Take Two: BATTLEFIELD EARTH

by Patrick Bromley

I had high hopes for this one in 2000, less so in 2026.
By now I'm sure we've told this story on the podcast: back in 1997, Doug and I went to see Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers on opening night somewhat ironically. We were unfamiliar with the source material, didn't recognize most of the actors advertised save for Neil Patrick Harris and Michael Ironside, and, most of all, the trailers were kind of dogshit because (in hindsight) there's no real way to accurately advertise that movie. We thought it could be a trainwreck. About a quarter of the way into its running time, though, we turned to one another completely giddy, both acknowledging we hoped the movie would never end. It became an immediate favorite and taught us an important lesson in expectations in that often times, the best movies are the ones that surprise you the most. 

Fast forward to the year 2000. Having been taught all the wrong lessons by the Starship Troopers marketing, Doug and I were positive that Battlefield Earth stood a chance at being a new subversive classic. Sure, the trailers were just as bad, but we had been fooled before, right? And this looked like more wild and out there science fiction! We weren't going to wait for the evening screening this time. No sir, we made sure we were at the first show on the first day. It couldn't have been long -- within the first 5-10 minutes is my memory -- before we looked at one another, the realization of our tragic error hitting us both at the same time. Oh no, we thought. We have fucked up.

Based on the 1982 book of the same name by cult Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, Battlefield Earth places us in the year 3000, where a nine-foot tall, dreadlock'd alien race called the Psychlos have ruled the planet for the last thousand years. They capture humans -- they call them "man animals" -- and force them into labor. One human they capture, Jonnie Goodboy Tyler (Barry Pepper), draws the attention of security chief Terl (John Travolta) because he seems cunning and capable. He can give Terl LEVERAGE, the most important commodity among the Psychlos. Hoping to use the man animals to mine gold deposits that exist outside the Psycholos' dome of breathable air, Terl puts Jonnie Goodboy inside a learning machine and teaches him Psychlo language and history. How else is he going to mine gold? Well, Jonnie Goodboy uses his newfound knowledge to teach the other man animals and lead a revolt against the Psychlos. Who's got leverage now??

A number of times when I've written these "Take Two" pieces in the past, it's because I've re-evaluated my feelings on a movie since seeing it the first time. Movies don't change, but we do, meaning every viewing is different. My son was just watching Interstellar last night and I was reminded of the fact that I didn't love it when we recorded our podcast on it (I think it was the final act that was a sticking point for me, which is still kind of true) but couldn't figure out why because the movie is kind of incredible. I would love to have changed my opinion about Battlefield Earth in the 26 years since it was released. It means a new movie I get to like! That is so not the case. If anything, I found it more of a drag this time around and nearly impossible to get through. This might be one of the most poorly put together movies I can remember seeing, at least at this level of budget and pedigree. It has movie stars! And tens of millions of dollars at its disposal!

Unfortunately, it's all dogshit. Director Roger Christian, an Academy Award-winning set designer, production designer, and second unit director, is clearly aiming for a sci-fi pulp aesthetic, all canted angles and wipes borrowed from George Lucas and Star Wars. It stops being a style and starts feeling oppressive, compounded by the dark, dingy cinematography run through a blue filter and two tons of dirt. I get that it's science-fiction and that it's a post-alien apocalypse story but the aesthetic is simply cheap and unpleasant to sit in for two hours -- just one of the many ways in which Battlefield Earth fails. In fact, I would argue that the movie fails on just about every single level and every single measurable criteria by which a movie can fail. That it is not the worst 2000 movie I've watched so far this month is solely a testament to the fact that it remains in focus, which cannot be said of The Smokers.

Being bad is not the greatest sin a movie can commit. Bad movies can be fun and entertaining! Battlefield Earth manages to be very, very bad in ways that are never entertaining. It is dreadful and lifeless and dull, and that's really the worst thing a movie can be. Can a story about a human revolution against scheming, petty, alien overlords be interesting? Of course! Is this one? Absolutely not. I want to give Battlefield Earth credit for making the Psychlos into such catty bitches -- Terl, in particular, is constantly trying to fuck over his friends and level up in Psychlo hierarchy -- but even that choice feels kind of joyless in its execution. Much of that, I'm sorry to say, is on Travolta. As a longtime member of the Church of Scientology, I can appreciate that this was a dream project for him and he spent the better part of two decades trying to bring it to the screen. It's not entirely his fault that Hubbard wrote -- based on this adaptation, at least -- a shitty novel and that Travolta was too blinded by devotion to see the Leverage for the trees. 

Travolta is a good actor and a great movie star. When he's at his best -- Saturday Night Fever, Blow Out, Pulp Fiction, Get Shorty -- no one can touch him. Without the right director or the right material, though, he can be left to his instincts and his instincts are not always great. He chooses the wrong projects and can sometimes be bad in them (as evidence, he made Lucky Numbers, in which he is spectacularly miscast and gives a miscalculated performance as a result, the same year as Battlefield Earth). He can be a bit of a ham sandwich, and nowhere is that more readily on display than his performance as Terl. Buried under ugly, uncool makeup and costuming, Travolta goes way over the top as a cartoon villain but without the Joy of Performance that denotes similarly B-I-G turns like Jack Nicholson's Joker or Al Pacino's Big Boy Caprice. It should have been the one thing that worked in this mess! But despite getting the opportunity to cut completely loose inside of a dream project he spent 20 years trying to get made, Travolta's performance is -- like everything else in Battlefield Earth -- airless and tacky.

Shitting on Battlefield Earth is an empty gesture, like shitting on a flag made of shit. Remembered 26 years later as one of the worst films ever made, it's too easy a target and I would much rather find myself able to champion it against the accepted wisdom. I just can't get there. Even divorced of my feelings about L. Ron Hubbard and his religion, this movie is poisoned. The Church of Scientology reportedly required its members to purchase multiple copies of the novel to ensure its success as a bestseller. Would that they had done the same for ticket sales of the film adaptation, which somehow still grossed almost $30 million globally (2000 was a different time) against a $44 million budget -- not, as Franchise Pictures originally declared, $75 million, for which they were sued and investigated by the FBI. See? This movie really is a crime.

John Travolta's career never really covered from his disastrous 2000, and he transitioned to more supporting roles and found success only in ensembles before getting back to starring parts in DTV vehicles. Bad performance aside, I can't fault him for Battlefield Earth. It was a project that meant a lot to him and he was following his passions, something every artist should be allowed to do. Would could possibly have guessed that L. Rob Hubbard and the Church of Scientology would lead him so far astray? As for my second viewing, it might have been even worse than my first. This time, I knew it was a scorpion. This man animal should have known better.