When you sit down to see a movie, you know suspension of disbelief is a must. Especially when the film is a science fiction. You know a lot of things in the movie can't really happen, but you can let yourself believe you can for those two hours you're immersed in another world. Unless, of course, the movie is too ludicrous and everything that happens screams disbelief. Battlefield Earth has enough unbelievable situations for three terrible movies. (Warning, minor spoilers ahead).
The premise of the film asks you to accept that a supreme alien race conquered Earth in 9 minutes, and then for 1,000 years have reaped the land for natural resources, namely gold. So a civilization so advanced it can take control of a planet so quickly, hasn't found all the gold on Earth yet? And hasn't even found Fort Knox yet? And they don't have a clue that humans are intelligent enough to operate mining equipment (They laugh at the thought of humans being able to do any work), yet they live in the ruins of Denver, surrounded by obvious signs of an intelligent race which they enslaved. At one point in the film, even, these humans, who have been forced to live in caves or cages, find an army base filled with still working planes and weapons, and learn how to operate everything as good as any experienced pilot or soldier, in only a few days. I could go on; these are just the tip of the iceberg.
Besides the ridiculous leaps of belief the movie asks you to make, there is more to despise here. For example, the pacing is atrocious. In the first 5 minutes of the movie, you meet Jonnie (Barry Pepper) as he returns to his home tribe, says a few words to the woman we're told he's romantically involved with, gets in a fight with the head of the tribe about how they should venture out of their caves, and leaves. The film doesn't show us how they live, explore their culture, examine the relationship Jonnie has neither with the head of the tribe nor with his girlfriend, or even give Jonnie any in depth characterization. Instead, the whole movie moves so fast, we don't know these characters any better then the extras without any speaking lines.
However, there are a few things to admire in this film. Primarily, there are some beautiful scenery shots of mountains, fields, and cities overgrown and taken back by the wilds. There are even a few good ideas peppered throughout the film. Just don't blink, you might miss them.
If you're not at all fussy about intelligent (or even somewhat believable) science fiction, or character development, or even acting (a can of worms I didn't open, John Travolta is terrible as the bad alien Terl), then Battlefield Earth might be worth a quick glance. Otherwise stay away. Stay far, far away.