Review of Battlefield Earth (2000) by Caio V — 02 Sep 2015

Considered one of the worst movies ever made and based on the laughably mediocre novel of the same name, Battlefield Earth sounded like a masterpiece of terrible filmmaking.

As with any adaptation, Battlefield Earth takes man liberties with its source material. Battlefield Earth only adapts the first half of L. Ron Hubbard's 1050 page novel. On the surface that sounds like a perfectly reasonable idea as that is the better part of the story. I enjoyed the first third of the novel because of how it characterized the relationship between Jonnie Goodboy Tyler and Terl, even if the writing style was very juvenile. Unfortunately, the few plot points and general concepts that I enjoyed from the original are abandoned in the process of adaptation.

The first scene to really focus on is the first violent encounter between Jonne Goodboy Tyler and Terl. As much as I found that L. Ron Hubbard could not write good action scenes at all, I felt that the scene where Jonnie Goodbye Tyler faces off with Terl for the first time was one of the better plot points. It was described as a largely western showdown, a battle between advanced weaponry and a kill club. After facing the adaptation process of Corey Mandell and J.D. Shapiro, the entire scene is changed. It ends up sacrificing any sense of competence for an abundance of slow motion sequences plagued by an excess of green filtering in which Jonnie runs through a derelict shopping center with no sounds to be heard and poorly rendered stun lasers being shot at him. He collapses, and then audiences have to bear witness to Roger Christian's idea of the species known as Psychlos.

Though a species of aliens named clearly for L. Ron Hubbard to have an excuse to reference psychology as evil in his eyes do not have a high standard of intrinsic character value, the film adaptation manages to mess up everything in attempting to characterize them. For one thing, The Psychlos speak English way too much in the film when their own language was what separated them from the "man animals" who they viewed as their inferior. Unfortunately, it just adds to the artificiality of Battlefield Earth as the Psychlos are already too obviously human beings in costumes which dream of reaching the standard of half-assed. The exact quote that characterizes the design of the Psychlos is as follows: "Either or nine feet tall, maybe more. About three and a half feet wide. Two arms. Two legs." These basic elements are captured by the actors, but the elements requiring prosthetic effects is the "Shiny substance fort a face and a long tube from the chin down to the chest. Glowing amber eyes behind the shiny front plate." are completely ignored. The "Furry paws and long talons" are some of the most iconic beast aspects of the species, but they are overly simplistic in design. Lastly, it is said that their "Huge booted feet dented the earth" and are guessed to weigh "a thousand pounds" in an attempt to make them seem threatening. Yet the creatures do not look intimidating at all and fail to fit the description of L. Ron Hubbard's source novel at all. As it is, antagonist Terl looks like the result of John Romero having an allergic reaction to a bee sting and walking around in a state of life support. Their appearance is dreadful, and the female Psychlos look even worse, although they only appear briefly in the film. Still, it remains notable enough for its incompetence.

Oddly enough, the ridiculous design for the Psychlos is not the worst visual aspect of Battlefield Earth. In actual fact, that is the cinematography. If you don't know what a dutch angle is, a few minutes of any scene in Battlefield Earth will have you knowing.

The dutch tilt is a technique used to create a sense of uneasiness in the more dramatic moments of any film. Apparently, that is every second in Battlefield Earth as there is more dutch angles than terrible acting which is a pretty large call. There is no sense in taking the story the slightest bit seriously because everything is too dutch for its own good. And at the end of the long scenes are the same basic transition every time. Every. Time. It's the same basic horizontal wipe which goes from the center of the screen in both directions at once, the kind of cheap editing technique used by fifth grade students discovering Windows Movie Maker for the first time. For a commercial film to use it so much without even a second guess is just purely ridiculous, but after sitting through so much slow motion, dutch angles and poor lighting.

Though the incompetent story and terrible technical elements are separate issues, they merge into the narrative that is Battlefield Earth and end up creating countless scenes which are far beyond ridiculous. The best scene in the film comes from when Terl is told by Zete that his period of time on earth will be extended by another "fifty cycles". The line "With endless options for renewal" echoes multiple times while the strange creatures laugh in a haze of slow motion and excess of blue filtering. This scene is hilariously terrible, reminding me heavily of the famous scene from the episode of The Simpsons "Last Exit to Springfield" in which the words "Dental Plan" and "Lisa Needs Braces" echo in Homer Simpson's head repeatedly as he tries to grasp his train of thought before it derails. Because of that, the scene is the epitome of all the unintentional humour in the film where the scale is limited solely to the discussion between characters where the incompetent attempt at "spectacle" cannot serve as any kind of distraction.

The pacing of the story is poor. It's clear that there is a lot of narrative ground to cover in the film and that a commercial film adaptation of such ridiculous source material would ignore many extensive periods of dialogue, melodramatic subplots and plot points that expands upon the technological nature of the universe in favour of a progressing narrative. Unfortunately, the film just speeds right past the idea of characterization with a painful bluntness. The characters weren't that deep, but the relationship between Jonnie Goodboy Tyler and Terl is what interested me about the novel. Unfortunately, that is completely forgotten about as are many other story elements. The novel explains that humans are needed to mine Earth's gold as machinery is too difficult to maintain and the compound that Psychlos breath known as "breathe-gas" is explosive if it comes into contact with uranium which is said to plagued the mountains. In the film, there is no mention of this. Considering that the presence of uranium as a key asset to the leverage humans hold over psychlos with leverage being a word used repeatedly in the film to follow on with the novel. That just goes to show that the film knows the word is relevant to the story, but it just doesn't know why. And at the same time, it doesn't know why the original novel was titled "Battlefield Earth".

