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Writer's pictureThe Owl's Eyes

Battlefield Earth: Scientology's Epic Fail

Updated: Feb 12, 2023


Reviews by:

  • @the_owlseyes

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Scientology, a cult which tries to be a religion. It isn't like Pastafarianism because it takes itself seriously. The fact that there're movie stars like John Travolta and Tom Cruise are part of it, makes this sect even funnier. I don't know how Hollywood was able to produce a movie about that, it sounds insane. I understand that it helped John Travolta and his wife heal after their son's death but the fact that they wanted to exploit their new hobby, which was born for the right reason, makes me doubt about the actor moral compass and choices. I don't know, it's hard to give to a movie like that, a movie which shouldn't have been produced, a worthy introduction because this movie doesn't deserve it. Help me. Please


PLOT

"It's the year 3000 A.D., and the Earth is lost to the alien race of Psychlos. Humanity is enslaved by these gold-thirsty tyrants, who are unaware that their 'man-animals' are about to ignite the rebellion of a lifetime" or "Aliens are dumb".


SCRIPT

The setup is mediocre and trite. The characters are stupid and basically unlikeable. There's a multitude of cliches, which is sickening. The protagonist is active but he isn't charismatic or interesting and all he does is to save his girl, which is a boring motivation. The villains have even weaker motivations because they want to take over the planets for the money(the movie's logics are a bit idiotic) and it seems more like a critic toward corporations and wealthy people. The alien's leader is dumb because he allows the protagonist to access the alien's knowledge(trigonometry?!), which helps him vanquish the alien's headquarters and blow it up. There's also a lot of misogyny because female characters are there only as damsel in distress and alien prostitutes who give blowjobs. There's also the fact the plot do whatever it wants and it doesn't care about continuity: I don't know how fighter planes still have the tank full and functioning after a thousand years. It's bad but I've seen worse.


Script: 2/10


ACTING

John Travolta doesn't grant anything here. Even though there're others actors who have the acting chops, here it seems like none cared about the movie. The quantity of over and underacting is outrageous. I remember the stupid laughs present in this movie. It's like the villain are affect by some kind of dementia, I don't know. This make them seems unthreatning and it plunges the movie's quality. I don't know how they managed to screw it all up. Unfortunately this wasn't be John Travolta's last worst performance because it made movie's worse than this one.


Acting: 1/10


PHOTOGRAPHY

It's not interesting or imaginative. It's just there and it doesn't bring anything remarkable. Light is used badly, sometimes it's too bright, sometimes it's too dark and sometimes is just flata and boring. Colours don't have a meaning at all. Symbolism isn't present here because the movie doesn't care about being subtle and deep.


Photography: 3/10


EDITING

Dutch angles and slow motion are random and unwanted. This movie will make you feel sick because it isn't able to deliver a good shot, not even the basic ones. Do I need to say more? I think that's enough to understand the level of this crap.


Editing: 2/10


SPECIAL EFFECTS

There's nothing savable here. The cgi is the one of the worst the 2000's has ever offered us. It's just fake and bland. Practical effets are just as bad and the sfx are laughable. I don't know who decided the design of the aliens but it seems beyond retarded. There's worst but here seems like the production went to the dogs. Considering the budget, could be said that the result is ok but it looks cheaper and shittier.


Special Effects: 4/10


SOUNDTRACK

Forgettable and it's more like background noise. Thanks to that the movie seems more like a Cable Movie than one which aired in theatres. There's just one recurrent theme and it doesn't allow us to understand the difference between the villains and the heroes. It's below average but it's not as hurting as you think, because it's just there.


Soundtrack: 4/10


COSTUMES

This isn't the worst part but it doesn't mean that it's good. Even though the protagonist and his fellows clothes are coherent with the setting, in the third act logic is out of the window and they starts wearing normal clothes. The aliens costumes are laughable and doesn't make sense: they wear normal clothes but they have dreadlockes and an aerosol tube which is used as a synthetic respirator. It's awful but there's a lot worse here.


Costumes: 4/10


CONCLUSION

Script: 2/10

Acting: 1/10

Photography: 3/10

Editing: 2/10

Special Effects: 4/10

Soundtrack: 4/10

Costumes: 4/10

AVERAGE: 2,85


It's simply a bad movie which no one wanted and was made to please the ego of John Travolta and spread a cult which doesn't make much sense. Everyone involved doesn't give a f**k and it's noticeable. Just see it to understand what's in the strange mind of Travolta and what are the ideas of Scientology. Or skip it, I think that it would be more healthy.


Director: Roger Christian

Screenplay: J. D. Shapiro, Corey Mandell

Cast: John Travolta, Barry Pepper, Forest Whitaker, Kim Coates, Richard Tyson, Sabine Karsenti

Soundtrack: Elia Cmiral

Cinematography: Giles Nuttgens

Running Time: 117 minutes

Budget: $44 million



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