★ 6 / 10
**_The worst sci-fi flick ever made?_** A thousand
Wuchak
**_The worst sci-fi flick ever made?_** A thousand years in the future, Earth has been taken over by a towering alien race called Psychlos, who have enslaved…
**_The worst sci-fi flick ever made?_**
A thousand years in the future, Earth has been taken over by a towering alien race called Psychlos, who have enslaved humanity with the intent of stripping the land of all resources. Other humans hide in the wilderness, living a primitive life. However, one “man-animal” (Barry Pepper) spurs a movement to free the planet. John Travolta and Forest Whitaker play chief-security Psychlos.
Based on L. Ron Hubbard’s book from 1982, “Battlefield Earth” (2000) is post-apocalyptic sci-fi that mixes “Planet of the Apes” and “Logan’s Run” with a little “Terminator” and some “Star Wars” dogfighting in the last act. It is notorious as one of the worst movies ever made, at least those with a healthy budget. The nitpicking has been so out of hand that Roger Ebert even criticized the font chosen for the opening titles (rolling my eyes).
The truth is, it’s not close to being that bad. Unlike the similar “The Lost Future” (a low-budget flick from 2010), the pace is a little too frenzied, no doubt because the script tried to cram the first half of a 1000-page novel into a 2-hour film. Despite this, it’s not like the story’s unintelligible, although it needed to flesh-out the heroes further in order to make it more compelling. Some complain about the use of Dutch angles, but this is barely perceptible and, besides, they give the movie a unique vibe. Then there’s the cavil about the constant double wipes to change scenes. Seriously? Who cares? No one complains about the wipes in “Star Wars.”
Sure, Travolta takes a hammy approach to his Psychlo character, as do other Psychlo cast-members, but that’s part of the fun. You’re supposed to roll with it. There’s a glaring wink of amusement to the proceedings. So anyone who says the movie’s “unintentionally” funny is clueless.
One of the biggest real problems is the absent of any significant female characters. There’s Sabine Karsenti as Chrissy, but her role isn’t that big and she’s underused. Meanwhile Kelly Preston has a long-tongued cameo as Psychlo Chirk, but that’s it (not counting peripherals). The remake of “Planet of the Apes” came out the next year and had enough sense to include Estella Warren in a fairly prominent role; the same thing with “The Lost Future” with Annabelle Wallis, not to mention Hannah Tointon and Eleanor Tomlinson.
To the film’s credit, a certain scene in the last act prefigures a (more) memorable scene in Abrams’ “Star Trek” nine years later. I’m not saying this is a great movie, it has its issues, but the over-criticism is unjustified and reminiscent of the ridiculous response to the well-done “Heaven’s Gate.” Perhaps due to the links to Sciencefictionology, the knives hit the sharpening stones well before it was ever released and once the buzz got out that it was a bad film a feeding frenzy ensued.
The movie runs 1 hour, 58 minutes, and was shot in Montreal, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and several other Quebec locations. Additional stuff was filmed California.
GRADE: B-/C+
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★ 2 / 10
The Battlefield of Shaker Heights
highclark
This movie should have been a 'Project Redlight'. John Travolta is out of his head and hopelessly devoted to L. Ron Hubbard. That he was able to con 10 other…
This movie should have been a 'Project Redlight'. John Travolta is out of his head and hopelessly devoted to L. Ron Hubbard. That he was able to con 10 other people into investing $80 million towards the making of this movie is the only real impressive angle I can work for this review. Perhaps Travolta wanted to work with Tarrantino again and thought the only way that that could happen is if his own career fell into the tank? Or perhaps he felt it was his duty to make the film in order to get a better seat in 'Dianetics Heaven'? Let's hope that Tom Cruise can learn from Barbarino's mistake. I don't think it will matter too much to point out everything that is bad about this film, but the acting, the dialog, the special effects, the plausibility of the cave people's quick learning development, and of course, the hair extensions will just have to suffice.I would have given the movie a 1 out 10 rating, but I did laugh at the movie quite a few times and that should be worth something, I think. The version I watched was on the USA network and it was modified for teevee, so I may have missed some key plot elements that were cut from the original vision of its director, but then again I may have seen some really good Levitra adds in its place. The end credits whizzed by so quickly that it would appear that no one really wanted to have anything to do with this movie except Travolta.'In preparing a judgment of worth, I proclaim this lame movie to be worst' Don't forget that 'I told ya' to blame John Travoltaand L. Ron for Battlefield Earth.Oh, if it were only a musical. 2/10.Clark Richards
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I actually enjoyed the movie in a sort of fever dream way. It's weird - it grows on you.