It came out in 2000. It received my all-time favorite scathing review: "It may be too early to say, but this may well be the worst film of the century."
My head was on a swivel watching "Battlefield Earth" in the cinema, I was shaking it so much. I made some notes afterwards. "The Psychlos are comical; evil aliens in trench coats and dreadlocks, with technology that looks like rejected props from *Wild Wild West.* They can teleport between planets but their shuttles are clumsy, sluggish flying boxcars. Psychlos can't hit a moving target any more than your typical movie heavies. Terl was utterly comical; mugging, guffawing, and every bit as stupid as his buffoon assistant Ker. Ker was a caricature. How did the primitives learn to fly Harriers so well in seven days? Who taught them to shoot M-16s and Stingers? How come the Psychlos could defeat all Earth's armed forces in nine minutes yet crumpled so laughably against the primitives?"
My favorite bit in the film is when Terl and Ker are watching Johnny try to escape and discuss bribing him with food. John Travolta is in character asking what a “man-animal wants to eat?” But Forest Whitaker in that moment has an almost “F my life” look to his face and grunts in annoyance when answering “ there’s no way of knowing that, sir.” My buddy and I joke about that moment a lot and Whitaker is clearly questioning his life’s choices in that moment.
Hubbard's "strength" (if you call it that) as a writer was in quantity, not quality. Chock full of cliched quips and regurgitated tropes. He would write stream-of-consciousness and then retcon it post facto. Plot and structure never got in the way for Hubbard.
@@amberlopez7477in a bunker they found some flight sims and somehow it was enough for the humans to learn how to fly planes after just 2 weeks, even though in real life it takes months or years
The humans found learning devices that uploaded knowledge into their brains a la The Matrix. The Harriers were in some special underground storage. Yeah.. its bad
This movie produced two feelings in me when I rented it back in the day just to satisfy my morbid curiosity- intense boredom and severe nausea from all the dutch-angles were those feelings.
The script was awful (among so many other things) I mean, why were the Psychlos portrayed as so monumentally stupid? One scene has Barry Pepper’s character shoot and kills a Psychlo soldier. Travolta the alien leader didn’t see it happen and doesn’t believe it. So he just gives him the gun back, where Pepper shoots another Psychlo in front of him, and only then is he convinced!?! How can these alien villains be taken as a serious threat when they’re shown to be so dumb all throughout the film? I haven’t red the novel, but I’m thinking aliens couldn’t have been portrayed this inept in the book?
I've always enjoyed the book right up until they "win", once they get rid of the Psyclos, thats when it really just stops being fun. I've read that first 500 or so pages so many times.
The crazy thing is, the book is great. All the Scientology crap aside. It needed to be a long form TV show. It is premium sci-fi material. The movie completely made everything about the book ridiculous. I watched this and was promptly horrified. Nothing about the book was conveyed here. L. Ron Hubbard may be responsible for a godawful cult, but he was a good sci-fi writer. He really over reached. Now "Mission: Earth" will never be realized on screen. Getting huge stars involved in your project is a non starter. They ruin everything.
Hey respect for your comment just curious you ever read the book FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard? It is 1 of my favorite works of literature and or forms of any kind of entertainment I've ever come across!!! It genuinely scared me to my core with some of it's themes and execution!!! Ok let me know!
Probably the worst big-budget movie ever made, story-wise. There have been bigger flops, but this film is absolute dog poo from start to finish. I'll take Water World, The 13th Warrior, The Lone Ranger, and even Cutthroat Island over this steaming pile of excrement any day of the week and twice on Sunday!
I could potentially see how Travolta got that much money for his role in the movie Swordfish, but for General's Daughter he got the same amount??? Seriously that's laughable
Bringing up " a sound of thunder " could have been good if money would have been spent. The Ray Bradbury story on Ray Bradbury theater ( tv ) showed promise. But the terrible cgi killed it. To make matters worse they actually got Ben Kingsley in it!
Berry Pepper seems like he would throw his own mother under the bus, just saying....I could potentially appreciate his honesty, but, I don't see much loyalty In him from what I just heard he said throughout this video!
