Where does one begin to describe how bad "Battlefield Earth" is? It may not be the worst movie ever made as some claim, but stil, it does manage to suck beyond the point of stupidity.
The first huge flaw of the film is its story and script. The story goes a bit like this: an evil alien race (there obviously are no friendly ones in the entire galaxy...) called the Psychlos (now that's a cool name i guess the eviltrons was taken...) has taken over Earth. They think that humans are simple animals and thus they keep them imprisoned in cages. Until one day, a handful of humans led by a guy named Jonnie Goodboy (whoever came up with these names realy lacks imagination) decides to revolt against their alien enslavers and to no-one's surprise they succeed (more on that later). As far as the script goes things couldn't go worse... Dialogs were probably written by a five year old and contain every cliche in film history ["I promised not to kill him" (hands over gun to his friend) "but he didn't!!! Mou-A-hahahaha" (gunshots ensue)]. The Psychlos are really badly written and never forget to remind us how bad they are by finishing each sentence with a mou-a-haha laugh: "Good morning, nice weather we're having MOU-A-HAHAHAHAHA" Oh my aching sides... The humans are given no depth at all and the fact that they just decide to revolt one day after 1000 years of slavery without any previous attempts at liberation is made really ridiculous because of this.
The direction is also horrible and terribly uninspired. For example the film always cuts to another scene in exactly the same way: via a very old fashioned sliding door like effect. Every single action scene is also ruined by very bad shaky camera work which sometimes puts The Blair Witch Project to shame! Also some scenes (like the lobby shootout from "The Matrix") are ripped verbatim from other movies!
The actors are also doing a horrible job except for Travolta who is clearly having the time of his life, since the realisation of this movie is a dream (probably a nightmare) come true for him. And what the Hell is Forrest Whittaker doing here?
But the worst thing about this movie is that it is totally illogical and unbelivable. I mean ,sure, its is Sci-Fi, but even Sci-Fi has its limits. For example, we find out that Earth fell to the Psychlos after just a nine minute struggle in which every country in the planet threw everything but the kitchen sink at them. But in the end, a handful of humans (who can't be more than 20...) manage not only to free our planet, but also to destroy the planet of the Psychlos... How did they do that you may ask. You see they stumbled upon an 1000 year old military base which was conviniently housing a working nuclear bomb, a bunch of Harriers in mint condition and a flight simulator... But wait, it gets worse... You see these humans who have been reduced to something resembling the Neaderthals, manage to learn how to fly a Harrier better than Tom Cruise in "Top Gun" in just 7 days... 7 days... It takes people more time to learn how to play a flight sim on the PC for God's Sake...
So all in all, "Battlefield Earth" is an excellent unintentional comedy! The only good thing it has going for it, is the Psychlos' make up! Avoid at all costs, unless you' re looking for a realy good laugh!! My rating: 2/10
The first huge flaw of the film is its story and script. The story goes a bit like this: an evil alien race (there obviously are no friendly ones in the entire galaxy...) called the Psychlos (now that's a cool name i guess the eviltrons was taken...) has taken over Earth. They think that humans are simple animals and thus they keep them imprisoned in cages. Until one day, a handful of humans led by a guy named Jonnie Goodboy (whoever came up with these names realy lacks imagination) decides to revolt against their alien enslavers and to no-one's surprise they succeed (more on that later). As far as the script goes things couldn't go worse... Dialogs were probably written by a five year old and contain every cliche in film history ["I promised not to kill him" (hands over gun to his friend) "but he didn't!!! Mou-A-hahahaha" (gunshots ensue)]. The Psychlos are really badly written and never forget to remind us how bad they are by finishing each sentence with a mou-a-haha laugh: "Good morning, nice weather we're having MOU-A-HAHAHAHAHA" Oh my aching sides... The humans are given no depth at all and the fact that they just decide to revolt one day after 1000 years of slavery without any previous attempts at liberation is made really ridiculous because of this.
The direction is also horrible and terribly uninspired. For example the film always cuts to another scene in exactly the same way: via a very old fashioned sliding door like effect. Every single action scene is also ruined by very bad shaky camera work which sometimes puts The Blair Witch Project to shame! Also some scenes (like the lobby shootout from "The Matrix") are ripped verbatim from other movies!
The actors are also doing a horrible job except for Travolta who is clearly having the time of his life, since the realisation of this movie is a dream (probably a nightmare) come true for him. And what the Hell is Forrest Whittaker doing here?
But the worst thing about this movie is that it is totally illogical and unbelivable. I mean ,sure, its is Sci-Fi, but even Sci-Fi has its limits. For example, we find out that Earth fell to the Psychlos after just a nine minute struggle in which every country in the planet threw everything but the kitchen sink at them. But in the end, a handful of humans (who can't be more than 20...) manage not only to free our planet, but also to destroy the planet of the Psychlos... How did they do that you may ask. You see they stumbled upon an 1000 year old military base which was conviniently housing a working nuclear bomb, a bunch of Harriers in mint condition and a flight simulator... But wait, it gets worse... You see these humans who have been reduced to something resembling the Neaderthals, manage to learn how to fly a Harrier better than Tom Cruise in "Top Gun" in just 7 days... 7 days... It takes people more time to learn how to play a flight sim on the PC for God's Sake...
So all in all, "Battlefield Earth" is an excellent unintentional comedy! The only good thing it has going for it, is the Psychlos' make up! Avoid at all costs, unless you' re looking for a realy good laugh!! My rating: 2/10
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