Roger Christian's Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 is a movie starring John Travolta, Forest Whitacker and Barry Pepper based on the L. Ron Hubbard's book. Hubbard founded the Church of Scientology and this movie is meant to reflect some Scientology beliefs. Now, I don't know a lot about Scientology, but after seeing this movie, I have no desire to be a part of it. Battlefield Earth is known as one of the worst movies ever made, which wouldn't be so bad if it hadn't been such a big-budget film. Jon Stewart described Battlefield Earth as "a cross between Stars Wars and the smell of ass", however I would say it's a cross between Star Wars, Planet of the Apes, amateur Shakespearean theater and a train wreck.
Before getting into the technical details and why this film is so laughably bad, here's a quick plot summary. It is the year 3000 and humans are on the verge of extinction after a humanoid alien race (who are eight feet tall and have dreadlocks/unusual facial hair) called Psychlos have ruled Earth the past thousand years. After being abused and eventually put to use as gold miners, Johnny Goodboy Tyler (Pepper) learns the Psychlo's ways and leads a rebellion.
John Travolta seems to be the only one who thinks this movie was a good idea. In fact, he was so excited about making this movie that he contributed a good deal of his own money to have it made. What's most confusing is how a talented actor like Travolta manages to give such a ridiculous performance so seriously. The performances from all the actors are overdone and laughable. The lines are delivered with inconsistent accents and a mock-Shakespearean air that makes the movie quotable purely for the hilarious emphases (e.g. "Do you WANT LUNCH?!", "While YOU were still learning how to SPELL YOUR NAME, I was learning how to CONQUER GALAXIES!").
One of the main problems in the technical aspects of the film alone was the double-open swipe. As a transition between almost every scene, a swipe was used coming from the center of the screen out to the edges of the shot. These seemed to serve no purpose and just made the movie all the more cheesy and ridiculous. However the most distracting and problematic aspect of the cinematography was the overwhelming amount of canted angles. I counted approximately four or five level angles throughout this two-hour movie. They were used to the point where they weren't serving their purpose unless they were meant to make the audience tilt their heads, which they were doing anyways. Along the same lines, there were certain aspects of Battlefield Earth that were simply not done well. The humans ("man animals") and psychlos spoke different languages and yet we only get slight grunts hinting at a foreign language, otherwise they both speak English. They also couldn't breathe the same air, and while they did a good job of making sure the humans and psychlos weren't wearing the air masks at the same time, there are certain points when the humans are able to breathe in certain areas and we don't know why.
If you're going to watch Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000, do so with an expectation for the most entertainingly bad movie you've ever seen. Prepare for a futureistic post-apocalyptic epic filled with overdone performances, canted angles and double-open swipes. And if the open-ended conclusion leaves you wanting more hilarious sub-mediocrity, remember that it only covers the first half of Hubbard's book and John Travolta still has plenty of cash to spare. Here's hoping for the sequel.
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