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Review by Susan Granger
½ star out of 4
THE BACKGROUND AND THE CONTROVERSY: Since 1975, John Travolta has been
an outspoken devotee of Scientology, an "applied religious philosophy"
that claims to have millions of followers. Travolta credits its
founder, L. Ron Hubbard, for all his spiritual and worldly success and
fervently believes that Hubbard's writings, particularly "Dianetics,"
contains mankind's hope for salvation. Hubbard taught that Earthlings
are the pawns of aliens. He preached that psychiatry was a timeless
evil, that, in a distant galaxy, alien "psychs" devised implants that
would ultimately wreck the spiritual progress of humans. The psychs
and their "blackened souls" are to blame for sin, violence, and
crime. In addition to his religious writing, Hubbard also wrote
science-fiction and, for 15 years, Travolta has been trying bring this
Hubbard tale to the screen. But Scientology is controversial, teaching
that a "suppressive" person deserves no mercy. He may be "tricked,
lied to, sued, deprived of property, injured or destroyed by any means
by any Scientologist." A California appeals court called
Scientology's treatment of a member "manifestly outrageous," awarding
him $2.5 million for "serious emotional injury," a ruling that was
twice upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, yet the litigant has never
collected. In France, last November, Scientology staff members were
convicted of fraud. And a German court ruled that Scientology used
"inhuman and totalitarian practices." Disaffected Scientologists fear
that this movie will entice believers and reinforce Hubbard's
anti-psychiatry message. Indeed, in the "New York Daily News," John
Travolta acknowledged his mission saying, "If we can't do the things
now that we want to do, what good is the power? Let's try to get the
things done that we believe in.'"
THE REVIEW: In post-apocalyptic 3000, mankind is an endangered
species. Alien Psychlos rule, enslaving the "man-animals" they capture
as they strip the planet of its mineral resources. The villainous Terl
(John Travolta) is the Psychlo Chief of Security - a huge, snarling,
dreadlock'd, fearsome creature. The hero is Jonnie Goodboy Tyler
(Barry Pepper), a human hunter who leaves his mountain hideout,
determined to discover who the demonic Psychlos really are and how to
defeat them. Remember "The Postman"? Well, that's the ambiance - only
there's no Kevin Costner. It's a mythic good guys vs. bad guys story
but Corey Mandell's screenplay, based on Hubbard's book, has so many
sappy cliches and ludicrous, far-fetched loopholes that they incite
unintentional laughter. For example, Tyler is a primitive caveman,
barely able to communicate, yet he discovers a library and is able to
assimilate all its knowledge immediately. He then dupes the Psychlos
into believing he's mining a mountain but substitutes gold bricks from
Ft. Knox which, curiously, the ore-hungry Psychlos have never
discovered. And, finally, Tyler's rebellious cohorts from the
subterranean dungeons jump into Harrier jets - which have not been
serviced in eons - find them full of fuel and fly with precision into
a final battle with the Psychlos. So much for believability. Credit
the stylish special effects involving art/set direction to first-time
feature-film director Roger Christian - that's his background. But the
heavy-handed Christian uses an unusual "center wipe" edit device
between every scene, which is distracting and annoying. On the Granger
Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Battlefield Earth" is an awful, grim, tedious
2. "Please, I made a mistake," pleads Forest Whitaker, Travolta's
henchman. But he's shown no mercy, nor is the audience . As for the
allegation that this boring movie will recruit youth - I doubt it!
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
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