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Battlefield Earth
DVD Review by Yanman |
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I spend a lot of time on airplanes, many thousands of miles a year, and while on these planes I talk to a decent amount of people from all over the world. As soon as I mention that I review DVDs, the questions and opinions start to fly. Well I'm on a plane as I write this review, and as I pulled the Battlefield Earth DVD from my bag the person next to me commented "that is one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time", well since he is not the critic, and I am, I would say that I agree but must add that "It is the worst Sci-Fi movie I have seen at least since Supernova". I have heard that the book was good (I don't have much time to read), and I think that is what makes this movie so much more disappointing to so many people, they expected more based on the book. In the year 3000 the earth as we know it has been destroyed, the cities are gone and humans have been reduced to slaves. It was destroyed by an alien race, a race on a conquest to find extraterrestrial worlds, conquer them, and then mine all their natural resources. John Travolta stars as the evil alien security chief Terl. Can the remaining rebel humans, led by Jonnie Goodboy Tyler (Barry Pepper) have any chance to overthrow the more powerful and more technical savvy aliens? While the video and audio quality are both very good, they still are not perfect. Offered in its original widescreen aspect and in "enhanced for widescreen TVs" anamorphic. While the video is ok during most of the movie some of the darker scenes do exhibit a large amount of video "grain" and even some artifacting. The 5.1 Dolby Digital audio is also better then average, with deep bass and impressive special effects. Special Features include the following; Commentaries by director Roger Christian and production designer Patrick Tatopolous, Behind-the-scenes documentary, alien makeup tests, creative visual effects feature, storyboard montage, and more. While it certainly does not have as many extras as some of the "super special 2-disk sets" that have become the bar setters, there are plenty of extras here for your average movie. It sad when a great book is made into a movie, and most if not all, of the books fans feel betrayed. Worse then that however is when the movie can't stand on its, own and everyone that views it is left wonder why it was ever made. If you are just looking for special effects and great alien makeup, this DVD certain does provide that. A great story, however seems to be completely missing.
This DVD was reviewed on Yanman.com's Reference Theater #1, using a Toshiba SD-5109 DVD player, Toshiba TW56X81, and M&K 750 THX Speakers. Panamax protects all systems at Yanman.com. |
Winner Worst Movie on DVD 2001
Battlefield Earth "the person next to me commented "that is one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time" Staring: John Travolta Directed By: Roger Christian Running time: 119 Min Bonus Materials
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