What Do The Critics Say?

"The appeal of a movie set in pre-historic times comes from the exotic possibilities of extraordinary animals, a wild, untamed world and primitive man on the road to eventual civilisation. Some of these elements are found in Roland Emmerich's extended adventure movie, and they are impressive. The mammoths, the savage, beaked jungle beasts and the giant sabre tooth tiger all make splendid appearances. The spectacular landscapes of desert, mountain, river and jungle also deliver the images we are expecting." Andrew L Urban URBANCINEFILE "CG mammoths! And lots of 'em! And some raptor/dodo thingies that move exactly like Spielberg's dinosaurs. Still, looks cool enough. Could've used some more of the saber-toothed tiger, though." Bob Strauss LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS "This sprawling epic is as lively as a natural history museum diorama. Beware the woolly mammoth!" Stephanie Zacharek SALON "What is new here, of course, is a state-of-the-art production in three countries plus CGI and other visual effects that place everything in a fictitious prehistoric world. Director Roland Emmerich and his cohorts pretty much make this up since 10,000 B.C. extends far beyond any archeological discoveries. As one might expect, there are campy moments and far too much reliance on God-like interventions in the affairs of early man. "10,000 BC" works just fine as an action Western with handsome actors in striking costumes and a few CG predators, which are giddy fun. Digital imagery imagines a striking prehistoric world for these back-to-basics heroes, villains and raging beasts." Kirk Honeycutt HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

"The characters and plot of the picture borrow directly from the heyday of grand-scale motion pictures, replete with damsel in distress, buff hero, and a ferocious battle on the plains before giant pyramids. And the plot, to wit, remains surprisingly simple. Terrific technical work - from cinematography to CGI - and a well-crafted score by Harald Kloser and Thomas Wander keep the movie engaging." David Foucher EDGE "CGI effects are letter perfect believable. The opening mastodon hunt/stampede is as good as effects seen in the recent "King Kong", greatly enhancing the film. Do NOT expect dinosaurs in "10,000 BC". No T-Rex or Bronto in sight.There are, however, plenty of huge animals in "10,000 BC", along with blood letting spears, knives, and fisticuffs. Director Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day") makes sure the action is ongoing, sub-texted by a passionate love story. Thanks to credible acting and impressive effects, his efforts succeed. "10,000 BC" is fun, diverting spectacle adults and teens should enjoy." Steve Crum VIDEOMASTER-REVIEW "I enjoyed "10,000 B.C." more and more, and more than just about anything Emmerich's done before. The Teutonic solemnity of his mythmaking approach keeps everyone in line. The time: 10,000 B.C., in a realm of momentous ecological change and enormous flightless prehistoric dinosaur birds out for blood, to say nothing of the science-fictionally scaled saber-toothed tigers, or the mammoths on which the Yagahl tribe subsists." Michael Phillips TRIBUNE "I was please with the plot, it was consistent from start to finish and while I'm hoping to see more in a Director's Cut, what was presented to me was quite adequate. I'm certain that when 10,000 BC is released there will be a large amount of hype involved. High - High risk of entertaining activities." THE CIA REVIEWS "With fine touches such as narration by the legendary Academy Award®-winning Omar Sharif and realistic, not overdone, CGI effects, Roland Emmerich delivers an enviable action adventure film with more power, heart, and imagination than Troy, Alexander, and Apocalypto all rolled into one." THE SCENE BLOGS

