Steven Strait plays a mean game of cat and mouse in ''10,000 B.C.'' (Courtesy photo)

By Bob Polunsky
Movie Critic
 
“10,000 B.C.” puts history and humanity in perspective with words and ideas much like “One Million B.C.” did in 1940 with grunts and groans.

But this isn’t a remake.  It does tell essentially the same story to remind us that people were untamed when they first learned to use their brains. It took time and a good look at the opposite sex for man to come to terms with civilization, and that may have been when the word, love, was established. 

Thanks to the miracles of special effects and well developed cinematography skills, we can still relate to prehistoric creatures in what we now call “human” ways.

The movie tells a simple story so it relies on shock value with prehistoric animals for both its surprises and
its entertainment values. There are no familiar actors in it, and that’s to the film’s advantage.

We don’t automatically compare the players to their characterizations in other movies. We can view them as “Everyman” and “Everywoman” just like audiences did with the then unknown Victor Mature and Carole Landis in 1940’s “One Million B.C.”

D’Leh (Steven Strait) is a young tiger-fighter intent on saving his people from becoming extinct when saber-toothed tigers are bent on destroying every two-legged creature in sight.

D’Leh has another strong goal to keep him busy. The love of his life is the beautiful Evolet (Camilla Belle).
She is kidnapped by a warlord, so D’Leh is determined to rescue her and, in the process, help his people survive in a lawless land filled with prehistoric animals capable of biting through bones.

Like modern day films, it’s the romance between the hero and the heroine that makes the movie meaningful to moviegoers. Romance always counts, even when it involves unknown performers.

If the movie clicks, Steven Strait and Camilla Belle have a chance to be 21st century versions of Victor Mature and Carole Landis from 1940’s “One Million B.C.” or, possibly, Raquel Welch and John Richardson, the sexy co-stars who weren’t world famous when they co-starred in the 1966 remake, “One Million Years B.C.”

The prehistoric animals are the real stars, and director Roland Emmerich apparently realizes it.  Emmerich established his credentials as a director with “The Day After Tomorrow,” the critically acclaimed 2004 film about the dangers of global warming. This time, he stays focused on the animals, often visually comparing their beastly ways to the chest-beating antics of two-legged movie villains.

The movie isn’t as good as Steven Spielberg’s ”Jurassic Park,” as novel as the original “One Million B.C.” nor as imaginative as the 1933 version of “King Kong”. But, like those films, it works because of its animal scenes and cinematography. It also reminds us that love makes the world go around, a statement virtually every movie makes these days. 

Studio rating: PG-13
Bob says: “Fun and games with a prehistoric twist”
3 Stars