You have to respect Ronald Emmerich. He is a director who always thinks big. The man behind Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow has made his name with end-of-the-world plots. His latest movie 10,000 B. C. is typically over the top. This prehistoric ethic follows the rise of D’Leh, who grows up in a tribe of hunters. He is forced to rescue his childhood sweetheart Evolet, who is kidnapped by slave raiders. The action in the movie comes thick and fast. For instance, in one scene you can feel the earth and your teeth shake, when the mighty herds of massive woolly mammoths smash through the vulnerable but athletic spear-carriers of D’Leh’s tribe. But although the action scenes are enjoyable, the movie is let down by a predictable plot, wooden acting and at times sheer silliness. The movie flies in the face of even the most basic scientific and historical facts. So audience members will be left scratching their head as to why the main characters have dodgy Jamaican accents and why on their journey to the deserts of Africa, they travel across icy mountaintops and through the jungles of Asi
a. 10,000B.C. is a prime example of a movie that relies too heavily on CGI (computer generated imagery), at the expense of character development and a good script. Like other movies of the last decade such as Troy, Godzitla and The Hulk, the film spends too much time concentrating on how it looks, forgetting that it is plot, acting and dialogue that are the essence of good cinema. Chris Weitz, director of The Golden Compass, recently warned the movie industry that audiences are getting: fed up with an over reliance on CGI in films. "I believe that there will be very soon, if there isn’t already, a backlash against the CGI-heavy effects movies," he said. Nobody disputes that the special effects are extraordinary in 10,000B.C. and that fantasy movies require CGI technology to bring them to life. The vast battle scenes in the Lord of the Rings films are a perfect example of how CGI and acting can work together beautifully. But for 10,000B.C. and a majority of action epics like it, the use of special effects has become an addition that seems insatiable. Films with special effects, are brilliant when they find a balance between the real and the imaginary. But as 10,000B.C. proves, many modern films find this balance unattainabl