The Sci-Fi Flop Roger Ebert Predicted Would Become The King Of Bad Movie Jokes

"Battlefield Earth" is one of the worst movies ever made. Period. Besides the novelty of seeing John Travolta play an evil alien with dreadlocks, there isn't much to enjoy about the Roger Christian-directed sci-fi flop (which is based on a novel by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology). The plot — which centers around humankind's mission to stop tyrannical extra-terrestrials — is nonsensical. The acting is hokey. Almost every shot is a Dutch angle for no good reason, and the color palette is aggressively blue. The film is now regarded as a joke — a fate Roger Ebert predicted when he reviewed the flick back in 2000:

"Some movies run off the rails. This one is like the train crash in 'The Fugitive.' I watched it in mounting gloom, realizing I was witnessing something historic, a film that for decades to come will be the punch line of jokes about bad movies."

That isn't even the best quote from Ebert's indictment of "Battlefield Earth." In another paragraph, he compares the experience to sharing a bus ride with someone who hasn't bathed in a while, noting that everything about the film looks dirty in an oppressive way. However, he defended the film against the accusations that it was made to lure viewers into the cult of Scientology, as the movie is far too ridiculous to take any ideological stance.

Ebert's review echoes the views of many other critics. Yet, for some reason, "Battlefield Earth" doesn't even crack the top seven worst Travolta movies according to Rotten Tomatoes. However, some of the film's creators are the first to admit that the sci-fi turkey is utterly absurd.

Roger Ebert was known for trashing lots of bad movies, so it isn't surprising to learn that he hated "Battlefield Earth." What is quite surprising, though, is that "Battlefield Earth" screenwriter J.D. Shapiro has apologized for the movie, comparing it to a train wreck and blaming its existence on his downstairs region. (Short story: He attended Scientology meet-ups hoping to meet women, and that's what led to him getting the writing gig for this sci-fi dud.)

In some ways, "Battlefield Earth" was born from horniness, so it was never going to be high art. But Shapiro probably never expected to contribute to a project that has become so universally mocked and ridiculed by film fandom, with some folks even comparing it to the work of non-human animals. As one Redditor wrote:

"I refuse to believe actual human beings worked on this movie. It feels like a film put together by two blackout drunk bonobo apes."

Still, Shapiro took the jokes in good jest, and he even showed up at the Razzies to accept the awards that "Battlefield Earth" won. The first step towards forgiveness is owning the mistake and apologizing, so Shapiro deserves some credit for trying to make amends — but can he ever truly be forgiven for "Battlefield Earth?" Only time will tell.