10,000 BC
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: March 7, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
34
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
8
Negative:
17
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Emmerich has no time for poetry or magic, even when the director and his digital wizards (here doing wildly variable work) are trying to dazzle. He’s a taskmaster and a field marshall, not a visionary. But I enjoyed 10,000 B.C. more and more, and more than just about anything Emmerich’s done before. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
As one might expect, there are campy moments and far too much reliance on God-like interventions in the affairs of early man. Less expected is that 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. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
10,000 BC is as crazy as it wants to be, plundering the past and other movies with that peculiar Hollywood combination of the earnest and the preposterous that can result in the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Too dumb to take seriously, but just silly enough to be sort of fun. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie Errigo
The mammoths aren’t all that is wild and woolly in this innocent, old-fashioned, amusingly self-important, entertainingly mad, rip-snorting throwback to vintage Saturday matinee fare, with all the swell set piece thrills state-of-the-art technology can throw at it. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The big, climactic fight, complete with an epic snuffleupagus rampage, is decent action-movie fun. And as a history lesson, 10,000 BC has its value. It explains just how we came to be the tolerant, peace-loving farmers we are today, and why the pyramids were never finished. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
This is the kind of movie where a character can't just say "the fire's not out yet," they have to say "the fire still lives in these stones." It made me yearn to see "Caveman" again. At least that was INTENTIONALLY funny. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Essentially a rip-off of "Apocalypto" for audience members too young or squeamish to endure graphic human sacrifice and jaguar face-eating. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyLuke Y. Thompson
Director Roland Emmerich (Godzilla, Independence Day) knows his money shots: any time he throws some mastodons or giant dodos on the screen for a little beast-battlin’ action, he has our attention. But his lack of skill with actors really shows during the long moments of downtime in-between. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
"The Day After Tomorrow" was kind of stupidly fun, and 10,000 B.C. might be too, if it weren't so stupidly dull. Read full review
40
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Conventional where it should be bold and mild where it should be wild, 10,000 BC reps a missed opportunity to present an imaginative vision of a prehistoric moment. Read full review
40
Film ThreatFelix Vasques Jr.
What chaps my hide more is that I've seen 10,000 BC. I've seen it three times in the last year and a half. Except in the one that I saw, it centered instead on Mayans, was mostly historically accurate, and was called "Apocalypto." Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
If you thought "300" was silly, think of 10,000 BC as 33.333 times sillier. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Within a few minutes into the ponderous prehistoric pseudo-epic that is 10,000 B.C., you find yourself longing for George of the Jungle to crash into a tree or the Geico cavemen to amble up and put an end to the droning seriousness of this tedious tale. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
One doesn't expect intelligent scripting or deep characterization from Roland Emmerich, but the film's lack of energy, poor special effects, and monotonous pacing lead to an inescapable conclusion: 10,000 B.C. isn't only brain-dead, it's COMPLETELY dead. It's inert and without a heartbeat. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Tedious, ludicrous and harmless glimpse of the dawn of civilization. Read full review
38
PremiereRyan Stewart
A nonsensical vision of pre-history that lurches randomly between "caveman vs. jungle beast" encounters -- Roland Emmerich's Shlockalypto -- and a rococo Stargate spin-off involving pyramids, slave uprisings and oracles. Read full review
33
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
It's as if all the digital tools of new millennial filmmaking fell into the hands of men who had less storytelling sense than a campfire bard or a cave painter. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Overblown and stupefyingly dull. Read full review
30
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
One part Joseph Campbell hero quest, one part multi-culti morality tale, one part live-action "Flintstones" cartoon, 10,000 B.C. is finally every part just plain nuts, from a hike featuring more ecosystems than an Al Gore documentary to a wacky climax set amid pyramids that -- you'll e-mail me if I'm wrong -- wouldn't have been built for another 7,000 years or so. Read full review
30
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The picture, despite the grand panoramic scale Emmerich has tried to give it, is dopey and static. Its finest moments belong to the thundering herd of woolly mammoths who storm through the picture sometime in its first half-hour. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
I was kind of rough on "Apocalypto," which in retrospect seems like a minor classic compared to 10,000 BC. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeTy Burr
So, yea, it is a stinker. But it is prophesied that in six months time you shall come across 10,000 B.C.’ in the land of Pay-Per-View. And you shall say: ‘‘Pass the popcorn.’’ Read full review
25
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
10,000 B.C. tries, but never catches fire. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Completely ridiculous, but fun to look at. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Call it "Apocalypto" for pussies -- a PG-13 rating, puh-leese! -- or prehistory for peabrains. Just don’t call it friendo. 10,000 B.C. will take your money, rob your time and hit your brain like a shot of Novacaine. Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Neither grand enough to be impressive nor antic enough to be charming, the movie settles for bland and frantic, climaxing in a showdown among decadent pyramid builders. How bad are these guys? They're sadists...and, wink wink, sissies. Read full review
20
SlateDana Stevens
In terms of character development, wit, and simple curiosity, it's dumber than a Neanderthal. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
The only evolution in question here is that of Emmerich's skills as a director of motion pictures. Read full review
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