Look, this movie has 10% on Rotten Tomatoes—I knew what I was getting into. Every actor has stuff like this in their filmography, and because I’m me, I can’t just not watch it if I can get my hands on it. I had to see it for myself, and now I have.
When a band of “four-legged demons” (a.k.a. slavers on horseback) attacks the hunter-gatherer Yagahl tribe, one of the captives includes the beautiful Evolet. D’Leh, who’s in love with her, vows to rescue her. His mission takes him across the known world—he encounters frightening beasts and rallies other tribes in his quest to rescue Evolet and the rest of his people.
We’ll get this out of the way first: history accuracy, I don’t know her. Yes, this is a prehistoric action movie, but these characters have all kinds of things that humans didn’t develop until much later. I have no idea how the geography works. And while some of the other tribes D’Leh meets are specifically Black and meant to be from what is now Africa, the members of the Yagahl tribe are cast with an assorted range of Black and brown actors…but Steven Strait, who plays D’Leh, is white. Of course he is. Oh, and part of the reason Evolet’s beauty is so striking is because she has blue eyes.
For the most part, the story is just dull. Generic prophecy, generic action, generic love story. There’s just not much to it, and the most interesting action set pieces come at the beginning, with a dramatic mammoth hunt, and the end, with the climactic showdown against the slavers. In the middle, the film drags, and I don’t have any interest in D’Leh’s big savior narrative.
The moments I like are mostly small—the moments where we remember that prehistoric people were still still people. Two captured boys from different tribes navigating the language barrier. A pair of Yagahl crying out when one of their friends is killed. D’Leh struggling to keep his composure when another tribe invites him in and their hospitality involves spicier food than he’s ever eaten before. Little human moments in the midst of the larger disengaging plot.
10,000 BC was Joel Fry’s feature film debut. Kinda wild to have your first movie being a big action film with CGI beasts, although he wouldn’t have gotten in on too much of that stuff. Fry plays Lu’kibu, one of the Yagahl. He has a moderate amount of screentime but very little to actually do. Lu’kibu is among the group of captives, and mostly he’s there to help fill out the large group scenes. He has maybe six or seven lines, sprinkled throughout the movie.
So yeah, not much there. To the extent that Lu’kibu has any characterization, its, Are we sure that this D’Leh guy is really all that? Any time someone is expressing doubt in D’Leh’s abilities or leadership, there’s a decent chance that it’s Lu’kibu. That’s what most of his limited lines are about, and it comes through in Joel Fry’s facial acting as well. Lu’kibu’s side eye is another one of those “prehistoric people were still people” moments for me, and I admittedly find it kind of amusing.
Accent Watch
I don’t know. All the Yagahl use some kind of accent, but I have no idea what it’s supposed to be.
Recommend?
In General – No. A Big Dumb Action Movie can be fun under the right circumstances, but this one just isn’t very interesting.
Joel Fry – Naw. As a Joel Fry movie, this is more a series of glimpses than anything else. There’s just not much for him to do.
Warnings
Violence, scary moments for kids, drinking, and thematic elements.
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