"Where's The Battlefield"

I finally got to one of those movies I think you've just got to see (if you want to have any comment on it, that is), the infamous John Travolta movie "Battlefield Earth". It made a big splash on release, with everyone lining up to take shots at it. I was as eager as anyone, but I never did see it and was not well informed enough to say anything terribly interesting about it. I finally set to the task of changing that, though I doubt anyone's that eager to hear about it now.

The movie is really not that bad. It's notorious for being bad in a number of ways, and some of those are fair, but movies like this get a bad rap. The only really unpardonable thing is that a movie would be unwatchable- that it would provide no entertainment whatsoever. Movies that fail less spectacularly are often entirely unwatchable, but a monumental bomb like this one gets labeled as something worse despite really being much better.

Travolta plays Terl, an alien known as a Psychlo, whose race dominates Earth. Humankind has been reduced to quasi-cavemen who nonetheless display a stunning capacity for learning quickly. They are led by Barry Pepper's Jonnie, and find themselves tasked with mining gold for the duplicitous Terl. They exploit his bizarrely misplaced trust and mount an armed resistance. The whole thing makes very little sense, and in writing a description, I find myself struggling to explain very clearly.

Setting aside the illogical plot, the movie holds together reasonably well. The effects are reasonable, and the cast is largely well-chosen. Barry Pepper is awful, but the rest of the cast seems game. Travolta is fun as the villain, Forest Whitaker likewise acquits himself well as Terl's right hand man, and there are some nice supporting actors (notably including Kim Coates of Waterworld) lubricating the proceedings. I'll say this: if you are into the likes of "Johnny Mnemonic", this one will please you about as well.