I agree with the comments that the book is outstanding. When I first read the book, I didn’t know much about L. Ron Hubbard or Scientology. I came across the book on the shelf at a bookstore, back when there were still bookstore, and it sounded interesting. The reason the movie sucks, in my opinion, is because they had to leave too much of the story out and the poor adaptation of the alien race and their technology onto the screen. In addition, the Hubbard/Scientology connection was like having a buzzard tied around the movie’s neck.
I watched this turd on some cable movie channel. The only thing that made it watchable was that the "social media" site I hung out on at the time had threads for each showing by time zone and we all had a blast roasting the crap out of this movie.
In high school I read the roughly 1100 page book in a week and enjoyed it, took me nearly a week to watch the movie, it wasn't anywhere near as good as the book.
To bad they screwed up the movie because the book was awesome. It really should be a mini series because the movie only got up to pg 300 of a 1000 page book. There was still a lot of story left.
I never went to see this, nor rent it because after seeing the trailer it was pretty clear that it is a pile of shit. In fact, most Travolta movies are utter nonsense. He's mediocre in most of his work. He is as bad as Nic Cage.
I'm currently listening to the really engaging audible audiobook version of the book. Its great. I watched the movie shortly after it came out. Its awful. But listening to the book, I kind of wish it could be turned into a long form TV Show, or better yet a gritty animated series. As animation could likely easily capture just hiw much bigger & stronger than humans the Psychlos are supposed to be. There's a scene from the book where Turl gets attacked by a Grizzly Bear & his internal monologue is that he supposes the grizzly MIGHT have weighed almost up to his weight. Almost.
A lot of this is obviously rumors and not true. No director wanted to make it? Hollywood pumps out terrible movies every year there are no shortage of directors willing to make bad movies especially with the fat paycheck this would have come with. It definitely seems like people want to hate it, prob because of its connection with scientology. To say it is one of the worst movies ever made is beyond ridiculous. There are some movies that are unbearable slow, horrible acting, offensive or gross. This film is very watchable with creative ideas, decent music and acting. It is silly and maybe boring depending on your tastes but it isnt anywhere close to being THAT bad.
By the way, I love the movie: Sound of Thunder! Don't get me wrong, it's cheesy at times, and some of the execution of the themes are questionable, but I love the overall idea of it sincerely!!! Thoughts?? 🤔🤗
If you can appreciate cheesy scifi schlock, you will like this movie. Some movies are so bad they are good. Schindler's List of scifi it is not. That is delusional. This more like if John Carpenter made a scifi comedy.
If this was made for TV then its ok. I thought the story was original in that it focuses on the perspective of the alien invaders and their politics. A race purely profit driven in its conquests devoid of remorse or sympathy. I wonder where this could've gone with a proper budget etc.
The writing of the film as you state isn’t accurate. Having heard it from Corey Mandell personally. I believe the channel film courage features a video of him explaining what happened.
@@stvdagger8074 These weren't insurmountable problems, but it's because writers were used to plot holes being hand waved away by the audience if the movie was "fun". We still do that with modern movie. But if the movie sucked, we see the plot holes 100x easier.
I absolutely LOVED this book! I awaited the movie with bated breath! Then, sadness and puking! Terrible movie! Peace! This story should have been treated like Star Wars, with at least 3 or more movies!
I've watched the movie a few times, just for the hell of it. "LRH" was a hack of a science fiction writer when compared to his contemporaries. Clark, Heinlein, Asimov, Bradburry, Ellison, Roddenberry. All far superior writers, compared to "LRH."
It came out in 2000. It received my all-time favorite scathing review: "It may be too early to say, but this may well be the worst film of the century."
The “Schindler’s List of science fiction”!?! That is wild….
Worth seeing just for one of the most hammy performances ever, Travolta himself. Hilarious.
My head was on a swivel watching "Battlefield Earth" in the cinema, I was shaking it so much. I made some notes afterwards.
"The Psychlos are comical; evil aliens in trench coats and dreadlocks, with technology that looks like rejected props from *Wild Wild West.* They can teleport between planets but their shuttles are clumsy, sluggish flying boxcars. Psychlos can't hit a moving target any more than your typical movie heavies. Terl was utterly comical; mugging, guffawing, and every bit as stupid as his buffoon assistant Ker. Ker was a caricature. How did the primitives learn to fly Harriers so well in seven days? Who taught them to shoot M-16s and Stingers? How come the Psychlos could defeat all Earth's armed forces in nine minutes yet crumpled so laughably against the primitives?"
