Early release. Watch now for £3.95.

“This film is as crazy as it wants to be,” decided the Los Angeles Times, “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.”

10,000 BC revolves around a hulk of a man called D’Leh: a mammoth hunter and a member of a tribe ravenous with hunger.

Setting out on a quest to rescue his people from extinction, he crosses unknown lands and is forced to battle a rival tribe that has kidnapped his beloved.

En route are obstacles. Sabre-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths and giant ground sloths all require a ferocious slaying.

“As one might expect, there are campy moments and far too much reliance on God-like interventions in the affairs of early man,” said the Hollywood Reporter.

“But 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 all giddy fun.”

Not necessarily a film in which you need to mentally engage, 10,000 BC is nevertheless bicep-flexing, sixpack-toting fun that plays itself out at an exhausting pace.

“As a history lesson, 10,000 BC has its value,” wrote the New York Times. “It explains just how we came to be the tolerant, peace-loving farmers we are today.”

“It is also decent action-movie fun.”

To watch from 20 Aug: select New in the Film section, then All New Releases > 10,000 BC.

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Tags: 10000 BC, action/adventure, Camilla Belle, Cliff Curtis, On Demand, prehistoric, reviews, Steven Strait

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