The Inside Story Visionary director Roland Emmerich has taken on everything from vast-scale alien wars to environmental catastrophe in some of the most successful blockbusters of the past decade, including "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow". Now turning his camera to the distant past to create "10,000 BC," the filmmaker faced perhaps his boldest and most ambitious filmmaking challenge to date. Creating a new myth about a hero who emerges from an isolated tribe to challenge an empire, Emmerich sought to transport audiences into an adventure unlike anything they have experienced before, while stretching the boundaries of how a film should be defined. "I have always been intrigued by the idea of classic storytelling, in the timeless way people have told stories round the campfire for generations," says Saturn Award winning director Emmerich ("Independence Day"). "When your subject matter is early man, you have the opportunity to tell very rich heroic stories in which one character has to do the almost impossible. I wanted to make a movie that would allow audiences to fall into this other world that looks and feels like nothing they have ever seen." In order to take audiences on an adventurous journey to another time and place, Emmerich and his cast and crew first had to travel to the other end of the world. "A filmmaker like Roland is always looking for something original, but it can be quite difficult to find a canvas that hasn’t been painted on, so to speak," notes "Trade" producer Michael Wimer. "It was an extraordinary challenge on every level: in fact, Roland said it was the most demanding movie he’s ever worked on. But I think the challenges are what a filmmaker like him thrives on." Harald Kloser, who co-wrote the film with Emmerich (in addition to executive producing and composing the score with Thomas Wander), notes that "10,000 BC" is a journey to a time when mysticism and the spirit world were a very real part of life. "Roland and I never intended for "10,000 BC" to be a documentary," the 2005 BMI Film Music Award winner explained. "Rather, we wanted to make a big adventure about the journey of mankind as they venture out and confront all these forces they can’t explain. We loved the idea of pushing the boundaries of what was possible." Making his third film with the director, is "Grey's Anatomy" producer Mark Gordon, who colaborated with Emmeric on "The Partiot" (2000) and "Independence Day" (2004). He noted, "Roland is the kind of director who never wants to repeat himself. His imagination allows him to go places that most people don’t go. With the kind of stories he likes to tell, and his visual scope as a storyteller, he was the perfect director to make this movie." While the film has all the elements of an action spectacle, depicting huge mammoth hunts, epic battles, and spectacular vistas of giant pyramids and lost civilizations, with interweaving threads of myths and mysticism, as Camilla Belle, who plays Evolet, observes, "At the heart of the film is also a powerful human story. These two people, D’Leh and Evolet, are torn away from each other, and then have to find each other again, in the midst of this amazing journey. For them, and for the audience, it is really an escape into another world." "There’s something very beautiful about how the human condition hasn’t really changed over the millennia," says Steven Strait, who played Warren Peace in 2005's "Sky High". In "10000 BC", the Lead singer of the band 'Tribe', plays the young Yagahl warrior D’Leh. "What makes us human beings hasn’t changed since pre-historic times: love, compassion, conscience, sympathy. You see all of these things in this film. And you can relate to that no matter what era you live in." There are legends and prophesies along with all the visceral elements," says well known New Zealand actor, Cliff Curtis. "There are predatory terror birds and sabre-tooth tigers, and, of course, the mammoths, but the story also has a spiritual undertone to it, and I think that is the glue that holds it together." "The Yagahl are known as the mammoth hunters because they rely on these animals for their survival," Emmerich said. "The mammoths represent what the buffalo was for the Native Americans. On the one hand the tribe hunts it, but they also honour it; they feel blessed by it. It’s a very natural hunter/animal relationship." "The Yagahl live on the edge of survival, just barely living on what they can find and cull from the herd," says Kloser. "Now they're coming to the end of the Ice Age, so the climate is changing. They realize the mammoths don’t come as regularly anymore." The tribes spiritual leader Old Mother, has seen the future of the Yagahl, and prophesied that a great hunter will rise and, with Evolet, lead his people to a new life before the mammoths disappear from the earth. The tribe was once led by D'Leh's father who mysteriously abandoned the tribe when hid son was a child. Now they call D'Leh, the son of a coward. "D’Leh is the group