Battlefield Earth

Released 2000
Stars John Travolta, Barry Pepper, Forest Whitaker, Kim Coates, Sabine Karsenti, Richard Tyson, Marie-Josée Croze, Kelly Preston
Directed by Roger Christian

Battlefield Earth is a bad movie, but I think it's gotten a bad rap. There's no denying it's terrible, but it's been vilified as the worst movie in history. While I think it belongs on the list, I don't think it's as bad as Independence Day. That piece of crap bored me to tears, while Battlefield Earth is just asinine and unintentionally campy. It's based on the best-seller by L. Ron Hubbard, but my guess is it doesn't bear much resemblance to the book. I haven't read it, but I can't imagine the book could be a bestseller if it was this bad. The movie's a mess, but it's not all bad. The one thing I liked was how the driving force of the movie is corporate politics and greed. It's similar to Aliens in that respect, and I thought it was fun. That's about the only fun aspect, though, as everything else is dreary or ridiculous. The first problem is the race of Psychlos. There's supposed to be a Planet of the Apes feeling, but the Psychlos are laughable. They're not frightening like the apes were in the original Planet of the Apes, and they desperately needed to be. Without them being terrifying, this movie could never lift itself above camp. Also, the movie suffers from a serious lack of logic. There are so many ridiculous moments, it's difficult to single out just one. If I had to, I guess I'd pick the Harrier jets. The men, who were essentially reduced to cavemen, stumble across a flight simulator for Harrier jets, and they learn how to fly (fully-functional, fully-fueled) jets in less than a week. How ridiculous! That was just one of a thousand ludicrous moments that make this one of the worst movies in recent history.

Summary by Bill Alward, July 29, 2002