Even though the film takes the title of Battlefield Earth, the global intergalactic war with Psychlo is never touched upon. The large scale action scenes described poorly in the novel which could have been much better as part of a bigger cinematic spectacle are completely omitted from the film adaptation, not only is that unfaithful, but it renders the title of the text misleading. Essentially, Battlefield Earth is not only an incompetent and misguided film, but it is a large betrayal to its sub-par source material and therefore lowers the already esoteric audience likely to enjoy the film to be only the least demanding fans of L. Ron Hubbard's works.

Still, the film is a brilliant comedy.

There is hilarious irony in the production as the message in the film is that education is the greatest foe of any oppressor, yet it is only the truly educated people who can clearly see L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology legacy is little more than a threatening farce. The film almost goes against what Scientology is built on, only retaining the concepts of a ridiculous story and absolute idiocy to appeal to the cult. Yet the funniest irony in the film is that Battlefield Earth has a plot point regarding Terl discovering Zete has been defrauding his company so he can embezzle funds, while Franchise Pictures was sued for defrauding its investors through overstating the production budget of Battlefield Earth. Considering that the film looks so freaking cheap, it is difficult to believe that it actually cost the proclaimed $73 million. That one criminal act proves that the film is pure evil in every way, a more convincing evil than John Travolta's attempt to characterize antagonist Terl through one of his most enjoyable performances to date.

John Travolta's performance is quite remarkable. I mean, it is so pathetically unconvincing that it is genuinely hilarious. Decked out in a ridiculous costume, John Travolta looks and acts like he is on a poorly lit episode of H.R. Pufnstuf. His campy acting and inability to stop smiling reinforces the idea that he thinks he is in a comedy, and his emotionless attempts to be intimidating are some of the most pathetically hilarious scenes of his career. And yet, when he pretends to be angry it is even funnier. Watching him aggressively trying to stuff a rat in the mouth of Barry Pepper and shouting "Do you want lunch?!?" is now an image of him which I will never forget and one of my favourite moments in the film. Clearly surrounded by endless weak material, John Travolta embraces his fate and actively transcends the film by going beyond the standard of bad depicted by the other cast members. While the other actors deliver uninvolved performances, John Travolta is deluded into thinking that he can honestly make something good out of the role by putting a tenacious effort into it. His dedication is too much for a character that is so misguided and ridiculous, and so his repetitive line delivery and blank facial expressions prove hilarious. John Travolta's terrible performance is the greatest and most entertaining asset to Battlefield Earth because it is so ridiculous and far from the character described in the source material that it proves the film was worthy of an adaptation just to bring out the worst in him. Of all the actors to ever win the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor, John Travolta is one of the most deserving as his effort truly deserves plenty of recognition. He doesn't save the film, he makes it worse in the best possible way.

Berry Pepper is an actor I have long admired for his strong supporting performances in films such as Saving Private Ryan or The Green Mile. I can still admire those efforts after seeing Battlefield Earth, but I must confront the notion that he is no leading man. When Barry Pepper runs, he could not thrust his arms any more than he physically does. He looks like an extra from Highlander but moves like Charlie Chaplin having an epileptic fit. So on a physical level, he is a hilarious presence. But when it comes down to actually being involved in the character, Barry Pepper cannot do any transcending. In the source novel, Jonnie Goodboy Tyler was a thinly scripted and generic protagonist with a mild sense of patriotism for fighting for humanity, so in that sense Barry Pepper delivers what is written. Unfortunately, he is given the appearance of more of a mystical fantasy film hero than the bearded muscular man characterized in the original text. The man doesn't look right for the part so he is miscast, and his uninvolved performance doesn't damage his credibility so much as it just serves as a reminder for how poor the characterization in the film is. Barry Pepper does not shine this time around.

Even Forest Whitaker managed to weasel his way into the cast somehow. Forest Whitaker went on to win an Academy Award for Best Actor six years after Battlefield Earth, so it is good that he got a sense of mediocre acting out of him early on. Although he did just appear in the dreadful Taken 3, the man has talent. Battlefield Earth fails to anything with it though. Seemingly just following the crowd, Forest Whitaker delivers a monotonous performance as he forces all the terrible dialogue through the veil of his ridiculous costume. However, he is one of the legitimately better members of the cast. He has noting to boast about, but the standard of acting around him is below what he delivers. Though his character Ker is meant to be a "midget Psychlo", this factor does not carry over into the film. But Forest Whitaker manages to move the character in line with the monotonous and uninvolved characters of the same species all around him by remaining singular with his tone of voice. But unlike John Travolta or Michael MacRae, Forest Whitaker's tone of voice is naturally a very deep one which makes his line delivery come off as slightly more organic. As a result, the dark Psychlo nature of the character us slightly more believable. I can't see Forest Whitaker's wanting to put this film on his resume any time soon, but it is clear that he has more credibility as Ker than any cast member in the film.

And I don't know what direction Kelly Preston was going in with her brief and somewhat disturbing cameo, but the ideal direction for her would be anywhere else. Preferably away from the screen.

It's also a shame that Richard Tyson was a wasted presence because I just saw him in Three O'Clock High recently and enjoyed his effort.

So Battlefield Earth is a double entendre of terrible filmmaking as it disregards anything slightly positive from its sub-par source material while maintaining the incompetence of L. Ron Hubbard's writing style, matching it with the same standard of craft in Roger Christian's directorial work with a shoddily constructed narrative plagued by poor acting, weak scripting and an excess of poorly lit filtering, rough slow motion and inexplicable Dutch angles. But the fact that such a level of incongruence exists in a Hollywood film alongside a hilariously awful performance from John Travolta ensures that there is plenty of room for the film to exist as a guilty pleasure on midnight film circuits.