outsider," says Strait. "He has been shunned by the rest of the tribe because of something that his father did in the past. They consider abandoning the tribe the most shameful thing a man can do, and D'Leh has to live with that legacy. But while it makes his life more of a challenge, it also gives him strength." Emmerich says he's "drawn to father-son conflicts. D'Leh has been abandoned as a boy, and like many boys whose father has run away, he has been stigmatized by his tribe and has a chip on his shoulder. He eventually learns that his father did it for a reason." Emmerich 'discovered' Strait on a poster for an independent film called "Undiscovered". His reaction at the time was "Who is that?" Strait, along with other hopefuls, was screen-tested for the role. "I always came back to Steven. He was just eighteen at the time, and when he started this film he was good but not quite so sure of himself. I was very proud of him because, like D’Leh, he makes a total transformation in this movie. He had to essentially carry the movie, and he did. It was an amazing thing to see," the 1998 European Film Awards winner Emmerich recalls. The key to prophecy in this fantasy tale is Evolet, a young child who survived an attack on her tribe by 'four-legged demons'. She and D'Leh quickly form a bond that lasts through their growing years. "She’s in love with D’Leh and he’s in love with her," says twenty-one year old Belle. "She wants to run away with him. They’re like Romeo and Juliet." The man who inherits the White Spear from D’Leh’s father and must pass it along to the tribe’s next leader is Tic'’Tic, played by three time New Zealand Film and TV Award winner (1994, 2000 & '03) Cliff Curtis, who made his feature film debut in Jane Campion’s 1993 Oscar-winning film "The Piano" (Best Actress - Holly Hunter). "Tic’Tic has two purposes: one is to oversee the handing of the mantle of leadership to D’Leh; and the other is to fulfil the mythology and the prophecy that D’Leh and Evolet will lead the tribe to survival," says Curtis. "The fun thing about the character for me was that I didn’t play him like a wise old guy with all the answers. He’s grumpy and scary. He’s much more of a reluctant mentor." When the 'four-legged demons' raid the Yagahl tribe, D'Leh, with Tic'Tic', Ka’ren and young Baku pursue them. It is a spectacular journey across lands they never knew existed. Their treacherous mission takes them across snow-swept mountains into a Lost Valley, where they must do battle not only with the slave raiders but with mysterious terror birds that stalk them for prey. "In the Lost Valley there is a flock of terror birds living on this high grass," Emmerich describes. "They’re somewhere between dinosaurs and ostriches, but they hunt like sharks, coming out of the grass and disappearing again." Eventually, their journey takes them to a new tribe, the Naku, and its leader, Nakudu, whose own son was also taken by the slave raiders. Rounding out the international cast are Marco Khan as the slave raider One-Eye, and Ben Badra as the chief slave raider, Warlord. "We cast a wide net and chose an ensemble of actors for these roles who project such rich, different looks," Emmerich said. "These actors were of Asian, Latin, Indian, African and other origins. This film is about the landscape of faces, and I think we got some incredible faces." To portray hunter-gatherers who lived their lives outdoors, a number of the actors engaged in a training regime at a boot camp in Cape Town, South Africa, overseen by stunt co-ordinator Franklin Henson. In addition to standard physical fitness, their training encompassed learning particular dance and fight movements that would be appropriate to the characters. For Nat Baring, this would involve scaling trees for his stand-off with the terror birds. For Strait and some of the other mammoth hunter characters, it meant learning the movement of the hunt. For actors portraying the slave raiders, physical training required extensive horse work as well. Horse master Peter White was responsible for training not only the actors but also twenty horses. Two time BAFTA winner Visual effects supervisor Karen E Goulekas ("The Fifth Element" & "The Day After Tomorrow") was brought onboard to oversee a team of eighteen staff who created the film's massive effects undertaking. "This film was creative and collaborative and forever evolving," Goulekas notes. "Roland gave me all the input I needed but also a lot of creative freedom." The stunning, at times btreathtaking panoramic scenes were the work of Switz born D.O.P Ueli Steiger. "10,000 BC" was shot on location in the blistering cold of a New Zealand winter; the hot, humid climate of Cape Town, South Africa (Cape Town location manager Katy Fife and her team spent three months building and planting grasses, trees and bushes on the wheat farm for the maze of tall grasses the massive creatures use for camouflage during their hunts) and, the arid desert landscape of the African nation of Namibia." Synopsis

