Space Truckers

Quel plaisir ! J’ai eu exactement ce que j’attendais d’un film de science-fiction sur des camionneurs de l’espace et peut-être même beaucoup plus. Stuart Gordon était un visionnaire. Dennis Hopper dans le rôle du héros principal (ce qui n’arrive pas souvent) est totalement cool et je ne refuserais pas de suivreses escapades cosmiques dans le cadre d’unesérie de plusieurs films. Space Truckers offre un spectacle à la fois relativement naïf, mûr et merveilleusement stylé avec, à la clé, un Hopper éloquent, de terrifiants robotstueurs et l’éternelle MILF Barbara Crampton, sans oublier un rôle au top pour Charles Dance. Que souhaiter de plus ? (24/05/2020)

Unfortunately, Gordon’s attempt at a space opera fails due to its underestimation of the basics of the genre. Space Truckers has a great and inventive concept – instead of the usual revival of fairy tales or westerns against the backdrop of colourful sci-fi worlds, it is derived from the marginal genre of trucker films (besides American classics such as Convoy, Black Dog and White Line Fever, contributions to this genre also include Japanese cinema in the series Torakku jaró and in post-revolutionary Central Europe in Fontána pre Zuzanu 2). Except Gordon and screenwriter Ted Mann not only are unable to bring a trucker ethos to their space adventure, but they do not have any likable heroes who could carry the film. The cast does not help either, as Stephen Dorf and Dennis Hopper come across rather more as hopeless clones of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo than asa well-coordinated duo. Furthermore, it is again confirmed that Gordon is a major gadgeteer where special effects are concerned, but he is not capable of or, said more precisely, at all interested in decently directing anything else. As soon as the dialogue scenes (of which there are more to see here than in his previous presentations of mechanical effects) begin, all energy is suddenly drained from the scenes and is replaced by the stiffness of television productions. The result is some sort of bizarre Star Trek or Red Dwarf, but without proper humour, charisma or adventure. (19/01/2017)