User reviews

My spouse and I went to see this on opening night. We were expecting to see an extremely bad and costly film, and we were not really disappointed. It is a testament to John Travolta's genius that his career survived this disaster at all.

As they say, garbage-in, garbage out. Start with an L Ron Hubbard novel (your first mistake) featuring a completely plagiarized dark-skinned, war-like and hairy alien culture with wrinkly foreheads (if this sounds like Klingons to you, I thought so too!), and add unfortunate Barry "can't get a break" (or maybe it should be 'cant pick a script') Pepper and all you need is Travolta himself - playing the arrogant, merciless, slightly effeminate and quite under-sized leader of the alien colonists. Remove any hint of character development from the script and use the worst of the worst black box technobabble explanations for plot devices. Finally, stay true to the idiotic gibberish you based the film on in the first place, and you've got the makings of a rolling-on-the-floor comedy.

In fact, opening night, in a packed theater, people started laughing out loud about 20 minutes into the film and never really stopped. We had a great time that night. Halfway through the film more than half the crowd was actually interacting with the film, asking "Mr Worf, where's Commander Riker?" and asking troublesome questions about how many hundreds of years gas would remain viable in the gas-tank of a Harrier.

If you need to know about the plot - it's this simple - Earth has been conquered by an amazingly stupid group of Klingon-like aliens, and the remaining humans live in a large domed slave labor camp where they are taught that their sole purpose is servitude because they are stupid, weak, etc. Barry Pepper somehow becomes convinced that he's not born to be a slave, and learns to fly a harrier, etc. It's really not worth the effort of typing. There are a few not-so-subtle and not very original but good messages about ethnocentrism to be found here, but not much else. Some day when you need a good laugh, rent this or borrow it from your local bad film collector.

Has to be the worst film ever made, nothing makes actually sense, the filming, framing, style, tone filters, audio, editing, just about everything in this film is horrendous. 2.5 is too high for this film, this is the moment you wished a negative would pop up magically so you could push it further down.

Actually, was anyone involved with this total disaster thinking at all? My personal guess: no, and if they were, I'd rather not know about what.

None of the reviews have done BE justice. Having heard what a start to finish mess this was, my brother and I decided to watch it, just for fun. It was horrible beyond all our expectations - and not in a fun way. And so I can now tell anyone who's interested: You must see this movie yourself to realize the sheer magnitude of its badness, stupidity, and ineptitude.

I've heard that BE cost about 70 million dollars to make - though how anyone could have greenlighted it is a great mystery. Since there was nothing on screen to indicate why it had cost that much, my brother and I have also worked out how the budget was allocated:

* Travolta's salary, plus assorted managers and hangers on: 40 million.

* Special effects, film, sets, costumes, makeup and hair extensions: 25 million.

* all other salaries: $4,999,888.

* script: $112 and change.

Though that still doesn't begin to explain the end result. I give up. I'll never understand how Travolta managed to get BE made, or released, for that matter. Why is he tanking his career again? Who knows? After this, why should anyone care? Ah, well. I hope he finds something better to act in in the future; I honestly can't see how he could come up with something worse.

I never thought I'd give anything a 1, but this is indeed as worthy a candidate as I've ever seen. So, * is my vote, and I'd rate it lower if it were possible. Just... incredible. Watch and learn.

the friend who lent me the DVD warned me, but it beat all my expectations of lowliness. this film is unspeakably bad. don't go and see it, take my word for it:

* it has no plot.

* the 'actors' suck huge rocks. really huge.

* travolta doesn't even try.

* the most elaborate dialog revolves around the sentence 'grumble mumble'.

* special effects are the worst ever, because they pretend to be serious.

* costumes and characterization make space: 1999 look excellent

i could go on and on and on, but i'm beginning to feel sick just for having to think about it.

This monster flop has an interesting story outline filled with garbage. The aliens have weaknesses that make even the non-rocket scientist in the audience wonder "how did these guys survive long enough to conquer anyone?" The next question I found myself asking is this, "How long would certain things (books, computer-dependent machinery, combustion engines) last and still be of any use to anyone?" Too many things you see in the movie are simply beyond belief. But this is science fiction you say? Of course. The point is that the basic story could have been told without any of these ridiculous questions bugging the viewer if the people making it had just thought things out for an hour or two. I understand that suspension of belief is a requirement of sci-fi fans but you have to limit it to just what is necessary to tell the story you are trying to tell.

