MovieChat Forums > Battlefield Earth (2000) Discussion > Who is rating this so low?

Who is rating this so low?

posted 12 years ago by mikeb-510-532818
66 replies | jump to latest

I don't know *beep* about scientology or the book this is based on but as a fan of sci-fi movies I thought this was a pretty cool concept for a movie. It definitely could have been done better and had less plot holes to be more believable but a 2.4 rating? I have seen complete *beep* movies way worse then this that are rated 3 - 4 on here lol. There are a lot worse sci-fi movies I have seen that have higher ratings too (almost everything on netflix under sci-fi for example). I guess since Travolta was in it and it had a decent sized ad campaign a bunch of people that hate sci-fi to begin with are rating it. If you like sci-fi or post-apocalyptic type stuff and can ignore a few stupid oversights (not nearly as bad as an average sci-fi channel movie) I think you will enjoy this.

[–] pzsolnay-1 12 years ago

The problem with the movie is that it tried to cram like 500 pages worth of novel into a 2 hour (118 min) movie. IIRC, the book was like 1000+ odd pages long - and this movie covers roughly half of the book.

As such, movies have to trim LOTS of the narrative and story in order to fit the story into the constraints of the motion picture format. Stuff like how the people of Earth managed to figure out how to fly those Harrier jump jets after 1000 years of them sitting in storage. That's the problem with taking books and making movies out of them.

Had they done a full rendition of the book, the movie would probably be like 8+ hours long. (My guesstimation) And no one would be willing to put up with that.

It's far better to read the book (or at least the 1st half of it) before watching the movie - it makes so much more sense that way. Amazon's got copies of the book - cheap too.

[–] mojorecords 10 years ago

No, the problem with this movie is EVERYTHING, starting with the garbage it was based off of.

The book is as garbage as the movie is. Because Hubbard is garbage. Scientology is garbage.

[–] eapplebaum 12 years ago

I SO wish the Mystery Science Theater guys would do a show on this film, it would be SO SO SO funny!!!

It's impossible to watch this and not think about how it comes from the mind of a man diagnosed as a sociopath who managed to convince a lot of feeble minds to follow him in a cult, called it a religion and created a belief system that is based on insane paranoia.

[–] mojorecords 10 years ago

They already did, it's called RiffTrax. Go to their site (rifftrax.com) and download the audio, you can listen to it through the movie, or download a torrent with the audio already synced and donate the money you would have spend on the RiffTrax to RiffTrax!

[–] eapplebaum 10 years ago

awesome! I'm going to do that! Thank you.

[–] akahito_kawaii 12 years ago

Because it's terrible in every aspect.

[–] Badmothafcker 12 years ago

I sat thru most of it waiting for Travolta to ask "Do you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Psychlo?" I'd give it a 3 because I have a good sense of humor.

[–] CheshireCatsGrin 12 years ago

Deleted was supposed to be a new thread

[–] wallacesawyer 11 years ago

Because it's bad. I'll admit I liked it when it first came out, but I was probably 13 at the time. I tried to watch it again recently and couldn't finish. This movie does not stand the test of time.

Never read the book, and couldn't care less about Scientology.

http://www.freewebs.com/demonictoys/

[–] gax001 11 years ago

I tried to watch it for the 1st time about 3 months ago and could not take it for more than 10 mins,it's just bad

[–] horseplosion 11 years ago

I would just like to say that this film is hilarious. We reviewed it for our podcast and honestly we think it's worth watching just for John Travolta's "amazing" acting!

Listen to our podcast that reviews bad films here:www.horseplosion.buzzsprout.com/