Space Truckers

This made my day! I got exactly what I expected from a sci-fi movie about space truckers, maybe even a lot more. Stuart Gordon was a trash visionary. Dennis Hopper as the (infrequent) main hero is utterly cool and I’d be happy to watch his space getaways in the context of a series of multiple films. Space Truckers is a rather naive, yet self-conscious and wonderfully stylized show with an eloquent Hopper, terrifying killing robots, the time-frozen MILF Barbara Crampton and a top-notch role for Charles Dance. What’s not to love? (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)