This movie is a complete mess. Everything--EVERYTHING--about this movie sucks. The acting, the characters, the dialogue, the storyline, the camera angles, the tinted film, and even the very logic of it! If you want to teach someone about plot holes, pop Battlefield Earth into your DVD player. If you can find a copy; not too people have wanted to rent this movie, so copies of it are rare.

This movie is painful to watch. It hurts my eyes because everything is so tinted, it hurts my neck because everything is so angled, and it hurts my ears because the acting is so bad. Oh, and trying to figure out why someone thought this would make a good movie gave me a headache. All that being said, I cannot hate this film like some other movies, and I think it's because no one thinks it's good. I feel like it didn't do anything to me. I didn't see it in theatres and I didn't rent it, it just soaked up a couple hours of TV time. And, I have to admit, it was a lot of fun watching how gut-wrenchingly awful this movie could get.

And it got awful. People have called Plan 9 from Outer Space the worst movie of all time. I disagree. I firmly believe that Battlefield Earth is the worst movie of all time. It had a budget, so it had no excuse to be awful. This is the worst movie ever made. It's painful to watch, it makes no sense, and watching John Travolta, Barry Pepper, and Forest Whitaker act in this movie was like watching Goofy. Actually, I think I'd like to see a version where Goofy plays Terl.

0/10

Battlefield Earth is without a doubt one of the most distasteful examples of cinema I have ever come across. That being said, I bought the DVD and have watched it about 8 times already. If you are like me, and you like sitting through a "serious" movie and laughing at how funny and bad it is, you should definitely check out this movie. Every time I watch it I find more and more hilarious plot inconsistencies, and the slanted camera angles and dialogue never cease to amuse. I guess since this film is somewhat affiliated with Hubbards hokey religion, there is no cursing to be found in the movie. Instead we get to hear how many ways you can use the word "crap." In several situations Travolta refers to specific unpleasants events as being "crap-lousy." It's hilarious and has to be seen to be appreciated. In conclusion, if you fancy yourself a MST3K type critic, you will surely enjoy this crap-lousy movie.

Taken from that viewpoint the movie is simply fun. Granted it drags a bit in parts. But the over the top cheesy performances by Travolta and Whittaker save the day. They make villainy fun again.

All these stupid movies these days take themselves so seriously. They're fantasy stop playing it so straight!

Thats why the original Die-hard worked so well, everything was done with a wink and a nod. From the over the top New Joisey hero, to the subtly comic villain.

This movie admittedly doesn't work as well as that one but everyone got wrapped up so tightly in the Scientology stuff that they didn't even give the movie a chance.

As a cheesy B-movie sci-fi film it works acceptably well.

This movie should have been a 'Project Redlight'. John Travolta is out of his head and hopelessly devoted to L. Ron Hubbard. That he was able to con 10 other people into investing $80 million towards the making of this movie is the only real impressive angle I can work for this review. Perhaps Travolta wanted to work with Tarrantino again and thought the only way that that could happen is if his own career fell into the tank? Or perhaps he felt it was his duty to make the film in order to get a better seat in 'Dianetics Heaven'? Let's hope that Tom Cruise can learn from Barbarino's mistake.

I don't think it will matter too much to point out everything that is bad about this film, but the acting, the dialog, the special effects, the plausibility of the cave people's quick learning development, and of course, the hair extensions will just have to suffice.

I would have given the movie a 1 out 10 rating, but I did laugh at the movie quite a few times and that should be worth something, I think. The version I watched was on the USA network and it was modified for teevee, so I may have missed some key plot elements that were cut from the original vision of its director, but then again I may have seen some really good Levitra adds in its place. The end credits whizzed by so quickly that it would appear that no one really wanted to have anything to do with this movie except Travolta.

'In preparing a judgment of worth,

I proclaim this lame movie to be worst'

Don't forget that 'I told ya'

to blame John Travolta

and L. Ron for Battlefield Earth.

Oh, if it were only a musical. 2/10.