I love B grade scifi cheesy movies. The lower the budget, the better. And if you see the cables or some mike above, that's a keeper.
My favorite bit in the film is when Terl and Ker are watching Johnny try to escape and discuss bribing him with food.
John Travolta is in character asking what a “man-animal wants to eat?” But Forest Whitaker in that moment has an almost “F my life” look to his face and grunts in annoyance when answering “ there’s no way of knowing that, sir.”
My buddy and I joke about that moment a lot and Whitaker is clearly questioning his life’s choices in that moment.
"DO YOU WANT LUNCH"
The problem with the movie is that Hubbard was not that good of a writer. Not hating, just saying.
Hubbard's "strength" (if you call it that) as a writer was in quantity, not quality. Chock full of cliched quips and regurgitated tropes. He would write stream-of-consciousness and then retcon it post facto. Plot and structure never got in the way for Hubbard.
The only movie I straight up demanded a refund for and walked out of. This thing is Hot Garbage.
I think this is one of the first movies I saw specifically because I heard how bad it was and was curious. It’s a bad habit I still have to this day.
The protagonist is "Jonnie Goodboy"? Really? Was "Hero Mann" already taken? "Turbofist Laserpunch"?
So how the hell them jets and fuel NOT ROT over a thousand years or whatever 😂
How did they learn to pilot them?
@@amberlopez7477the flight simulators of course
@@amberlopez7477in a bunker they found some flight sims and somehow it was enough for the humans to learn how to fly planes after just 2 weeks, even though in real life it takes months or years
The humans found learning devices that uploaded knowledge into their brains a la The Matrix. The Harriers were in some special underground storage. Yeah.. its bad
I need to tilt my phone repeatedly to view the various scenes straight
I love this movie!
You my friend are rarer than a unicorn 🦄….😅😂
There’s a lot of Scientologists in this comment section. And btw, the only “outback” we have in Canada is the restaurant chain.
He was not a the founder of the church of Scientology. He was the founder of the cult of Scientology …very different. 😉
🥺 but i loved this comedy ! from John Travolta's alien accent to cavemen learning to fly Harriers!! 😂
This movie feels like it was 25years ago
I have and love this movie. Its one of my favorites.
Someone was WAY too exited to have a DUTCH head for the Camera SYSTEM - this movie hurts my neck
This movie produced two feelings in me when I rented it back in the day just to satisfy my morbid curiosity- intense boredom and severe nausea from all the dutch-angles were those feelings.
I actually liked it.Not sure why it's so hated..
The script was awful (among so many other things) I mean, why were the Psychlos portrayed as so monumentally stupid? One scene has Barry Pepper’s character shoot and kills a Psychlo soldier. Travolta the alien leader didn’t see it happen and doesn’t believe it. So he just gives him the gun back, where Pepper shoots another Psychlo in front of him, and only then is he convinced!?! How can these alien villains be taken as a serious threat when they’re shown to be so dumb all throughout the film? I haven’t red the novel, but I’m thinking aliens couldn’t have been portrayed this inept in the book?
This is my favorite movie that's based on a true story.
I've always enjoyed the book right up until they "win", once they get rid of the Psyclos, thats when it really just stops being fun. I've read that first 500 or so pages so many times.
"First Draft=Last Draft, just get that shit out there " LRH
The crazy thing is, the book is great. All the Scientology crap aside. It needed to be a long form TV show. It is premium sci-fi material. The movie completely made everything about the book ridiculous. I watched this and was promptly horrified. Nothing about the book was conveyed here. L. Ron Hubbard may be responsible for a godawful cult, but he was a good sci-fi writer. He really over reached. Now "Mission: Earth" will never be realized on screen. Getting huge stars involved in your project is a non starter. They ruin everything.
Hey respect for your comment just curious you ever read the book FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard? It is 1 of my favorite works of literature and or forms of any kind of entertainment I've ever come across!!! It genuinely scared me to my core with some of it's themes and execution!!! Ok let me know!
@johnjamesleahy4065 I have. It's on the shelf. Great book. For all of his shortcomings, he was a really great writer.
One of my favourite books
@@IHRZGHKIP
@@gregstewart5081
The story IS the truth of history.
