"Battlefield Earth" (2000)
Starring John Travolta, Barry Pepper, Forest Whitaker
Directed by Roger Christian
Now, I can understand John Travolta getting mixed up in this mess of a film -- the book is based on Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's questionable best-seller -- but why did an actor like Forest Whitaker get himself involved?
"Battlefield Earth" is considered one of the worst films of 2000. And with good reason. It could easily be seen as the "Plan 9 From Outer Space" for the 21st Century. The only reason I can see for a movie to be this bad being made today is if the director was extremely tight on money and didn't know what "production values" meant.
The Psychlos have taken over Earth in order to mine it. Kerl (Travolta) is the head of security, and the Psychlos have enslaved humans and convinced them that they were only put on this Earth to serve them. Kerl's plan is to use the humans to mine gold for him. But Johnny Goodboy Tyler (Barry Pepper) is determined, and sets out on a mission to stop the Psychlos on his own.
There are very, very many reasons why this film is so bad. One was the overuse of dutch angles. The angles were used to make the Psychlos look taller than they were in comparison to humans. But it just gets dizzying after awhile. Another thing that got me was the wipes. Yeah, it worked for "Star Wars," but that was because "Star Wars" was a good movie. And it wasn't like they used different wipe effects throughout the film, either. It was the same curtain wipe over and over again. You get sick of it after awhile.
The acting was atrocious, but I blame director Roger Christian for that. It was like John Travolta was trying to play a bad guy and not succeeding because Christian had in mind that he would have this annoying maniacal laugh throughout the film. And none of the actors seem to be trying hard to make this at least a watchable film. The Psychlos looked like dirty Rastafarians with nose plugs -- no style whatsoever. The picture for the most part looks like all the color was washed out.
But the worst part has to be the script for this mess. There were several plotholes taken from the book that should have been plugged up before production started. A harrier jet that still has gas in it can still fly after being in a cave for 1,000 years? Johnny can learn to fly said harrier jet in a matter of hours? Plus the lines these characters had to say bordered on the ridiculous at times -- Travolta's constantly insulting the humans reminded me of "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and the alien's infamous line of "Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!" At one point, Kerl talks about sending things to "the home office." Um...what?
This film is undeniably bad, and the sad thing is that it's not the kind of bad that can be enjoyed years from now. It's just completely unwatchable from beginning to end.
Buy "Battlefield Earth" on DVD
Directed by Roger Christian
Now, I can understand John Travolta getting mixed up in this mess of a film -- the book is based on Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's questionable best-seller -- but why did an actor like Forest Whitaker get himself involved?
"Battlefield Earth" is considered one of the worst films of 2000. And with good reason. It could easily be seen as the "Plan 9 From Outer Space" for the 21st Century. The only reason I can see for a movie to be this bad being made today is if the director was extremely tight on money and didn't know what "production values" meant.
The Psychlos have taken over Earth in order to mine it. Kerl (Travolta) is the head of security, and the Psychlos have enslaved humans and convinced them that they were only put on this Earth to serve them. Kerl's plan is to use the humans to mine gold for him. But Johnny Goodboy Tyler (Barry Pepper) is determined, and sets out on a mission to stop the Psychlos on his own.
There are very, very many reasons why this film is so bad. One was the overuse of dutch angles. The angles were used to make the Psychlos look taller than they were in comparison to humans. But it just gets dizzying after awhile. Another thing that got me was the wipes. Yeah, it worked for "Star Wars," but that was because "Star Wars" was a good movie. And it wasn't like they used different wipe effects throughout the film, either. It was the same curtain wipe over and over again. You get sick of it after awhile.
The acting was atrocious, but I blame director Roger Christian for that. It was like John Travolta was trying to play a bad guy and not succeeding because Christian had in mind that he would have this annoying maniacal laugh throughout the film. And none of the actors seem to be trying hard to make this at least a watchable film. The Psychlos looked like dirty Rastafarians with nose plugs -- no style whatsoever. The picture for the most part looks like all the color was washed out.
But the worst part has to be the script for this mess. There were several plotholes taken from the book that should have been plugged up before production started. A harrier jet that still has gas in it can still fly after being in a cave for 1,000 years? Johnny can learn to fly said harrier jet in a matter of hours? Plus the lines these characters had to say bordered on the ridiculous at times -- Travolta's constantly insulting the humans reminded me of "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and the alien's infamous line of "Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!" At one point, Kerl talks about sending things to "the home office." Um...what?
This film is undeniably bad, and the sad thing is that it's not the kind of bad that can be enjoyed years from now. It's just completely unwatchable from beginning to end.
Buy "Battlefield Earth" on DVD
posted by ScoopOnFilm @ 3:55 AM
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