Movies: Top contender for the Golden Razzies
Yahoo! Saturday, June 17, 2000
BATTLEFIELD EARTH (sci-fi thriller) (U) GSC and TGV circuits Time: 116 mins Rating: * IT is way too early but many international critics have nominated Battlefield Earth for the Worst Movie of the 21st Century.
Based on the 819-page novel by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, this effort takes movie-scripting back a few centuries indeed.
And with John Travolta (a follower of the Scientology Church) producing the movie and taking the lead role, we are going to hear a lot of nasty jokes both about him and the movie.
And even if it fails to make the century's hit list, it is bound to make waves at the Golden Raspberry Awards.
How does one loathe a movie like this? Let me count the ways...
1. The opening credits, with green letters unscrolling on the screen like the effects you see on home movies, are a giveaway on the quality of the production.
2. The sci-fi actioner is set in the year 3000 when mankind has become an endangered species after aliens from planet Psychlo take over. And what has man become? Like animals living in caves, banging stones to make fire and worshipping dead spirits! (In one fell swoop, the scripters have turned gray matter into brown).
3. The plot necessitates a hero who will lead his kind to freedom. And who is he? A good boy named Jonnie Goodboy Tyler (Barry Pepper) of course!
4. The Psychlos have enslaved a bunch of humans as miners in a domed city. What for? To carry stuff to and fro for no discernible reason.
5. Terl (Travolta), the security chief of the Psychlos, lords over the human captives. Yet he does not even know what humans eat. When he sees Tyler eating a rat, he thinks it is man's favourite food!
6. Terl, who finds himself stuck on Earth, plans to enrich himself with gold. Betting on Tyler as the smartest of his slaves, he puts him on a Learning Machine to teach him to speak Psychlo and the ways of the universe. Armed with the knowledge, Tyler teaches the `man-animals' not only to revolt ("Let's take this one chance and fight!") but also to operate old Air Force jets and destroy the aliens! (In another turn, man gets his gray matter back).
7. And what happens when Tyler is forced to get the gold? He raids Fort Knox! Why didn't the Psychlos find it in the first place? You should listen to what Terl says when he sees the gold in bars!
8. Terl's second-in-command is Ker (Forest Whitaker). What, an African- American Psychlo?
9. According to the narrative (by Corey Mandell and J.D. Shapiro), the aliens conquered Earth in nine minutes. Yet they have trouble hitting a human standing in front of them with their ray guns!
10. Director Roger Christian must relate fast-paced action with turning up the soundtrack's volume. What we have is a loud - and dumb - flick where the action does not `connect' with the audience.
And the acting? Well, Travolta may take the Worst Actor Razzie - for hamming it up and trying so hard to hide his paunch from the camera.
