Geeks logo

Recommendation Day 4: Critically Panned But I Still Love It!

You would be hard-pressed to find any movie critic who takes 'Battlefield Earth' seriously.

By Matthew BaileyPublished 6 years ago 2 min read
Like

Every critic must have a good time reviewing this one.

Battlefield Earth

Some of you probably snickered after reading those two words, and yes I understand why you think it's a terrible movie - yet, it's one that I loved at the time and still enjoy returning to on late night binge fests of sci-fi wonderment.

If you've never seen Battlefield Earth, I'm not really surprised. If you have seen it then a part of me is sad for you, but the other part of me wants to know your reaction to the movie overall. Released in 2000 by the now defunct studio, Franchise Pictures, it was met with some of the most critical critic responses.

  • Rotten Tomatoes gives it 3%
  • The Imdb score is 2.4/10
  • Placeholder on Metacritic's list of all-time lowest-scoring film
  • Roger Ebert placed it on his "most hated" list
  • Winner of 9 total Golden Raspberry Awards

So, those are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to being in the bottom of the barrel in terms of reviews and critical responses. Yet, I'm here to make a plea that it isn't nearly as bad as the reviews claim. Battlefield Earth is one of my all-time favorite guilty pleasure movies, and here's a couple reasons why:

John 'Freakin' Travolta

The New Jersey born actor who started his career in musical theater at the age of 16 with a role in Bye Bye Birdie, and quickly became a force to be reckoned with. Travolta has a long list of successful characters in his films, everything from Grease to The Taking of Pelham 123. Now, I didn't say that every movie he's been in was good, I'm saying that his characters were great; and that is no different than his character of Terl in Battlefield Earth. He oozes the classic tropes of being a sleazeball and a power hungry villain; which is something that Travolta does really well, he is very convincing as the villain in just about every movie where he has been one.

It's A Sci-Fi Action/Adventure

Okay, well all have seen sci-fi movies, they really aren't meant to the pinnacle of dramatic experience. Often we watch a science fiction film to be taken away to another world, and Battlefield Earth does that successfully. We are introduced to an alien race (the Psychlos) and a human race that nears extinction after being enslaved in the year 3000. The human race must fight back against the alien race to regain their world.

movie
Like

About the Creator

Matthew Bailey

Husband. Father. Gamer. Cinema Lover. Mix it all together, and there I am. I love all things pop-culture and coffee; but coffee is the best.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.