Travolta's battlefield BOMB

by Jeff Rodack

John Travolta's new sci-fi flick is being zapped by critics, who have overwhelmingly dubbed the new movie an all-time stinker!

"Save your money and stay at home," seems to be the almost unanimous opinion of movie reviewers nationwide of Battlefield Earth, an $80 million adaptation of the late Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's novel.

"It may be a bit early to make such judgments," writes Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times, "but Battlefield Earth may turn out to be the worst movie of the century."

And Jack Mathews of the New York Daily News cuts loose with both barrels, writing, "Battlefield Earth is one of the darkest, ugliest, most uninvolving and incomprehensiblemajor-studio fantasies I've ever seen."

A Scientologist in real life, Travolta plays a sadistic 9-foot-tall extraterrestrial villain, and critics say his acting is almost as bad as the character. "When it comes to star John Travolta's performance, well," says Rita Kempley in the Washington Post, "hammy William Shatner's hairpiece is more convincing."

Travolta is telling pals that he's very disappointed by the reviews, but he's confident audiences will see the flick differently.

"I didn't make the movie for the critics," the 46-year-old actor told a pal. "I made it for the public-- and I'm sure they'll enjoy it."