defeating the enemy, and returning home completed the sequence. Things returned to normal with a low resolution. 

The technology they brought back gave them new crops. The celebration started a new life. Hunter-gatherer camps were small. Unlike today's ticker-tape parades, there is no comparison.

            Certainly, this is a movie based on diversity. Why not? Where in the world could one travel over lands, during many moons, crossing sand and dunes, and not meet with people of diverse ethnic cultures, backgrounds, and lifestyles? Naturally, lasting bonds of friendship developed.

            The dreadlocks must be smiling with this movie. Historically, they can say, "We were way back then; therefore, our dreadlocks are not something new.  Get with the program because we are from time eternal.  Hands off my braids, woolly, and comely dread!"

            This is really an escapist movie to see when the reality is too much to handle. By-the-way, most movies are geared as a form of escapism from reality. The music, characters, and script will flip the switch of your mind from the fact of life for the duration of the movie.

            As with most films, there have to be some love scenes. It just would not be without such drama amid the plot with rising conflicts going back and forth. The hero, D'Leh (Steven Strait) selected for the mission sets out to rescue the wonderful lady, Evolet (Camilla Belle), from her captives. Incidentally, the villain has some admiration for this female captive. He died while she survived in the end by the magic of the excellent spirit maker.

            The military could learn some tactics and strategies from this film. The camouflage was excellent, low crawling right on point, tactical operations dynamic, elements of surprise impacting, victory overwhelming, the good guys defeat the bad, and the people enslaved obtain their freedom from the evil empire. The diverse army led by D'Leh won the day.

            Because of the long fingernails, one would hope the evil empire did not have typewriters in those days. There would have been a lot of broken nails. 

            Joseph Campbell, the guru of mythology, would give this the green light. There are many images and universal themes in this film. As my professor of film studies would say, "Everything can't be all make-believe, could it?" The rating is PG-13.

His Excellency, Dr. Amb. Prof. Joseph S. Spence, Sr. USA. (Epulaeryu Master)!