'Battlefield Earth' offers camp entertainment

By Michael H. Kleinschrodt Movie critic

"Battlefield Earth," Roger Christian's adaptation of the novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, just might be the biggest "B" movie since "Starship Troopers." Its dialogue is lame and its makeup unconvincing, but the movie still can be enjoyed on a camp level if audiences are in the right mood.

Christian, whose biggest directorial effort until now was 1997's forgettable "Masterminds," is an Oscar-winning art director ("Alien," the original "Star Wars"). Perhaps his apparent affinity for the visual arts explains why he didn't realize he was about to direct a dog of a story.

The movie is set in 3000, some years or decades or centuries after an alien race, the Psychlo, has conquered Earth and turned the planet into a mining colony where humans provide slave labor. Independent villages of humans are holed up in the Rocky Mountains, having reverted to little more than cavemen. I like to think of them as the descendants of millennial survivalists, as likely a theory as any other since the movie can't be bothered to explain who these humans are.

Anyway, food begins to run short so a caveman named Jonnie Goodboy Tyler (Barry Pepper) decides to leave his village in search of a more bountiful homeland with plentiful game and abundant conditioning products for his hair extensions. Fellow villagers dismiss him as a "greener," not because he once starred in "The Green Mile" but because he believes that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. They warn Jonnie that demons will get him if he ventures into the world beyond, but he goes anyway. He's amazed to find a huge village of square caves with transparent walls. We call it "Denver." Unfortunately, a Psychlo patrol captures Jonnie and, before you know it, he's face-to-face with Security Chief Terl (John Travolta).

Terl and the other Psychlo officials cut quite the intimidating figures, with their huge platform shoes creating the illusion that they are a race of giants. (It's possible that we weren't supposed to notice the shoes.) Anyway, the Psychlo look like really big Klingons crossed with the Coneheads, complete with thick dreadlocks hanging down to their shoulders. Cheap-looking prosthetics extend the lengths of their club fingers, tipped with clawlike nails.

Because the plot requires it, Jonnie's rebellious nature earns him Terl's grudging respect, so much so that Terl gives Jonnie the benefit of an education. Terl thinks this will make Jonnie better able to lead a secret gold-mining expedition in a mountainous region inhospitable to the Psychlo. Instead, it gives Jonnie the knowledge he needs to lead a rebellion that eventually ends in a really cool planetary explosion.

One of the key points is that Jonnie spends his time planning an assault instead of mining gold. To cover his tracks, he flies an alien jet to Kentucky to a place he's read about where the gold has already been mined. We call it "Fort Knox." Conveniently, some stupid human eons ago had left the vault open and, somehow, the aliens had not already raided the joint. Anyway, Jonnie loads up the plane with gold bullion, which he presents to Terl as his mine's output. Terl is too greedy to be anything more than mildly suspicious of Jonnie's newfound smelting skills.

Travolta, who had a hit last summer with "The General's Daughter," clearly enjoys his work in "Battlefield Earth." Although it's hard to accept the dimpled sex symbol with the breathy voice as an evil alien, Travolta's enthusiasm can be contagious. Travolta, a Scientologist himself, doggedly pursued this project, reportedly threatening to fire his agents if they failed to help pull the movie together.

Forest Whitaker ("Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai") also has a fine time in the comedic role of Ker, Terl's deputy. The scenes between the two are crucial in revealing the aliens' love of twisting language to their advantage and of gaining "leverage," information that can be used to blackmail others into serving their will. At heart, every Psychlo is a lawyer.

Pepper is effective as the human leader, investing his character with the appropriate level of energy and covering a surprising range of emotion given the thin material he has to work with. His best scene is one in which he tries to explain Euclidian geometry to the other humans.

There is one other thing for which "Battlefield Earth" is destined to be known. I have a sneaking suspicion that the original script was heavily peppered with the F-word. That would have guaranteed the film an "R" rating. Instead, every other word out of the characters' mouths is a four-letter word that rhymes with "trap" as in "What the trap do you think you're doing?" and "I don't give a trap." It's almost quaint.

BATTLEFIELD EARTH

Starring: John Travolta, Barry Pepper and Forest Whitaker

Credits: Directed by Roger Christian; written by Corey Mandell and J.D. Shapiro; based on the novel by L. Ron Hubbard. A Warner Bros. release. 1 hour 57 minutes

Rating: PG-13, for mild oaths, violence and bad hair

Where: Joy, Esplanade, Palace, Hammond Palace, Galleria, Belle Promenade, Eastlake, Aurora, Chalmette, Holiday 12

** two stars