Battlefield Earth

Rating:
Summary: Its just not that bad.
Review: You know, I read the book about 15 years ago, and really liked it. Long before I ever heard about sciencetology. I dont know anying about scientology, but I dont see how this movie, or the book for that matter, could have anything to do with it. Its got a fair story with rather good special effects.

Rating:
Summary: the most badly made big budget movie ever made.
Review: ENDLESS OPTIONS FOR RENEWAL,ENDLESS OPTIONS FOR RENEWAL,ENDLESS OPTIONS FOR RENEWAL. HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,

Rating:
Summary: The funniest comedy EVER!!!
Review: Let us, gentle reader, ignore this films failure as a sci-fi / religious movie and let us celebrate its triumph as the greatest comedy of all time.

Imagine, for a moment that Jerry Falwel decides to make a film based the book of Job. Jerry casts himself as Job (in KISS make-up) then casts Adam West as the voice of God and the Olsen Twins as Satan. Add a soundtrack by The Bloodhound Gang featuring Cher and you begin to get a small idea of the unintentional hilarity that is Battlefield Earth.

I had a few friends over to watch this and we had a blast (the alcohol helped...alot). Our favorite part was when former Sweat Hog John Travolta as the platform-boot wearing Terl hands over a machine gun to the hero (and I'm using that word in its broadest possible sense) Johnnie. Johnnie hands the gun BACK to Terl and then spends the rest of the movie trying to get his hands on MORE guns. "Whattcha gonna do with those", we screamed at the TV "hand 'em over?"

And don't even get me started on the "Human-animals like to eat rats" part.

Once in every generation a film this bad comes along - let us be thankful that we're here to enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: story???????
Review: if there's anybody out there who can find a story inside the movie, pls tell me. It's just a complete nonsense mess of pictures, dialogues, but with no connection to each other. By far the worst film in this century!

Rating:
Summary: Underrated, thought-provoking, chilling
Review: I believe this movie was ridiculed by the critics because it was based on a book by the founder of Scientology, and produced by John Travolta because he is a follower. I have no idea what Scientology is and I don't care.

It's actually a fairly entertaining movie, not great, but not horrible either.

The fanatical willingness of the humans in this story to die to achieve their objectives is thought-provoking and chilling in light of recent events

Rating:
Summary: I just watched it.
Review: First of all; I enjoy Troma movies. I'm not ashamed of it either. I like science fiction. I even thought watching "The Postman" was a decent way to spend a Thursday night.

But this...

Battlefield Earth created the strangest atmosphere in my livingroom. The usual comments never came. People just looked at each other with some empty, sad look in their eyes. It isn't even funny. The only funny part is that John Travolta has tried to get this movie made for a decade...

I don't understand why they had a list of the casted actors in the credits. You see, they don't even tell you what most characters' names are. Not until they die anyway.
And in the end, when they get together and say "Carlo did it!",
you don't even know who Carlo was or what the poor guy actually did.

As for for the credability, well, I mean it's Sci-Fi. It's okay. You don't watch Sci-Fi for it. But I still have to quote this line from the film:

Caveman in a military flight simulator:
"You're right! It's just like riding a horse!"

It's good that it's that easy, because otherwise the ID4-style air-to-air combat scene taking place one week later would have been impossible.

Well, what would you expect from a bunch of people who joined a cult started by a Science-Fiction author. I'm not going to say more than that.

Rating:
Summary: They must have channeled Ed Wood
Review: This is the only post-1970s movie I have seen that actually approximates the so-bad-it's-hilarious, campy feel of the old 1950s sci-fi cheapies. What really makes it is that the people who created it obviously had no clue how to do this sort of stuff, or how incredibly awful it really was. You can't make a film this bad on purpose. Forget the "awesome" special effects and tired post-Blade Runner my-kid's-messy-room production design and immerse yourself in the patently ridiculous plot, dialogue, makeup, and characterizations (especially Travolta's). I haven't laughed this hard at ANY movie in years. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Critics are just repeating what the first one said!
Review: I got the DVD for this film and enjoyed the movie and especially the bonus material. Not only I was highly impressed by the movie itself and the world that has been presented to us, but I am convinced that it will become a cult SF movie in the future. It is not Pulp Fiction, and it is useless to try to find the Travolta of Grease in this movie, but as Science Fiction goes these days, this is a five stars film in the likes of Dune. Anyone saying otherwise should tell us what kind of films they usually like, so we can balance their comments. See it for yourself, it is really impressive and intelligent.

Roland Michel Tremblay
[e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Moronic, but surprisingly entertaining
Review: "Battlefield Earth," the science fiction film directed by Roger Christian, was savaged by critics when it first hit theaters. Were they being fair? I found the film to be wildly uneven and downright moronic at times, but entertaining in general.

Based on L. Ron Hubbard's very long novel of the same title, the film takes place in a future where earth has been conquered by an extraterrestrial race known as the Psychlos. Some of the surviving humans--an "endangered species"--live like primitive tribesmen, and others are enslaved by the Psychlos, who are raping Earth of all its mineral resources. At the heart of the film is the conflict between Jonnie, a human rebel, and Terl, the Psychlo security chief of planet Earth. This intrigue-filled rivalry leads to explosive results.

The film is an uneven mixture of serious apocalyptic drama and absurdist comedy. The filmmakers don't seem to know if they are making a bombastic sci-fi epic or a spoof of that genre. This cinematic split personality is reflected in the performances. Barry Pepper (Jonnie) performs his role with painful earnestness, as if he were in a sequel to "Saving Private Ryan." His performance is oddly discordant with the campy performances of John Travolta as Terl and Forest Whitaker as Terl's assistant, Ker.

The script starts out fine, but soon drifts into stupidity. The greedy Psychlos are so idiotic and sleazy that you wonder how this pathetic race managed to develop technology, let alone conquer other planets. And the film's final scenes involve a plot twist so ridiculous and unbelievable that it's embarrassing: this is bad screenwriting, full of holes.

Still, there is a lot of enjoyable stuff in the film. Travolta and Whitaker have a great comic chemistry, and both actors are clearly having fun with their outrageous roles. There are some genuinely interesting visual flourishes. I found the Psychlo makeup and costumes consistently interesting to look at. And the musical score is not bad at all. Give "Battlefield Earth" a try; I'm glad I did.

Rating:
Summary: HOW ??? HOW ???
Review: How Ron Hubbnard permitted it ? How Travolta, in his hunger for acting in movie after movie ( most of them bad as hell), produced this thing ??!! Can someone please explain it to me ? I think the flaws are totally clearly explained in reviews below. I just had to rate it to try to advertise innocent people to not buy this thing.