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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board  /  Movie, Television and DVD Reviews  /  Battlefield Earth - 2000
Posted by: Warren, July 18th, 2019, 6:24pm
So I read an article by one of the writers of this abomination apologising for writing the worst movie ever. That immediately peaked my interest.

https://nypost.com/2010/03/28/i-penned-the-suckiest-movie-ever-sorry/

I remember this movie from years ago but because of the very bad reviews I stayed away.

Last night I finally saw this, and in my opinion this gets a highly recommend, but for all the wrong reasons.

There is a huge difference between movies that are made to be intentionally bad (see Sharknado franchise) and films that for all intents and purposes are made to be good but fail miserably, this is one of those.

Based on the book by L. Ron Hubbard, the Scientology guy. This is the premise:


Quoted Text
In the year 3000, there are no countries, no cities... Earth is a wasteland. And man is an endangered species. As the leader of the evil Psychlos, Terl and his race have taken over the world's natural resources and disregarded everyone and everything else. It's up to Jonnie "Goodboy" Tyler, a brave human, to battle the Psychlos and restore normalcy to the world.


Yes, the leads name is Jonnie Goodboy, that's not a typo, cringe.

The acting in this is amongst the worst I've ever seen but it stars the likes of John Travolta, Barry Pepper, and Forest Whitaker. The aliens look like they’ve come straight from a Kiss concert, and it's more than obvious that the boots they are wearing are really hard to walk in. There is a scene where Terl takes Jonnie to the library and he has to walk up stairs, it’s a long shot, but it looks ridiculous. The prosthetic hands are so big that everything the aliens do looks awkward.

I don’t think there is one piece of dialogue that isn’t on the nose.

So many glaring logic issues. We are in the year 3000, the aliens took over about 1000 years ago and man has reverted to an almost caveman-like state... but they find some old fighter jets have a few minute in a flight sim and then can fly these things better than Maverick in Top Gun. Also how are these jets working after sitting idle for 1000 years... anyway.

Terl constantly calls Jonnie rat brain, genius.

Half the film is shot at an angle, WTF!

Almost every scene transition is the wipe screen like they do in Star Wars.

The special effects look... well, special.

I know I'm super late to the party, but if you haven’t seen this thing you must.
Posted by: ReneC, July 18th, 2019, 6:27pm; Reply: 1

Quoted from Warren


Half the film is shot at an angle, WTF!



Actually, every shot is at an angle, just some are more subtle than others. It's one of the "artistic" choices that went into this train wreck.

I loved the book. It would make a great series. This movie sucks.
Posted by: Warren, July 18th, 2019, 6:29pm; Reply: 2

Quoted from ReneC


Actually, every shot is at an angle, just some are more subtle than others. It's one of the "artistic" choices that went into this train wreck.

I loved the book. It would make a great series. This movie sucks.


I must have gotten used to it at some point  :)
Posted by: FrankM, July 18th, 2019, 6:39pm; Reply: 3

Quoted from ReneC


Actually, every shot is at an angle, just some are more subtle than others.


And now I have the Batman theme stuck in my head.
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