BATTLEFIELD: EARTH
Directed by Roger (Masterminds, The Final Cut) Christian Starring John (The General's Daughter, A Civil Action) Travolta, Barry (Saving Private Ryan, Enemy of the State) Pepper, Forrest (The Crying Game, Platoon) Whitaker, Kim (Unforgettable, Waterworld) Coates Alright, there's no denying the amount of bad hype this film has gotten. There's also no denying that a good percentage of the dissention has been rooted either in an undying support, or a hard edged opposition to Scientology. I'm no scholar of that, or any religion so I will instead focus on the movie that has come out of the brain of a writer who just so happened to have created the aformentioned religion (or cult, or whatever you want to call it, I don't care). L Ron Hubbard. Let it also be known that star/producer John Travolta has done everything in his power to get this film made, and the result is a fairly high budget bombastic film that is only ONE HALF of the book. A sequel is planned, though it's unlikely if the film tanks we'll ever see it. On with the review...
"Mankind is an endangered species"
That's what we're told eleven seconds into the film. It's the year 3000- something and humanity has apparently lost a war that lasted under 10 minutes to an evil, oppressive race known as the Psychlos. An undisclosed amount of time later and the remnants of humanity live as wild animals while the evil aliens live in a gas sphere dome that covers cities and allows them to re-create their environment. What was once our home is now a desolate wasteland peppered with the corpses of cities and miniature golf courses. The aliens have turned the planet into a crappy waystation and slave planet where "man-animals" do the dirty work while they bicker, drink, and connive each other.
The premise is that our hero, the hideously named Johnny Goodboy Tyler brings humanity from the brink of extinction and engages in war against the evil oppressors against all odds by outwitting them using their own means.
As an idea, it's not a bad premise. The film presents some some truly interesting issues. The aliens are not fiendish beings bend on domination. They are simply self serving backstabbers who'll do anything for an edge on the next Psychlo. They are simply greedy creatures that happen to posses the technology to wipe us out. The best aspects of Travolta (as Terl, the head of security) and Forrest Whitaker's (as his second in command and his main competitor) characters are their constant attempts to outscam each other and their superiors. These are an interesting race because they are simply bigger versions of the slimy people we see on Earth.
Speaking of: these creatures are essentially the love child of Kareem Abdul Jabbar, the six fingered villain from The Princess Bride, The Klingons, and Dirk Diggler. They look really menacing and evil until they move, and we see that we're obviously watching actors with lift boots on and tons of prosthetics. Perhaps the villainy of them would have hit harder had their movement been done digitally with a sort of inhuman walk. Sadly, it makes it harder to swallow them as baddies when they look like outcasts from a KISS cover band.
The fault in the film is not its source material. The story has a familiar feel to it, but then again what doesn't in Sci-Fi? What keeps this film from being a harmlessly patriotic summer film ala ID4 is the execution. Here is where the bad stuff starts...
Roger Christian has done work on the Star Wars films and Alien, but that is obviously not enough to warrant a directorial gig on a big budget film. His entire style can be summed up in a simple formula, and after the first three repetitions of this formula, he had lost any loyalty this reviewer had to him for his earlier work:
1. TILT THE CAMERA. No joke, nearly EVERY single shot in this film has the camera cocked to the side for reasons I can only dismiss as creating a false sense of depth.
2. APPLY COLORED FILTER. Green, blue, it doesn't matter as long as it's not a realistic look. What works for Michael Bay or the director of the latest music video does not work in this arena. Maybe if used sparingly, but not EVERY SHOT.
3. WIPE. Every third transition in this film is a horizontal wipe, which resembles a curtain opening to the next frame. THE ONLY films this tactic works for is the STAR WARS trilogy. Why? Because in 1977 it served as a harkening back to the old days of film and helped build the mystique. Now it's just tired. The problem is, he used the SAME EXACT WIPE every time! It is laughable. I haven't seen this much wiping since my toilet training days.
So, we're out in the directorial department. Now it's up to the writer, stars, and FX crew to save the project.
Well, Corey Mandell is the writer. Where Christian failed on the grounds that he used such primitive filmmaking techniques the writer fails because he focuses on all the wrong things. This is his only writing credit and you have to wonder what a more established writer could have done with it. What we get is dialogue that needs a lot of work, primarily for the heroes, who go from semi-grunting savages to eloquent conversationalists that use catch phrases like "Piece of cake!". Also, a lot of the exposition is handled through the "Learning Machine" which teaches our hero the Psychlo language, how to pilot their machines, how we were defeated, and how to apparently defeat their race in three easy steps. Regardless of the fact that he's drawing from a book for his screenplay, there's no excusing the fact that a few grimy slaves learn to pilot harrier jets with catlike precision over the course of a few nights. I think he's the wrong man for the job.
The stars. Well, I'll give them this... THE TRY REAL HARD. Travolta seems to relish the role of the greedy Terl. He doesn't inject his personality enough into the character to make him likable, which is a good thing. He also allowed himself to be uglified to a certain point, though he sports none of the facial abnormalities that most of the other Psychlos have. The problem lies in his high pitched voice and his close-set eyes. You can never grasp Terl as anything other than Travolta in makeup. Whitaker fares a little better, and the rest of the Psychlos look convincingly ugly. Except for Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston who plays the only Psychlo in the universe with clean teeth. She's there for no other reason than the fact she's his wife. Pepper also tries his damndest. Given a lot of running around to do with the occasional inspirational speech, he tries though the dialogue he's given wouldn't work off of anyone's tongue. Poor guy.
Then there's the FX. If you've seen BLADE RUNNER, then you've seen the look they tried to portray for this film. Fire with no purpose shoots up in the air because it looks cool. The only difference is that the Ridley Scott film featured a clean city and this features a ravaged city. There were times I truly expected the music of Vangelis to pipe up. When the FX artists strut their stuff, it's pretty cool. The ships of the Psychlos are inspired from the jumpships from Aliens and are done quite well. The set design is pretty good as well, though if it were the year 3,000+ I'd think the ruins of civilization wouldn't be so well preserved. For example, how's Mesopotamia looking to our eyes nowadays?
There are so many leaps of logic that it'd be futile to attack them. It's a dumb popcorn film hollow in the same ways that Godzilla was. Also, the aerial combat scenes lack the same heart that Godzilla and ID4's did. It's a big fancy vehicle with all the bells and whistles available. No expense was spared except under the hood where they forgot to install an engine.
A shame. I don't hate this film like I wanted to. Instead it's one of those massive lost opportunities. If they make the sequel I'll see it on the hopes that they learned their lesson.
In fact, to some I'd recommend seeing this film. It's the kind of film to ridicule in midnight screenings. The kind where nobody will see you when you leave. A few funny scenes (some were even intentional I think) make it more bearable. One involves a cow's leg. One involves the eating of a rat. Another involves the declaration that our hero "speaks beast". Add to that some corny and overly patriotic music and you have the cinematic equivalent of eating at Krystal (or White Castle). A greasy, slimy bite that will cause you great turmoil in a few hours but will keep you busy for a short while while you chew nervously.
5.7 out of 10
Reviewed by Nick Nunziata
