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BATTLEFIELD EARTH (PG-13) A race of evil creatures called "Psychlos" tries to mine Earth for minerals and gold and to exterminate humans. In the wasteland days of the year 3000, humans seem to number only in the dozens, wear caveman outfits and speak a blend of grunts and perfect English. A Johnny, (Barry Pepper of Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile), a determined "man animal," leaves his tribe's hidden camps in the Rocky Mountains to confront the evil monsters, the Psychlos. After the Johnny is captured and enslaved, the alien leader, Terl (John Travolta in ratty make-up and dreads), seeing potential, toys with Johnny (or rather, repeatedly calls him "rat brain" and chokes him). He straps the Johnny to a machine that beams the Psychlos language, mathematics and history into his eyes through a ray of light and... oh, hell, the whole thing is too stupid to explain. The entire film is an incomprehensible mess cluttered with grimy scenery, laughable costumes, poorly-edited action sequences, extremely loud sound effects and thematic bits from Planet Of The Apes. Skip this. Based on the novel by Travolta's Scientology leader L. Ron Hubbard. With Forest Whitaker. (Beechwood, Carmike, Commerce Drive-In)

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