10,000 BC (2008)

By Reid on December 5th, 2007 (Updated March 9, 2008). Filed under A-Z Previews: Theatrical and A-Z Trailers and Photos.

Synopsis:

During the dawn of man, a young hunter (Strait) leads an army across a vast desert, battling saber tooth tigers and prehistoric predators as he unearths a lost civilization and attempts to rescue the woman he loves (Belle) from an evil warlord determined to possess her.

Our Thoughts:

Let’s see..one man leads an army, battling large beasts, and faces an evil warlord. Hmmm. I feel like I’ve already seen this movie…except it was called 300 (2007).

While that was my original thought, this movie looks to be more about the love of a woman, rather than the defense of a way of life. With the different motivation - plus it’s lack of armor - that may be enough to distinguish 10,000 BC enough to make it a worthy film in it’s own right.

If it’s unique enough, riding the coat-tails of 300 (2007) into theaters sounds like a good idea. If it’s just another bad attempt from Roland Emmerich (who, while bringing us The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and Independence Day, also brought us Godzilla (1998), don’t forget), this could also spell it’s doom, as it would then fail dismally in the inevitable 300 (2007) comparisons.

Since 10,000 BC has already been pushed ahead twice (first from July ‘07 to December ‘07, and now to March ‘08), it seems the studio has a bit of a reservation about Emmerich as well. Pushing it to December sounds like it wouldn’t have been good enough for a Summer flick, but then the filmmakers apparently got worried once they noticed the over-hyped The Golden Compass (2007) had also landed there, so pushed it onto that unknown, the March audience.

So does that mean the filmmakers are worried it won’t be able to stand up to the competition, or are they just hedging their bets? Either way, unless I see something spectacular between now and then, it looks like I’ll be waiting for the DVD for this one…just in case.