Back in the 1970s and early 1980s, John Travolta was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. But by 2000, his career had noticeably tapered off, and he had very little star power, especially in comparison to his former clout as a performer. Despite that, he managed to get his passion project financed — a feature-length adaptation of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s book, “Battlefield Earth.”
Mercifully, this film is not an advertisement for the “church,” but that is just about the only positive takeaway. Starring Barry Pepper (“Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials”) and the aforementioned Travolta, “Battlefield Earth” is the chronicle of humanity’s overthrow of their alien overlords, a millennium after Earth’s initial takeover by the Psychlo race.
Yes, Psychlo. The alien name sounds like the screenwriter threw the alphabet at a wall, saw what stuck and said, “Well, that should work.” Travolta plays Terl, the Psychlo security chief of Earth, delivering a performance that can charitably be described as overzealous. His screen partner Pepper plays Johnny Goodboy Tyler, a name the screenwriter’s preschool-age child probably created.
Pepper’s over-the-top performance comes across as more restrained than Travolta, which is tragically hilarious. In just about any other movie, Pepper’s acting would be the most awful portion — here, it’s just one more thread in the patchwork of absurdity.
There’s so much to criticize here, but the cinematography is an excellent place to focus. The way this film is shot simply defies belief. People in the movie industry love to point to “Battlefield Earth” and say this is the movie that forever ruined Dutch angles — when the operator tilts the camera at a certain angle to imply menace or unpleasantness in the subject of the shot.
When used effectively, the Dutch angle can be a very effective filmmaking tool. But just about 90 percent of the shots in “Battlefield Earth” utilize Dutch angles for reasons still unknown. In order for a Dutch angle to serve its purpose, it needs to be employed sparingly. No sane person could describe the use of Dutch angles in this movie as sparing, as the tilted frame makes it look like someone accidentally bumped the camera and nobody noticed until editing.
This is especially heinous during the action sequences when the positioning and tilt of the camera prohibits the viewer from gaining any sense of what is happening in the frame. Not that what’s actually happening in the shot is worth viewing, but at least having the chance to do so would be nice.
To put it bluntly, “Battlefield Earth” failed to revitalize John Travolta’s flagging career. This movie’s 2 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes can attest to that. There are far too many problems with this film to discuss in one sitting, but suffice it to say that its ineptitude warrants its inclusion in the pantheon of the worst films ever made.
