Father Geek here, I've already expressed my many disappointments with this flick in the large group post I put up last night, but in the interest of fairplay I'm posting Quint's feelings here and now. I'm even giving it Top Story statis so no one will miss it.(This is an entertainment sight after all) This is the ONLY review I have received that feels this way, ALL others are totally negitive. So flame away me heartys... flame away...
Ahoy there Father Geek, ladies and gentlemen... The one and only crusty seaman is here once more, this time with a short look at Battlefield Earth. I know there's been a lot of views on this film already, but I thought what the hell? One more won't hurt.
Especially since my view of the film is slightly different from most. I personally thought it was all right. Not great, but not awful either. I don't know.... Maybe it's because the last movie I had seen before Battlefield Earth was that wretched pile of steaming shark shit known as American Psycho. Maybe after being that low made it so Battlefield Earth was a step up, not down. I'm not sure.
Maybe I missed the moment that made it such a bad film because I was so distracted by the dick lickers sitting to my right that wouldn't shut the fuck up during the movie. You know the type. A sign appears on screen that reads "Aspen" and they have to go: "Aspen" (I guess to prove to those around them that they can read) and their friend has to say "I bet it's cold up there..." I swear to God I was about to harpoon those idiots. Thankfully Mouth, who was sitting between me and the talkers, got them to shut up with threats of locking them up in his basement with the cockroaches for 2 weeks without food or water. Anyway...
I have never read the book (although I hear it's pretty awesome), I am not a Scientologist nor a Scientologist-basher. I went in to this movie hoping to be entertained, nothing more, nothing less. It worked... a little bit.
I truly liked Travolta and Whitaker's characters and thought they had great chemistry together. The best parts of the movie for me were when they played off each other. Travolta was over the top, but not nearly as over the top as I expected him to be. Barry Pepper does his best, but ultimately I found the character uninteresting. The worst part of the movie was the first 15 minutes to me. The humans were boring. The Psychlos were at least interesting.
I loved the effects work done with the ships. I thought they nailed that effect down. They had the heat ripples, but actually got the dark exhaust and the metal look (instead of the usual plastic look of CGI) of the ships down pat. I also liked the last reel of the film. They got finally got the pacing right for the final act, unfortunately they still didn't figure out how to cut the film so you could actually see what's going on.
Honestly, it is just a popcorn flick. It has some very bad editing and pacing flaws. The cuts were way too flashy and quick. There were also some shots (particularly at the beginning) that were done artsy just for the sake of being artsy. In the end you really don't care about the human characters and from what I gather most of those who have seen it didn't care about the alien characters as well.
Overall I thought it was a step above mediocre. If you are the kind of person who isn't willing to suspend one iota of disbelief for a film, then I would venture the opinion that this movie isn't for you. If you are looking to spend a couple of hours watching a special effects, cheeseball summer flick then I would suggest a matinee showing. This is in no way a full price movie. Unless you're a rabid Hubbard or Travolta fan, I doubt you'll be happy about spending the $8 on it.
So, there you have it. Battlefield Earth is a very cheesy movie, but at least it's not as bad as American Psycho.... damn... just thinking about that movie makes me want to vomit blood ::gurp:: uh-oh. Gotta get going. Farewell and adieu...::splurp::
-Quint
aicnquint@aol.com