Clark Richards

BATTLEFIELD EARTH (2000) 1/2 * John Travolta, Barry Pepper, Forest Whitaker, Kim Coates, Richard Tyson, Sabine Karsenti, Michael MacRae, Michael Byrne, Sean Hewitt, Kelly Preston (unbilled cameo). My candidate for worst film for the new millennium: atrociously awful Travolta vehicle (who is totally to blame for his co-producing this pet project due to his Scientology ties) in bringing L. Ron Hubbard's cult sci-fi novel to fruition is just one God-forsaken mess from start to finish in what feels like the ultimate Ed Wood film with a dire need for the gang from MST3K to show up and provide apt ridicule: Travolta stars as 9 foot tall alien Terl, a Psychlo who commands his rampaging race in wiping out mankind in the year 3000 with only rebel Pepper out to thwart his nefarious plans of mining gold for his own just rewards. Ridiculous from the get go: the make-up of the Psychlos: a combination of dreadlocks a la Jar Jar Binks to the 'Coneheads' to the costume rejects of any speed metal band of the 1990s; the dim lighting and production design; the cheezy special effects (except for the climax of Terl's planet - who the HELL cares if I'm giving away the ending?!! IT SUCKS!!!) - which looked kinda cool!) and laugh-out loud dialogue: ('Rat-brains' is the often reviled retort by Terl to the 'man-animals' he despises). Travolta better get his mind straight because his post-'Pulp Fiction' comeback is running on jet vapors at this point and don't even get me started on his evil Vincent Price-inspired chortle! UGGGHH!!! (Dir: Roger Christian)

Lemme get this straight: This is a post-apocalyptic film that takes place a thousand years after an alien race conquers Earth. Well, I noticed a few plot holes in this film.

-- After 1,000 years, there is apparently no linguistic drift whatsoever. Johnny Tyler can pick up a book published in the year 2001 and read it just fine. Let's see, the King James Bible was written only a few hundred years ago and is nearly unintelligible due to linguistic drift.

-- Books don't have thousand-year shelf lives. If you go to the Smithsonian, you'll find the curators go to extreme measures to protect documents that are only 200 years old.

-- Are we really supposed to believe that stone-age barbarians can learn to fly fighter jets in just one week? It takes professional pilots years of training.

-- Jet fuel does not remain stable for a thousand years. Most of the plastic components in the jest would have become brittle. The battery packs in the jets would have become unusable. The tires would have gone flat and the rubber would have disintegrated.

-- I seriously doubt that our planet actually has enough elemental Gold that a high-tech invading civilization would still be mining it after 1,000 years. They probably would have packed up long ago.

This movie makes you wonder why on IMDb we are forced to give a movie as dreadful as this a minimum of 1/10 when it quite rightly deserves a vote of 0/10.

In all my life I have never seen such rubbish!

The alleged "acting" unbelievable.

What was John Travolta thinking when he made this pile of ......... ?

All involved with this deserve to never be involved in the movie industry ever again.

The "story" is unfathomable (is that a word?) , made not the slightest sense from beginning to end. Have not had to sit through something so silly and boring in all my life. Even if you are offered to see this at no cost , just run for the exit!!!

I knew this movie was bad, filled with hard to believe nonsense and horrible 'go America go' propaganda; so I had to see it. However this was way beyond my imagination. After returning the video I honestly asked the clerk that even when I'm very drunk to stop me from renting this movie ever again. Hopefully he'll remember that. Although the movie starts funny as we can see Travolta and Whitaker argue in their silly suits about slaves, this quickly turns to boredom. The rest of the movie is the standard very bad, short on budget Si-fi that can't interest any viewer with an IQ above sea level at all. The horrible thing is that the director hasn't even tried to convince you as the main character suddenly learns geometry (ok) and teaches it to his barbarian mates (huh?) who immediately appreciate the essence of it all (they ate raw meat as they have just learned what fire is). But then suddenly the standard IQ of these people goes sky-high: They understand atom bombs, know how to fly a Mig and work with highly cryptic computer interfaces. Check out the fact that the main character discovers the national library and finds a crisp fresh version of the constitutional law (it has been in that very same destroyed library for almost 1000 years and doesn't show any signs of decay ?) At has been a long time since I cried....

I hadn't seen this one before yesterday. It is REALLY AWFUL! There is NO REALISM here. NONE! Why do all the ALEEUNS (!) look like rejects from some bad rock band?

Why do the ALEEUNS always treat humans as trash?

Oh, right, GOLD! The Universe is full of gold so there is no shortage. There was a nice pile at the end. What the ALEEUNS did with the gold I have no idea. I do have a hearing problem and may have missed some things.

