Rating: Summary: Thundarr the Barbarian with Harrier jets Review: I actually saw this dreck in the theaters twice, because I actually had the idea to do a Mystery Science Theater 3000 / Rocky Horror type of performance with it. However, a second viewing (which, thankfully, was for free) showed that while the first half of the movie is ripe for heckling, the second half is so incomprehensibly bad that one can only stare slack-jawed at the screen, left speechless by the staggeringly inept narrative. There is a huge difference between the suspension of disbelief in something like Independence Day and the insults to intelligence displayed in this film. The book has many problems, but I figured it wouldn't be too hard to make a brainless but enjoyable sci-fi summer action movie from it. I was wrong - it was actually worse than the book. Example: In the novel, "Robert the Fox" was an elder, distinguished Scottish warrior. In the movie, he is AN AMERICAN CAVEMAN WITH A STUFFED FOX ON HIS HEAD. That's typical of the level of brainpower that went into creating this mess. That the concept of cave dwellers flying thousand-year old Harrier jets (after only seven days of training, mind you) actually made it past the screenwriter's hard drive and into actual production is mind-boggling. Anyone who thinks that this film was somehow designed to attract people to Scientology should breathe a sigh of relief - this film attracts only flies. Hopefully Barry Pepper - who does make a good leading man - can still have a career after this fiasco.
Rating: Summary: you have to see this movie Review: I think this is one of the better science fiction films to go to the big screen since star wars. Star wars didnt get rave reviews its first time around if you remember correctly. Atleast the movie has nothing to do with the planet MARS I am so sick of movies about mars arent you? Dont listen to the critics rent the movie buy the movie do whatever review it for your self. As a reader of the book they did an excellent job in my opinon. And I am not even a beliver in L Ron Hubards beliefs. Its a mix of planet of the apes and titan ae
Rating: Summary: Could I get my two hours back? Review: I know this movie came out a while ago but i saw that it was being released on DVD soon and it brought a flood of REALLY bad memories back. ...ZERO stars, which is what i would have given this waste of perfectly good blank film (although i think even zero stars would be kind).When i bought my DVD player I decide to buy only movies that i would enjoy seeing again. If i had to sit thought this,,, at home, i would promptly go to my kitchen and poke my eyes out with a spoon. I also wanted to see what features they were puting on this disc and was wondering why anyone would want to watch this movie while listening to the director explaining how he made this pathetic movie. I wonder if they are already going to use this movie for Mystery Science Theatre 3000? Anyway if you are wondering if you should buy this movie, after reading this you should get your answer. if you haven't seen it count yourselves amoung the forunate. I felt as though i had been violated after seeing it. if you see it in you local rental store and think to yourself "this looks good". My advice to you is "RUN AWAY, DO NOT LOOK BACK!" And now a message to the cast and crew of Battlefield Earth: "PLEASE, can i get my 2 hours back!"
Rating: Summary: It's not that good... but it's not that bad Review: I read the thousand-page novel when it first came out, when it had this green cover and even then, that gold sticker saying; "soon to be a major motion picture". 'Course, that was twelve years ago! I enjoyed the book, despite dianetics and scientology, I actually recommend it. I was eager to compare the film and the novel. (or what I remembered anyway) The actual battlefield-type action wasn't that good, and there are some big problems with the end, like the 1,000-year-old harriers that work perfectly, and the fact that the good guys just can't get shot, which is just really too bad. No, John Travolta really did steal the show on this one, he really captured the beaurocratic humor that the Psychlos personified in the book. It really is all about shifting the blame. Barry Pepper had a huge amount of energy as the human hero Johnny, but -- Everyone always gives me a very disappointed look whenever I say, "I can't wait until Battlefield Earth comes out on DVD!" That's always effective whenever there's a lull in the conversation. Personally, I think people really wanted to take this movie very seriously, and they did get a big disappointment. I like the first half of the movie the best, with a lot of good humor on the part of the Psychlos. I always root for the bad guys anyway.
