Le Pionnier de l'espace

Trailer tagline: IS THIS THE ASTOUNDING ANSWER CAN A MOTION PICTURE FORESEE THE FUTURE AND LIFT THE VEIL OF THE FIRST MAN INTO SPACE? WHAT DO YOU THINK? FAR AND WIDE THE MOST STARTLING MOST UNEXPECTED ADVENTURE FILM EVER MADE!!! First of all: the tagline is completely wrong and misleading. It's not about the main character's expedition, it's only about breaking the altitude record of 250,000 feet above the ground, about "touching" the place of the satellites and it's not a mutation due to radiation somewhere in New Mexico, but an unfortunate contact with some sort of radio storm (which here looks like a snow blizzard) high in space, resulting in our hero's (hereafter Dan) body and spacesuit growing a sort of solid crust and Dan turning into a monster that looks a bit like Tox from the Toxic Avenger franchise. The mutant Dan roams the countryside, kills cattle, a nurse, a couple of drivers and a policeman, and even gives the keen viewer a little hint of a car chase. The most interesting thing about the whole film, however, is its loud advertising campaign, which, surprisingly, did not promise a cinematic eighth wonder of the world, but a true insight into the nature and purpose of space conquest, while the second half of the film is a simple murder mystery with a monster running around and his brother trying to put an end to it. I believe that on paper it would have looked better than the final result. You can hear some deeper thoughts at the end in the science centre, when for the last 15 minutes the monster is almost continuously on screen and thanks to the oxygen supply in the oxygen chamber he’s able to make his confession and some kind of moral appeal, but otherwise there is no horror. The film isn't stupid, not even in a particularly funny or offensive way, it's just a classic product of the era that won't surprise the genre savvy viewer. A film that deserves an average rating. (14/05/2014)