Battlefield Earth
	Rated PG-13
	Runtime: 2hr 10min
	Staring: John Travolta, Kim Coates, Barry Pepper, Forest Whitaker
	MFG Rating: 2/5

This movie didn't suck near as much as we had been lead to believe. We were a little late catching this movie, and almost all of the reviews I've read call this one a real stinker. Many seem to be trying to one-up each other seeing who can slam it the hardest including many people calling it one of the worst movies ever.

So going in our we were expecting the worst. This movie is not good, however we did not think it was as bad as other critics. And it's a long ways from deserving to be put in the class with things like Showgirls in the fight for the title of worst movie of all time.

The story is about Earth in the future after it has been conquered by a group of aliens led by John Travolta's character. Take a Klingon, give him a facelift then ship him to Jamaica to get his hair done, and that's kinda what these aliens look like. They've turned Earth into a mining planet and hunt "man animals" to use as slave labor.

There are far too many problems with this movie to list all of them. There were a few good visuals, but overall for a movie this big the special effects were largely cheesy. It is also painfully obvious this is a highly condensed adaptation of a book that would've probably taken a 4 hour epic to even begin to do justice. Several characters that appear to have significant roles in the movie's plot are just thrown in with no development, and the overacting is horrific. And if you want to pick at this movie for technical accuracy, there's a smorgasbord of flaws. You'll need to suspend disbelief at the door.

I think alot of the people trashing the movie are those who have read, and are fans of, the book it is based upon. It is quite difficult to do justice to a major science fiction novel with a 2 hour feature film. And this film proves it. I think on the other end of the spectrum that this movie may be difficult viewing for someone who isn't a big science fiction fan as the movie literally flashes the title and gets underway immediately with no credits, plot setup or anything. You're left to figure it out on your own as it unfolds.

We just movies on pure entertainment value though. We base our reviews on how well we were entertained while watching it. Based upon that, we do give it 2 stars, it doesn't suck bad enough to warrant the dreaded 1 star rating. However, at the same time we certainly do not endorse going to the theater and forking over $7+ to see this beast. Save it and catch it on video, I have a feeling you wont have to wait long, and it should make a good DVD. However, even then, I'd still skip it unless you're a SciFi fan.

- Billy Bob