Rating: Summary: The Misunderstood Movie Review: Many people have expectations for movies that are adapted from books. I myself have had expectations for movies such as STAR WARS EPISODE I-THE PHANTOM MENACE. Some people think that it was not a good movie, but i thought it was up to my standards. Battlefield earth is the same way. I had read the book before, and the movie was exactly as i wanted to see battlefield earth. So surely don't go by what people say, go see the movie for yourself. and keep an open mind. Thank you
Rating: Summary: If you like your life at all don't see this film Review: The two and a half hours it will take to see this movie, could be better spent in a mid-evil torture pit. I have seen worse movies, but those were cheap 60's sci-fi films made on a budget that would probably pay for the cheapest costume on the set of this movie. This looks like some film students mid-term project just after he decieded to chage his major. There are a lot of things not to like about this film. Most appernt is the terrible screenplay, badly adapted from a second rate book by L Ron Hubbard(the inventor of sceintology). His books are nomally narrated from the point of view of terribly naive and not that intellengent men in high positions. This tatic is marginally sucessfull in the bood for the first half of the book or so untill it gets painfull and annoying. In this movie the character that was supposed to do this, played by John Travolta, did not pull of this effect half as well as an already bad book. The syle of this movie is a patched together set of stlyes that are taken from much better films and put together thoughtlessly. Indivualy the settings are well done but put together they make a movie that is uncomfortable to watch, much less listen to. If you open your ears enough from cringing from the bad dialoge you will hear terrible mucic, that is some kind of terrible breed between techno and hard rock. Even if you can get past the terrible production of the movie, the moral of the story that it bungles so badly is bad as well. Hubbard tries to show through his books the evil of bueracarcy and the aggessive tactics of any govenment. He does this by making the people in the center of his story, totally evil, unbeliveably naive, as well as tottally stupid. Making these characters so unrealisticly bad takes the validity out of his argument. The story is just an old mans bitterness at the system, not a valid argument aginst the establishment.
Rating: Summary: Awsome movie! this is by far the best movie ever created! Review: I realllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly hope that they make a sequel to this masterpiece.. now all you sci fi fans, ignor the reveiws, the critics just dont understand masterpieces like this one. I promise that this will be a very good movie to everyone. I WANT A SEQUEL
Rating: Summary: The depths of sci-fi despair Review: John Travolta better wake up quick if he thinks his career will even have a fighting chance of gaining momentum if he thinks movies like this and Lucky Numbers are going bring in box office crowds. I had to walk out of both movies simply because Travolta seems to think that anything he plays is going to be interesting and people will just flock to the theatre just because he's in it. I think he's definatly gotten lazy lately because he hasn't had a good movie since "A Civil Action" and that was sort of mediocre.
Rating: Summary: best sci-fi movie ever seen Review: I don't care what the movie critics say this is the best sci-fi film i've ever seen. John Travolta's performace was a little weak but still pretty *amn good. I saw this movie six times while it was still in theaters and I have the ticket stubs to proove it.
Rating: Summary: Some books should never be adapted... Review: ... at least not without massive rewrites. Though I have never read the book, I do know that it is a fairly good piece of science fiction, even if you're not a Scientologist (as I'm not). It should have been drastically altered in some places and left alone in others for the screenplay. The movie suffered from downright miserable directing, camerawork, and some downright silly acting. For the past thousand years, Earth has been enslaved by the evil Psychlos (see? That name should have been the first thing to go!) who keep humanity at the level of cavemen. Jonny Goodboy Tyler (yes, that is his real name) is a rebellious young man who wants to throw off the Psychlos. John Travolta *cringes* is the evil security chief Terl, who appears to be so careless with Jonny that Our Hero ends up with all the knowledge he needs to overthrow the Psychlos. (Remember the ST episode "Spock's Brain," where McCoy puts on that helmet that shows him how to put Spock's brain back in his head? Well, it's like that--only worse) So Jonny, inspired by a copy of the Constitution that should have crumbled into dust eons ago, rallies his fellow humans to learn how to pilot fighter jets in only a few days, and attack the Psychlos. Barry Pepper is so-so as Jonny--Jonny is a character that Shakespeare would have had trouble with. He doesn't appear to have much in the way of motives, background, or available emotions to the audience. John Travolta's Terl is actually more accessible--however, he's hampered by some of the stupidest lines and plot twists ever, turning a character with potential into a bad cardboard cutout. I regularly put up with illogical twists and turns in the SF that I watch--however, when the illogic becomes too obvious, I can't take it. Fighter jets, cars, a copy of the Constitution--none of these could survive the conditions of a thousand years! Wind, rain, tectonic shifts would destroy them. And even (supposedly) if they could, then how could cavemen learn to fly these in a few days? If Jonny had trained his friends for months, then I might, possibly, be able to swallow it. But if you sent a fighter jet back in time to cavemen, could they have done anything with in? The costumes are kind of silly as well. It's bad enough that the Psychlos (that name! that NAME!) look like very large humans with a few alterations, but the dreadlocks and costumes make them look a bit like Klingons minus the forehead and the sense of alienness. It doesn't help that the humans also have the dreadlocked hair--tell me, if you had been enslaved by an alien species, would you REALLY wish to look like them? (The director appears to have a hair fetish to rival George Lucas's--only less tidy) This is, possibly, a historic event--a movie in which the professional critics and the actual viewers of the movie agree. I'm not anti-Scientologist--if this movie had been a new Star Wars, I would have been the first to whoop and dance and buy another ticket and maybe read the book. I'll read the book, but I probably won't see the sequel. And yes, unfortunately there will be a sequel...
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