"Battlefield Earth" is a silly sci-fi movie
that rips off several more credible films. The story takes
place in the year 3000 (at least everyone stopped making
"year 2000" movies). John Travolta plays a Psychlo (an
alien from the planet Psychlo) who is stuck on Earth.
His job is to supervise the mining of Earth's metals.
But Psychlo workers cost money, so Travolta comes up with
an evil plan: Catch some Man-Animals (what Psychlos call
humans) and train them to do the work. Perhaps they can
help him mine some gold for himself, thus stealing from
the company and making him richer. (By this time, Travolta
is pretty angry with the company for refusing to give
him a better job.)
Travolta is a terrific actor, and the supporting
cast is sound, but "Battlefield Earth" is still a cosmic
mess. The dialogue might be amusing if not for the distraction
of those ridiculous settings and costumes. The Psychlos
look just like Klingons from "Star Trek". They drink bright
green "alien" brew that looks suspiciously like Mountain
Dew. They're also sexist pigs. Humans, on the other hand,
have regressed back to the caveman stage. They have no
technology; they get around on horses. Only one human
thinks he can defeat the Psychlos.
I briefly considered reading the book "Battlefield
Earth" before viewing the movie. When I realized that
the small-print paperback version was more than a thousand
pages long, I quickly gave up on that idea. I did read
the first page, then I decided I'd never get through the
rest of it. I like science fiction stories if they make
sense, but "Battlefield Earth" doesn't. I only saw this
movie because John Travolta was in it, and I was still
sorely disappointed. If you managed to read that huge
book and enjoyed it, you might like "Battlefield Earth".
Otherwise, I don't recommend this movie.
Rated PG-13 for violent content
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