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

My summary above is hardly a glowing endorsement of the film! And, in hindsight I did dislike this movie...but not as much as I might have assumed. There is actually a bit to like...although the final 1/4 of the film that is mind-bogglingly stupid! The film begins like a bazillion or a thousand years in the future...whatever. The Earth is now a craptastic wasteland filled with either stupid tribal humans or nasty Psychlos. The Psychlos took over the planet long ago and laid waste to it--leaving only tattered remnants of the past such as burned out cities. I won't bore you with needless details of the plot, though I actually was intrigued about a dystopian future where humans are killed for sport or enslaved--even though it did seem an awful lot like the Planet of the Apes films in many ways. And, the idea of these humans eventually rising up against their oppressors also intrigued me.

BUT, as I said, this is a bad film. Throughout, the dialog is very lame and I knew something horrible must be in store--after all, critics were unanimous in their hatred of this film. Towards the final 1/4, what good there was in the film went completely out the window in a plot that made "Independence Day" seem very plausible. The smart caveman and the rest of his Flintstone-like pals stumble upon the ancient arsenal at Ft. Hood. And, the equipment is in perfect working condition after all these many centuries. And, the cave-dudes who have zero education and enjoy eating rats and rolling in their own filth suddenly learn, in a matter of just a few days, how to fly Harrier jump-jets, fire tow missiles AND detonate ancient nuclear devices PERFECTLY in order to defeat the Psychlos!!! This would be akin to a kindergarten class defeating the New Orleans Saints in Superbowl 44 or having trained cats beat the Nazis in WWII!! My jaw dropped in disbelief as cave-dudes in ancient jet planes took out alien spacecraft with amazing ease and Earth had a happily ever after ending! Ugghh!

Here are my scores for the film, as I have decided for once to break them all down individually (from 1 to 10):

Acting--2. John Travolta horribly over-acted and I wondered why he looked like John Travolta in dreadlocks while some of the other Psychlos looked more like Klingons. The human actors had the charisma of dirt---really, really dull and boring dirt.

Technical crap/special effects--4. This would be a pretty looking made for the Sci-Fi Channel movie, but as a Hollywood release that cost $179,132,273,492,342,235.38 (more or less),I assumed a tiny percentage of the budget was spent on effects that just looked routine at best.

Original story--First portion of the film--5; Second portion--negative 129!

Dialog--1

All in all, considering that the film is more than two hours long, it's a very long-winded bore which could have been watchable if not great. The rumors about the film are mostly true, but the story isn't THAT bad....nothing is!

I don't know where to begin criticising this awful movie. I will give credit, I do not think it is the worst movie of all time, however to me it is down there. I have tried to be fair, but this movie was so awful I can't even do that. It certainly looks expensive, and some of the futuristic designs are impressive, even if the special effects are shoddy and the camera angles weird. But... oh the rest. Where did it go wrong? Asides from the visuals, nothing else works. The script is incredibly banal for starters with so many cheesy moments, while the direction is lethargic. The story did have an intriguing concept at first, but with so much emphasis on the indoctrination, enslavement and superior alien intelligence Battlefield Earth falls dangerously close to becoming subliminal propaganda, plus there are so many holes, some are so big you can drive a truck through them. The pace plods too, while the acting is terrible. I have never seen John Travolta this bad before, but he isn't the only bad actor here, nobody is good. Overall, just painful to watch. See it for the visuals, but for nothing else. 1/10 Bethany Cox