In a remote mountain tribe, the young hunter D’Leh has found his heart’s passion, the beautiful Evolet. But when a band of mysterious warlords raid his village and kidnap Evolet, D’Leh leads a small group of hunters to pursue the warlords to the end of the world to save her. As they venture into unknown lands for the first time, the group discovers there are civilizations beyond their own and that mankind’s reach is far greater than they ever knew. At each encounter the group is joined by other tribes who have been attacked by the slave raiders, turning D’Leh’s once-small band into an army. Driven by destiny, the unlikely warriors must battle prehistoric predators while braving the harshest elements. At their heroic journey’s end, they uncover a lost civilization. Here they will take their stand against a tyrannical god who has brutally enslaved their own. Mankind's destiny is in their hands.

The Verdict "It would be wise to remember that "10,000 B.C." is not a historically, factual film. What it does provide is spectacular, sweeping, panoramic landscapes; prehistoric creatures such as Mammoths, a Sabre Toothed Tiger (gee I wish There was more of this wonderfully CGI creatured), giant pyramids and flightless raptor-like creatures;, all set against a story of love, adventure and discovery. Award winning Director and co-writer Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day" & "The Day After Tomorrow") delivers another hugely spectacular film, filled with incredible CGI imagery that is designed to not only entertain, but also leave viewers awestruck by their clarity and impact. Yes the storyline is fanciful! Yes the narration at times leaves a a little to be desired! And yes, according to scientists and archeologists there supposedly weren't horses or pyramids around 10,000 years ago, but who cares. The sight of those creatures is worth the admission price alone. "10,000 B.C." wasn't ever meant to be taken seriously. Rather one should see this film as good, old fashioned, escapist fun. Very Recommended. 4 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "10000BC" stars .......
Steven Strait ["Sky High" and "The Covenant"]; Camilla Belle ["Practical Magic", "The Ballad of Jack and Rose" and "When a Stranger Calls"]; Cliff Curtis ["Runaway Jury", "Fracture", "Sunshine" and "Die Hard 4.0"]; Joel Virgel ["The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas"]; Affif Ben Badra ["Unleashed", "The Sixth Man" and "Taken"]; Mona Hammond ["The Life and Death of Peter Sellers", "Manderlay" and "Kinky Boots"] and Omar Sharif ["The Night of the Generals", "The Tamarind Seed", "Top Secret!", "The 13th Warrior" and "Monsieur Ibrahim"] as the narator.
"10000BC" was .......
directed by Roland Emmerich ["Independence Day", "Godzilla", "The Patriot" and "The Day After Tomorrow"]; screenplay by Harald Kloser ["10,000 B.C."] and Roland Emmerich ["Stargate", "Godzilla" and "The Day After Tomorrow"]; set decoration by Emilia Roux ["Lethal Woman", "Cry, the Beloved Country" and "Racing Stripes"]; costume design by Renée April ["Agnes of God", "Waking The Dead", "Shattered Glass" and "Night at the Museum"] and Odile Dicks-Mireaux ["Dirty Pretty Things", "The Constant Gardener" and "Like Minds"]; production design by Jean-Vincent Puzos ["The Cat's Meow", "Paradise Found" and "Lord of War"]; edited by Alexander Berner ["Resident Evil", "AVP: Alien vs Predator" and "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer"]; director of photography Ueli Steiger ["Chasers", "Bowfinger " and "Black Knight"]; original music by Harald Kloser ["The Thirteenth Floor", "The Day After Tomorrow" and "AVP: Alien vs Predator"] and Thomas Wander ["The Venice Project", "A Handful of Grass" and "The Tunnel"]. Who's Who?

Omar Sharif Steven Strait Camilla Belle Cliff Curtis Joel Virgel Affif Ben Badra Mo Zinal Nathanael Baring Mona Hammond Marco Khan Reece Ritchie Joel Fry Kristian Beazley Junior Oliphant Louise Tu'u Jacob Renton Grayson Hunt Urwin Farouk Valley-Omar Boubacar Badaine Joe Vaz Charles Baloyi Tim Barlow Gabriel Malema Mark Simmons Hannah Westbury Matthew Navin Nimiah Rodgers Kolby Pistak

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Narrator D'Leh Evolet Tic'Tic Nakudu Warlord Ka'Ren Baku Old Mother One-Eye Moha Lu'kibu D'Leh's Father Tudu Baku's Mother Young D'Leh Young Evolet High Priest Quina Chief of Gaurds Gatto Pyramid God Kawu Sono Cala Young Ka'ren Young Moha Young Lu'Kibu

Run Time 108 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2008 - Warner Bros Pictures - All Rights Reserved ©2008 All Rights Reserved - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - Protected by Australian, International, Copyright & Trademark Laws.