Oh my... Crazy movie...
Have you ever seen one Demon monster a beast Ahghhhhhhh!
This book written by Hubbard was about bear’s invading earth. I read the book it was so bad I almost walked out of my own house
Probably the worst big-budget movie ever made, story-wise. There have been bigger flops, but this film is absolute dog poo from start to finish. I'll take Water World, The 13th Warrior, The Lone Ranger, and even Cutthroat Island over this steaming pile of excrement any day of the week and twice on Sunday!
John Revolting
I could potentially see how Travolta got that much money for his role in the movie Swordfish, but for General's Daughter he got the same amount??? Seriously that's laughable
Actually The General’s Daughter out grossed Swordfish and cost less to produce.
Travolta sucks.
@@deecook8393do tell, lol
Dutch angles. So many dutch angles. Entire scenes shot in dutch angles.
Travolta wanted to make this dreck right after GREASE
Bringing up " a sound of thunder " could have been good if money would have been spent. The Ray Bradbury story on Ray Bradbury theater ( tv ) showed promise. But the terrible cgi killed it. To make matters worse they actually got Ben Kingsley in it!
Berry Pepper seems like he would throw his own mother under the bus, just saying....I could potentially appreciate his honesty, but, I don't see much loyalty In him from what I just heard he said throughout this video!
Loyalty to what?? He did a job & collected a paycheck. It's not like he swore a blood oath to Xenu or something
Leverage!
I actually liked this film. It's so bad, it's good. MAAAAAN...ANNNNNIIIIMAAAALLLLL!
I read the book, it would make an ok short story if you cut about 2/3 of it.
Canadian outback? lol
I’ve always kinda liked it!🤷♀️
Not going to lie, I like this movie. I think it honestly get's more hate then it deserves.
@@spencers4121 absolutely!
I agree with the comments that the book is outstanding. When I first read the book, I didn’t know much about L. Ron Hubbard or Scientology. I came across the book on the shelf at a bookstore, back when there were still bookstore, and it sounded interesting. The reason the movie sucks, in my opinion, is because they had to leave too much of the story out and the poor adaptation of the alien race and their technology onto the screen. In addition, the Hubbard/Scientology connection was like having a buzzard tied around the movie’s neck.
I liked the movie too.
🤣 This film was Both hilarious and ridiculous While you were still learning To spell your name I Was being Trained to conquer galaxy 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I watched this turd on some cable movie channel. The only thing that made it watchable was that the "social media" site I hung out on at the time had threads for each showing by time zone and we all had a blast roasting the crap out of this movie.
In high school I read the roughly 1100 page book in a week and enjoyed it, took me nearly a week to watch the movie, it wasn't anywhere near as good as the book.
To bad they screwed up the movie because the book was awesome.
It really should be a mini series because the movie only got up to pg 300 of a 1000 page book. There was still a lot of story left.
I've always liked it and have never understood the harsh critism for a clever film that might have become a cult classic had it a lesser-known cast.
I never went to see this, nor rent it because after seeing the trailer it was pretty clear that it is a pile of shit. In fact, most Travolta movies are utter nonsense. He's mediocre in most of his work. He is as bad as Nic Cage.
How dare you. Nicholas Cage is a national treasure!
I read the book, I liked it very much.
I kinda like it. It's boisterous, stupid, loud, but entertaining.
I'm currently listening to the really engaging audible audiobook version of the book. Its great.
I watched the movie shortly after it came out. Its awful.
But listening to the book, I kind of wish it could be turned into a long form TV Show, or better yet a gritty animated series. As animation could likely easily capture just hiw much bigger & stronger than humans the Psychlos are supposed to be. There's a scene from the book where Turl gets attacked by a Grizzly Bear & his internal monologue is that he supposes the grizzly MIGHT have weighed almost up to his weight. Almost.
Let a sleeping dog lie. It was pure garbage.
Every shot is a Dutch angle lol
Could have been better had they not rushed the story, two or three movies could have helped.
I did not think it was that bad, it was not great but it was not bad to me. I didn't even know it was linked to the founder of Scientology, however.
never watched it. the special effects look quite good, though the dutch angles might make me feel sick and are unnecessary.
I didnt think it was that bad. I didnt dig the main actor personally in this. But i wanted to see what happened next lol
You must be a trump supporter. That's exactly how they think.
