Newark Star-Ledger critic Stephen J. Whitty, writing in an e-mail, feels that Phil Villarreal‘s 10,000 B.C. revew “is funny but too kind. A lot of the photography, especially in low-light situations, is rough and grainy.” He also feels that Villarreal’s take is “kind of blind to just how offensive the movie is.” In a culturally reflective, racial-commentary sense, he means.
“I mean, a bunch of nice pretty Northern folks (who speak English) lead a coalition of the willing (include several African tribes, who didn’t know what to do until a white guy show up) against a lot of evil hook-nosed Southern folks who speak some strange language, wrap rags around their heads, prostate themselves in prayer and build pyramids in the desert?
“There’s always a lot of us-vs-them xenophobia at work in these epics (much as the 300 crowd hated to see it) but I thought Emmerich, who has kind of a reactionary streak to begin with, was a little too obvious this time around. Think you should see this one for yourself.”
Whitty’s full review (no URL yet, but here’s the page) will be up Friday. I guess I’ll be paying to see this sucker sometime on Friday night.