John Travolta has weighed in with his fair share of half-arsed performances for big bucks, but his performance as the evil Terl in Battlefield Earth is enough to stun even the most committed interlocutor into compete silence. The cameras used to shoot Battlefield Earth must have had rot lying on the lense, with the whole picture taking on a grey, sickly, appearance from beginning to end. Everything on screen in this film appears unsightly and infected, but none more so than the antagonist Terl - a character creation that manages to bury Travolta's winning smile under a dirty goatee, and even dirtier sneer. With bedraggled tubes stuffed up his nose and mannerisms consisting of a spit and scowl, Terl is abhorrent company in what is a staggeringly ugly film from the off. It's easy to judge in hindsight, but what chance did Travolta think he had of making a guy who looks like a futuristic tramp from outer space appealing? Nope, JT's charm is nowhere to be seen, and he is unable to save Terl - or the film - from being an addition to the bulge of the Hollywood failure pile. What did we miss? Can you think of any other big Hollywood names that were sent crashing down by bad movies? Feel free to list them in the comments below!
