Review of Battlefield Earth (2000) by Patrick F — 29 Mar 2010

Not as bad as the Phantom Menace or even as bad as people like to say, but still a poor film/waste of your time. Well at least in this movie I can clearly understand the plot and motivation of each character...also I can laugh at Travolta's wig.

So why is it bad? Well it's 2 hours long and when the ending is as obvious as it is in Battlefield Earth that's a lot of movie to sit through.

The hero has very little personality, as do the other humans in this story. It's one of the few times I wished the protagonist would just die so the villain could keep the screen. Obnoxious and uninteresting is the only way I can really describe Jonnie Goodboy Tyler.

I felt only interested in the aliens. If I squinted while watching the Phyclos have their evil meetings it felt like I was watching an episode of Star Trek, but with less convincing makeup and dialog.

Despite everything else I felt that Travolta did a pretty good job considering it was his camp that ruined the script. It may not be what we're used to seeing him in, but he defiantly stands out... perhaps it was just enthusiasm he has for being in a movie inspired by the guy who founded Scientology...

The bottom line: You might get a few laughs out of this movie and may enjoy parts of it, but it's mostly boring and I'd keep the fast forward button handy to skip any scenes without Travolta. I can't tell if he's the cause for it being bad enough for it to be nominated as "worst film of the decade" but somehow his unusual camp performance makes it watchable in the way a car accident is watchable... It's a bad film but not the worst ever or even in it's genera, but it comes pretty darn close.