Battlefield Earth

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0:54

Battlefield Earth

PG-13

2000

1h 57m

Sci-Fi

Adventure

Action

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

3%

Tomatometer

151 Reviews

13%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

In the year 3000, there are no countries, no cities... Earth is a wasteland. And man is an endangered species. As the leader of the evil Psychlos, Terl and his race have taken over the world's natural resources and disregarded everyone and everything else. It's up to Jonnie "Goodboy" Tyler, a brave human, to battle the Psychlos and restore normalcy to the world.

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Critics Consensus

Ugly, campy, and poorly acted, Battlefield Earth is a stunningly misguided, aggressively bad sci-fi folly.

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Alexander Walker

London Evening Standard

06/03/2015

Appalling.

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Jeff Strickler

Minneapolis Star Tribune

04/30/2014

Logic is in short supply. Burned-out cities have electricity, for example. My favorite: A hangar full of jets, buried under 1,000 years of dust, not only fire up instantly but still have full tanks of gas.

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Jay Boyar

Orlando Sentinel

04/30/2014

Not awful, but pretty bad. A third-string Planet of the Apes meets Star Trek, Battlefield Earth is a largely uninspiring sci-fi adventure with a Swiss-cheese plot.

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Tony Black

Cultural Conversation

02/15/2021

1/5

It remains, genuinely, the worst film produced this century, as of 2020, and it is hard to imagine anything taking its crown any time soon.

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Brian Gill

Mad About Movies Podcast

09/02/2020

F

Lives up to the hype. This is the worst movie ever made.

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Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

06/24/2020

1/5

Nothing so entertaining, albeit in none of the right ways, should scrape WOAT status. It's not even one of the 10 worst films from 2000, a distressingly dunderheaded year for movies in general after one of the best ever.

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chad d

@Chaddie 5d

So awful, but still gets a star and a half because the story is silly and entertaining in a nerd sci fi way, they obviously put a big budget into it, but the whole time I am wondering just how much these filmmakers went through without any actors or producers saying “seriously what are we doing here….”

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Stephen G

@Mangaloverx999x Jan 4

Absolutely so bad its good type of movie.

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Tom H

@MisterCreosote Dec 31

Preposterous campy madcap fun. Don't compare it to Star Wars, etc. - compare it to Idiocracy. If it associates itself with L. Ron Hubbard, negative infinity could be argued.

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Chris P

Dec 27

Oye! What were these good actors thinking taking on this movie. Never seen a movie this bad with known actors. I've seen some bad movies and this certainly is one of the worst of the worst. Horribly written and acted romance holiday movies would be more tolerable.

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TheMovieSearch R

@TheMovieSearch Dec 15

Battlefield Earth is one of the most baffling cinematic disasters ever put on screen, a film that feels like a bad joke stretched far beyond endurance. From the opening moments, the screenplay is painfully incoherent, packed with exposition, nonsense dialogue, and ideas that never connect into anything meaningful. Nothing feels grounded, emotional, or even entertaining in a campy way. It is simply exhausting. John Travolta’s performance is shockingly bad, leaning into cartoonish choices that destroy any chance of credibility, while Forest Whitaker looks completely misplaced and wasted. The costumes, camera angles, and overused Dutch tilts make the film visually unpleasant and amateurish. Every technical decision feels misguided. What makes Battlefield Earth especially frustrating is that it takes itself seriously. There is no self awareness, no irony, and no payoff. It is a joyless, bloated mess that fails as science fiction, action, and storytelling. This film is bad and skippable!

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Mel S

Oct 18

The reviews of this movie are more entertaining than the movie itself.

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Roger Christian

Director

John Travolta

Terl, Psychlo Chief of Security

Barry Pepper

Jonnie Goodboy Tyler

Forest Whitaker

Ker

Kim Coates

Carlo

Sabine Karsenti

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Battlefield Earth: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

In the year 3000, there are no countries, no cities... Earth is a wasteland. And man is an endangered species. As the leader of the evil Psychlos, Terl and his race have taken over the world's natural resources and disregarded everyone and everything else. It's up to Jonnie "Goodboy" Tyler, a brave human, to battle the Psychlos and restore normalcy to the world.

Director: Roger Christian
Producer: Jonathan D. Krane, Elie Samaha, John Travolta
Screenwriter: L. Ron Hubbard, Corey Mandell, J.D. Shapiro
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Production Co: Battlefield Productions LLC, JTP Films, Morgan Creek Productions, Franchise Pictures
Rating: PG-13 (Sci-Fi Violence)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Adventure, Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 12, 2000, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): May 2, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $21.5M
Runtime: 1h 57m
Sound Mix: SDDS, Dolby Digital, DTS, Surround, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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