Celebrities are so worthless they have to rely on fast food in the wilderness. Lmao.
A lot of this is obviously rumors and not true. No director wanted to make it? Hollywood pumps out terrible movies every year there are no shortage of directors willing to make bad movies especially with the fat paycheck this would have come with. It definitely seems like people want to hate it, prob because of its connection with scientology. To say it is one of the worst movies ever made is beyond ridiculous. There are some movies that are unbearable slow, horrible acting, offensive or gross. This film is very watchable with creative ideas, decent music and acting. It is silly and maybe boring depending on your tastes but it isnt anywhere close to being THAT bad.
It's an D.O.A. from the beginning.
I liked pluto nash
Absolutely amazing book I would highly recommend reading it. The movie was absolute trash and is it should never be watched by anyone.
By the way, I love the movie: Sound of Thunder! Don't get me wrong, it's cheesy at times, and some of the execution of the themes are questionable, but I love the overall idea of it sincerely!!! Thoughts?? 🤔🤗
It sucked!!
It has some good parts and quality effects. But overall yea it's poor.
Great book. Terrible movie.
The trailer was incredible. The movie yeah nah mate.
It was an entertaining film and it only gets trashed because of the Scientology connection. There are many, many worse films.
Bomb, lowest rating. BAAADDD!
I love some parts of this movie, and I hate some parts of this movie.
I’d rather watch my wife Rachel Zegler in Snow White than this Scientology movie. 😂😂😂
I know I'm in the minority but the movie wasn't that bad and the book was pretty good. No I'm nt a scientologist.
The book is awesome, they took a quarter of the book and about a quarter of that material and tried to make a movie lol.
i remember liking the book, read it twice. I hate the author and I think the film is just as bad
If you can appreciate cheesy scifi schlock, you will like this movie. Some movies are so bad they are good. Schindler's List of scifi it is not. That is delusional. This more like if John Carpenter made a scifi comedy.
The most horrible film I ever saw in the theater.
If this was made for TV then its ok. I thought the story was original in that it focuses on the perspective of the alien invaders and their politics. A race purely profit driven in its conquests devoid of remorse or sympathy. I wonder where this could've gone with a proper budget etc.
The writing of the film as you state isn’t accurate. Having heard it from Corey Mandell personally.
I believe the channel film courage features a video of him explaining what happened.
One of my fav. movies - easily as good as Starship Troopers. I never have understood the hate directed towards it.
John Travolta hamming it up - The idea that cavemen can learn to fly Harriers in a day, and DUTCH ANGLES non-stop
"Easily as good as Starship Troopers" LMAO, you're tripping. It's a dogshit movie and it's insulting you'd even mention it in the same sentence as ST.
Then you should watch it again when sober
@@apreviousseagle836 Also that Harriers can still fly after being abandoned for a 1000 years - Even the fuel would have been useless.
@@stvdagger8074 These weren't insurmountable problems, but it's because writers were used to plot holes being hand waved away by the audience if the movie was "fun". We still do that with modern movie. But if the movie sucked, we see the plot holes 100x easier.
I absolutely LOVED this book! I awaited the movie with bated breath! Then, sadness and puking! Terrible movie! Peace! This story should have been treated like Star Wars, with at least 3 or more movies!
Its what happens when a cult makes a movie
The movie was decent lol
Sure, if you're comparing it to The Amazing Bulk 🤣
Great book. Horrible movie!
Horrible movie, tragically funny 😂
Good book, inaccurate lousy movie.
This was a turd
I don’t care, I like this movie. Very entertaining.
I've watched the movie a few times, just for the hell of it. "LRH" was a hack of a science fiction writer when compared to his contemporaries. Clark, Heinlein, Asimov, Bradburry, Ellison, Roddenberry. All far superior writers, compared to "LRH."
The sad thing is this movie is better than anything Ron Howard has even done. He should of directed it😂
No way is this trash better than Willow.
@@ryandonovan5205 I'm just going to assume some day drinking was happening here. Either that or you're Travolta.
@IHRZGHKIP they got me chained up in the basement of a scientology church, they made me sat it smiley ☺️
@@ryandonovan5205 That makes sense!
Really? Better than Apollo 13? What drugs are you on? Whatever they are, lower the dosage.