The Film
Rebounding from The Day After Tomorrow, one of the lamest movies in a career that also includes the 1998 Godzilla, Roland Emmerich takes us back to the stone age for 10,000 BC, a tale of big wooly mammoths and the little wooly men who kill one occasionally, but only to survive. Like most of Emmerich's work, it is an amalgam of the movies he's seen in his lifetime, most notably The Ten Commandments, Return of the Jedi, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and even the recent 300. Even so, it eschews the unfunny gags and unnecessary subplots that have often hindered his past work, and instead gives us a heroic tale full of excitement in a beautifully realized world.
I'm not a paleontologist, archaeologist or anthropologist, so I won't be one of those people who pick apart all of the inaccuracies. I will however express my shock that people--essentially cavemen sans the cave--spoke of high-minded ideals in such eloquent English 12,000 years ago, each one with a different accent. Much of the talk centers on the destiny of a young hunter (the buff Steven Strait) who must rescue his lady love (bluer-than-blue-eyed Camilla Belle) and ultimately liberate his people and other tribes from the mysterious civilization that has kidnapped and enslaved them. Hunters become warriors, and even farmers along the way, in an adventure spun in a classic, entertaining fashion.
The Picture
The use of color here is stunning, literally from the very first shot. Skies, orange firelight, green jungle, and later the costumes and trappings of the oppressors fairly burst out of the 2.40:1 frame. The level of detail is just as striking, as flawless computer-generated mammoths plod through sharp blades of grass, all of the scenery and every face exquisitely captured by director of photography Ueli Steiger's camera, lending a welcome sense of realism.
Complaints are few and far between. A miniscule amount of grain is evident, and some visible compression on out-of-focus areas of the screen. There was hard ringing in the night sky in a couple of shots, and sporadic weird artifacting on someone's face, but in general the video quality is outstanding and it serves the story well.
The Sound
Effects range from the soft rustling of grass to the breathing and wild braying of the great mammoths to their mighty footfalls in a stampede, and through it all the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio feels effortless, exploiting the surround soundfield with seamless results. Dialogue is always clear. The musical score by executive producer/screenwriter Harald Kloser (there's a well-rounded fellow!) and Thomas Wander displays genuine subtlety, and even the climactic battle scenes manage to be big but not over-the-top.
The Extras
The three-minute alternate ending is a combination of rough footage and animatics that features an unused onscreen appearance by Omar Sharif, who only narrates the theatrical version. In yet another homage by the director, this sequence harkens back to The Road Warrior. Ten minutes of further deleted scenes are also included.
Exclusive to Blu-ray are the "A Wild and Wooly Ride" and "Inspiring an Epic" featurettes, each about 13 minutes. The first explores two of the biggest special effects challenges of the movie, namely recreating the fantastic beasts of the era and the authentic "under construction" pyramids. The other discusses the influence of historical fact and theory on the story.
Also in this package and not on DVD are unique codes to download digital copies of the film for your PC, Mac and portable devices. (You can read more about Digital Copy from Warner and other studios in my feature story on Digital Copy and DRM).
Final Thoughts
A dozen millennia in the making, 10,000 BC is engaging and surprisingly smart, a big-budget throwback to the campier prehistoric spectacles of yesteryear. Taken at face value, it will provide an enjoyable evening for you, and an opportunity for your home theater to shine.
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