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Battlefield Earth

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John Travolta

Barry Pepper

Forest Whitaker

Kim Coates

Sabine Karsenti

Christian Tessier

Sylvain Landry

Michael Byrne

Richard Tyson

Christopher Freeman

Shaun Austin-Olsen

Tim Post

Earl Pastko

Michel Perron

Andy Bradshaw

Tait Ruppert

Kelly Preston

Marie-Josée Croze

Andrew Campbell

Roger Christian

Elia Cmiral

Jonathan D. Krane

J.D. Shapiro

Robin Russell

Corey Mandell

Elie Samaha

Giles Nuttgens

Lynn Stalmaster

Don Carmody

Andrew Stevens

Ashok Amritraj

Patrick Tatopoulos

Linda Favila

Anson Downes

Walter Gasparovic

James A. Holt

Mark Riccardi

Tracee Stanley

Penny Charter

Jacky Lavoie

Erik Henry

Oana Bogdan Miller

Martin Gendron

Denis Dupont

Robert Stecko

Joanne T. Harwood

Steve Lucescu

Pierre Vinet

Claude Paré

Brad Hruboska

Randi Wells

Michael Tinger

Michele Laliberte

Simon La Haye

Louis Dandonneau

John Gaskin

Nicole Lapierre

Mike Smithson

Susan V. Kalinowski

Patrick Lima

Gilles Fortier

Bertrand Dupuis

Christian P. Minkler

Gloria D'Alessandro

Patrick J. Foley

André Duval

Jocelyne Bellemare

Robert Auclair

Marci Graber

Andy Kopetzky

Adrien Morot

Bob Pritchett

Jean Courteau

Michelle Bühler

Teri E. Dorman

David Horton Jr.

Christopher S. Aud

David E. Campbell

Ken S. Polk

Pamela Godfrey

Jessica Gallavan

John T. Reitz

Dan Hiland

Gregg Rudloff

Dennis McNeill

L. Ron Hubbard

Brett Paton

Robert Racki

John Walsh

**_The worst sci-fi flick ever made?_**

A thousand years in the future, Earth has been taken over by a towering alien race called Psychlos, who have enslaved humanity with the intent of stripping the land of all resources. Other humans hide in the wilderness, living a primitive life. However, one “man-animal” (Barry Pepper) spurs a movement to free the planet. John Travolta and Forest Whitaker play chief-security Psychlos.

Based on L. Ron Hubbard’s book from 1982, “Battlefield Earth” (2000) is post-apocalyptic sci-fi that mixes “Planet of the Apes” and “Logan’s Run” with a little “Terminator” and some “Star Wars” dogfighting in the last act. It is notorious as one of the worst movies ever made, at least those with a healthy budget. The nitpicking has been so out of hand that Roger Ebert even criticized the font chosen for the opening titles (rolling my eyes).

The truth is, it’s not close to being that bad. Unlike the similar “The Lost Future” (a low-budget flick from 2010), the pace is a little too frenzied, no doubt because the script tried to cram the first half of a 1000-page novel into a 2-hour film. Despite this, it’s not like the story’s unintelligible, although it needed to flesh-out the heroes further in order to make it more compelling. Some complain about the use of Dutch angles, but this is barely perceptible and, besides, they give the movie a unique vibe. Then there’s the cavil about the constant double wipes to change scenes. Seriously? Who cares? No one complains about the wipes in “Star Wars.”

Sure, Travolta takes a hammy approach to his Psychlo character, as do other Psychlo cast-members, but that’s part of the fun. You’re supposed to roll with it. There’s a glaring wink of amusement to the proceedings. So anyone who says the movie’s “unintentionally” funny is clueless.  

One of the biggest real problems is the absent of any significant female characters. There’s Sabine Karsenti as Chrissy, but her role isn’t that big and she’s underused. Meanwhile Kelly Preston has a long-tongued cameo as Psychlo Chirk, but that’s it (not counting peripherals). The remake of “Planet of the Apes” came out the next year and had enough sense to include Estella Warren in a fairly prominent role; the same thing with “The Lost Future” with Annabelle Wallis, not to mention Hannah Tointon and Eleanor Tomlinson.

To the film’s credit, a certain scene in the last act prefigures a (more) memorable scene in Abrams’ “Star Trek” nine years later. I’m not saying this is a great movie, it has its issues, but the over-criticism is unjustified and reminiscent of the ridiculous response to the well-done “Heaven’s Gate.” Perhaps due to the links to Sciencefictionology, the knives hit the sharpening stones well before it was ever released and once the buzz got out that it was a bad film a feeding frenzy ensued.

The movie runs 1 hour, 58 minutes, and was shot in Montreal, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and several other Quebec locations. Additional stuff was filmed California.

GRADE: B-/C+

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Battlefield Earth

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Cast

John Travolta

Barry Pepper

Forest Whitaker

Kim Coates

Sabine Karsenti

Christian Tessier

Sylvain Landry

Michael Byrne

Richard Tyson

Christopher Freeman

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