Strangely, it seems the public perception and marketing around 10,000 B.C. believes the film to be an epic fantasy filled with special effects and action galore. Why is this strange? Well, after watching the special features on the Blu -ray edition of the film you would think they set out to make an accurate depiction of some rumored long-lost prehistoric civilization. Graham Hancock, author of "Fingerprints of the Gods", is included in the accompanying featurette called "Inspiring an Epic". He proposes his theory that an undocumented civilization has gone completely unaccounted for and was actually those that built the pyramids. There is much more to this idea, but I doubt you want me to go into it, but that isn't stopping director Roland Emmerich and Hancock from taking this film far more seriously than they ever should.

Of course, if approached with Hancock's ideals in mind you can't take shots at the historic timeline because they are putting out there a "prove me wrong" scenario. While they are willing to admit in the featurettes that some of the stuff they feature is all bogus considering the time in which the film is set, they really do seem to think this all could have happened and Hancock even goes so far as to hope it will inspire people to look into the possibility. The funny thing is that while he is doing this we are watching visual effects advisers geek it up while they show us how they made mammoths gallop and saber-tooth tigers become friends with man. It's all so far out there and convoluted that you can't respect the film on any level.

It doesn't work as a drama because the acting is ridiculously bad. This film feels like a prehistoric version of The Village, the only difference being that these guys apparently aren't faking it even though they so obviously appear to be a bunch of twenty-somethings running around in tattered clothing in between trips to the make-up chair.

It doesn't work as an action spectacle because watching people hunt mammoths is not exactly awe-inspiring and then when it comes to the saber-tooth tiger it isn't anything like the box art leads us to believe. In fact, our lead character D'Leh becomes friends with the tiger after saving it from a pit of death. Yay , maybe in the sequel they will make out a little bit. The combination of bad acting and a story that is so watered down it actually could have been rated PG make this a film with absolutely no soul. It's as if every single person working on the feature had a different idea of the actual film they were making.

This is a film that needed to be roughed up and all the gloss needed to be removed. The featurettes would lead you to believe that a movie like this has never been done, but I must point out the far better 1982 Oscar-winner Quest for Fire. No, there aren't any outlandish pyramids and no saber-tooth tigers, but there are some mammoths and a storyline that is surprisingly engaging considering only one distinguishable word is spoken in the entire film. I know, that's a little too artsy for most folks who would rather watch models run around acting like mountain men in search of their next kill all while speaking virtually perfect English, but I am telling you if you skip one for the other you will be thankful for it.

10,000 B.C. is a laughable mess, but then again the majority of Emmerich's films are, including the overrated Independence Day. Touting a budget around $105 million this film came close enough to making its money back in theaters and the DVD/Blu-ray release is sure to push it over the top and put Warner in the black, but it has to be something of a disappointment considering the potential. I know one of these days someone is going to take another shot at this time period and treat it with respect. I know I would like to see an updated take on ancient Egypt, for example, from someone other Stephen Sommers . This film so wanted to throw everything they possibly could from the dawn of man at the screen, and while the glossy shit stuck to the screen, the rough edges the held it all together fell to the floor.