Why the ALEEUNS built all those GLASS buildings I have no idea either. Seems like a lot of infrastructure just to mine gold.

After 1000 years those old planes and weapons would be junk!

This one is so bad, skip it altogether!

What a bad film this is. I thought the critics were exaggerating when they said how bad it was but they weren`t BATTLEFIELD EARTH is one of the worst films released by a major Hollywood studio. It`s badly directed , badly cast ( Barry Pepper as Jonnie makes for one of the least impressive screen hero`s ever seen . Maybe Travolta should have stuck to his guns and played Jonnie . He perhaps would have been slightly too old for the part but at least he does have some charisma unlike Pepper) and has one of the worst scripts ever written. An alien race called Psychlos , sounds just like psychos , I bet they `re really evil and cruel . Oh they are evil and cruel just like psychos . Why do they think rats are the favourite food of humans when it`s the only thing they`ve seen humans eat ? And why do they think " Rat brains " is an insult to humans ? especially when they consider the " man animals " to be a primitive species . And am I alone in finding the term " Man animals " irritating ? Surely it should be " Manimals " ? A far sharper and clever expression . But sharp and clever is no way to describe this script . Cities stand almost intact after a thousand years since the collapse of human civilisation ! Not only that but so do large amounts of firearms , ammo and Harrier jump jets , and a flight simulator for the jump jets where the humans learn to fly within a week , and no doubt they`ll learn what petrol is and learn to put it in the jets in order to fly them . Does this sound very likely to you ? Let me put it this way: Go into a time machine and go back to the biblical times , capture a few dozen people , bring them back to the present and get them to become fighter pilots within the week. Do you think they`d be any good flying planes and shooting down enemy forces ? Me neither . Do you think they could overthrow a superior civilisation ? Me neither ? Do you think anyone involved with this film deserves to work again ? Me neither

...not because Travolta is in dreds, not because of the alleged scientology subliminal messages, but because it is one of the worst movies ever made.

I do not use that term lightly. I consider myself a lover of bad movies, movies that can be enjoyed for their lack of success. "Battlefield Earth" goes well beyond that into the realm of slow torturous pain.

I saw this movie because I expected it to be bad, and even I was shocked at how bad it was. Just plain bad. In nearly every respect.

I suppose I should note that the ear-bleeding sound effects sounded pretty realistic. And they were loud. So the guy who did the sound shouldn't be ashamed. Everyone else that worked on this movie, bow your heads.

Director Roger Christian has put together one of the worst movies sci-fi or otherwise that I have seen. Loaded with uninteresting characters, a dumb plot, ridiculous gaping holes in logic, terrible direction, only so-so special effects, and a huge length for a movie this bad (over two hours), "Battlefield Earth" is already being compared to "Plan 9 From Outer Space." In my book, it's a fair comparison.

Take the direction. Sure Ed Wood had no clue what he was doing, but at least he pointed the camera directly at the actors when they talked. Christian decides he's going to be original and tilt the camera at least 45 degrees everytime someone says anything. The whole movie I was tilting my head side to side, trying to keep up.

The effects, well "Plan 9" had pie tins in strings. "Battlefield Earth" has a couple of nifty CGI effects, but the final length battle sequence is filmed in a very dark blue setting, rendering it impossible to see who is shooting who at any given moment. Of course, even if I had known it wouldn't have made much of a difference because I really didn't care about any of the characters one way or another.

Gaping continuity? Well, "Plan 9" had scenes in cars that began in the day, then turned to night when people got out of the cars. In "Battlefield Earth", the Psychlos can discover gold veins in difficult to reach mountains, but somehow totally miss out on Fort Knox, still completely stocked with gold 1,000 years in the future. Cavemen learn not only to speak and work together, but operate Harrier jets within a week. How did they learn you ask? Well on a Harrier jet flight simulator of course, somehow still working on electricity 1,000 years in the future. More? The cavemen communicate with walkie-talkies in the final battle. How do they still work? They found fresh batteries? Next Duracels I see, they better say "Best if used before 3005."

Is "Battlefield Earth" worse than "Plan 9"? I'd have to say yes. "Plan 9" is so cheesy and goofy you have to laugh. Just fun to watch. After about an hour of "Earth" I wanted to hurt someone. After two hours and it was still going, I wanted to hurt myself. Avoid, even for lovers of dumb movies.