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Battlefield Earth (PG-13, 2000)

common sense media says

Worst example of vanity filmmaking in years.

parents & educators say
  • 33% say violence is an issue
  • 33% say sexual content is an issue
See all 4 reviews | Review it

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this movie has a lot of sci-fi violence, with lots of explosions, characters in peril and some gory dismemberment. There are a couple of mild expletives and some mild sexual references. Women are treated as sex objects or taken as hostages.

Positive messages: Men have all the action roles; with one brief exception, women are treated as sex objects
Violence: A lot of science fiction violence, characters killed and dismembered.
Sex: A few mild references.
Language: A few mild words.
Consumerism: Not applicable.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking: Scenes in bar, character intoxicated.
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More on Battlefield Earth

What to talk about

Talk to your kids
Families can talk about the importance of learning and history (Jonnie is inspired by the Declaration of Independence), and they should contrast the way that the Psychlos use "leverage" (blackmail) to manipulate each other with the teamwork and loyalty shown by the humans. They might also want to compare this movie to some sci-fi classics, like the Star Wars movies.

What's the story?

What's the story?
In the future, a race of 9-foot-tall, dreadlocked aliens called Psychlos takes over the earth following a nine-minute battle. A thousand year later, the few remaining humans are hunter-gatherers and the evil Psychlos maintain earth as an outpost for mining. Terl (John Travolta), furious at not being allowed to return to the home planet, decides to use humans to mine gold for him to keep. But one of the humans, Jonnie Goodboy Tyler (Barry Pepper), encourages the others to revolt.

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 
Made due to the ceaseless efforts of its star, John Travolta, BATTLEFIELD EARTH could be used as an exam for film school students on what not to do. As the bad guy, Travolta tries to sound imperious and sarcastic but lacks any sense of presence or dignity, and his cackling evil laugh is laughable. Poor Forrest Whitaker does his best with an idiotic role as Terl's sidekick and whipping boy.

The sets are dark, dank, and uninspired, the explosions are boring, it is all much too loud, and the Psychlos' dialogue is sometimes garbled. The plot is not very interesting and completely illogical. To mention just one of many examples -- somehow a group of humans who are illiterate and have not even discovered the wheel manage to master thousands of years of literal rocket science in a couple of days, transport over to the Psychlos' planet and blow it all up with one well-placed bomb?

Movie themes & details

Movie Details
Studio: Warner Bros.
Director: Roger Christian
Cast: Barry Pepper, Forest Whitaker, John Travolta
Genre: Science Fiction
Run time: 118 minutes
Theatrical release: May 12, 2000
DVD release: January 16, 2001
MPAA Rating: PG-13
MPAA explanation: intense sci-fi action.
This review was written by Nell Minow
 
 

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What parents & educators say

16
Based on 3 parent & educator reviews:
  • 33% say violence is an issue
  • 33% say sexual content is an issue
  • 33% say language is an issue
  • 33% say there's too much drinking, drugs, or smoking
Read the reviews

Most useful reviews by all members

starwars reviewer
kid, 13 years old
2
 
While you were still learning to spell your name, I was being trained to make terrible movies!
Wow. This had bad acting, Bad models, the whole nine. I am so sorry for those who saw it.
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helped me decide (3) | had useful details (2) | read my mind (2)
Ashnak
adult
17
 
Decent scifi movie
This is an OK scifi movie only worth seeing if you LIKE scifi
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helped me decide (3) | had useful details (1) | read my mind (3)
trojan51
adult
 
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was this review useful?
helped me decide (2) | had useful details (2) | read my mind (2)
nduns
adult
14
 
There is only one thing preventing this from getting 1 star
And that's the simple fact that it's so bad it's funny. This film irritates me on so many levels. The way they shoot it, for one, is annoying. Everything is shot in an angle. But I could look past that were the story good... it is not. The human characters are just... stupid. In the original Planet of the Apes, they could get away with that because the humans were supposed to be dumb. However, these humans are meant to be smart and they make the dumbest decisions ever. Luckily, the Psychlos are equally dumb and give the humans easy access to their weaponry and firearms. In response to another reviewer, I'd say scifi fans would hate this film the most simply because of how poorly written it is.
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ON: Content is appropriate for kids this age.
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