2000s Battlefield Earth was critically mauled.
People went to work.
The Los Angeles Times reported a slight drop in the average cost of fuel.
Then-president Bill Clinton sought stiffer penalties for poorly manufactured products aimed at children.
AndBattlefield Earthappeared in some 3,000 cinemas across America.
The critical reaction, on the other hand, was borderline hysterical.
A cross betweenStar Warsand the smell of ass said Jon Stewart onThe Daily Show.
Everything aboutBattlefield Earthsucks, added Jonathon Ross on Film 2000.
IsBattlefield Earthreally as bad as everybody said it was?
More than a decade on, isnt it about time the movie went through a period of critical reassessment?
Join us, reader, as we take a stab at find ten remarkable things about this oft-maligned film.
Terl (John Travolta) is the most cunning of the Psychlos, which isnt saying much.
As an experiment, Terl gives Jonnie back the gun, which he promptly uses to kill another Psychlo.
Well, Ill be damned, Terl says.
One final example of the Psychlos stupidity.
Clearly, theyd never bothered to watchGoldfinger, the idiots.
Then there are the humans, who shout a lot and seldom blink.
and lots of frantically waving arms.
Battlefield Earthis a film with its acting volume turned way up to eleven.
Its as though someones standing behind the camera shouting, Emote, damn you, emote!
like Dr Zoidbergs mad filmmaking Uncle Harold inFuturama.
He wears a huge cod-piece, and hes fond of making grandiose statements while drunk in a bar.
Like a drunken Gielgud, Travolta mugs and crows throughBattlefield Earthas though his life depends on it.
In another, he shrieks, Exterminate all man-animals at will.
In still another, he says to a barman, Unfortunately, Im not your friend.
Terl, you see, is science fictions Basil Fawlty, and Ker is his Manuel.
Like Basil Fawlty, Terl fawns all over his superiors, who he hopes will send him home.
Also, Travoltas presence in the film is damn near inescapable.
He won an Oscar for his work onStar Wars,and was nominated for another in 1979 forAlien.
Hed also worked with George Lucas as second-unit director onReturn Of The JediandThe Phantom Menace.
Instead,Battlefield Earthis extraordinarily, profoundly ugly almost to the point where its fascinating to behold.
Why did a movie with previously talented people on it end up looking so hideous?
I think theBattlefield Earthproduction budget was around about $10 or $12 million.
We guarantee your liver will be screaming by the end of the first act.
Everythings set for a scintillating final confrontation and in some ways,Battlefield Earthdelivers.
Still, it does give the film a satisfying explosion to end the movie on.
The story behindBattlefield Earths screenplay is almost as murky as the finished films lighting.
The result, as you may have gathered, is a lumpy mess.
WhenBattlefield Earthcleaned up at the Razzies, Shapiro published an apology in the New York Post.
My screenplay was darker, grittier and had a very compelling story with rich characters, Shapiro wrote.
Somewhere in the numerous drafts written by Shapiro and then Mandell, some form of storytelling madness took hold.
Reviled thoughBattlefield Earthwas, not everybody hated it.
The website JoBlo and the San Francisco Chronicle were among the few who looked kindly on it.
And so did George Lucas and Quentin Tarantino.
This is amazing stuff.
Yes, more than a decade after its release, the promotional page forBattlefield Earthisstillon the web.
Look at John Travoltas face how happy he looks.
But I just loved this film.
Wait ten, twelve years, itll all come round… Youre gonna go through hell.
It wasnt very pleasant, Christian admitted, eight years on.
As is often the case,Battlefield Earthwasnt quite the financial flop it was depicted as.
Has Tarantinos implication thatBattlefield Earthwould eventually be regarded as a cult classic come to pass?
Maybe it needs another few years in the vault.
It is, nevertheless, an unforgettable film, if not always for the right reasons.
Because out of all the sucky movies, mine is the suckiest.
