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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nice little suprise, April 14, 2003
A friend put this on for me the other night and the minute I heard the words "Dennis Hopper" and "low budget sci fi" I groaned with anticipated discomfort, but was pleasantly suprised by Space Truckers' contents. While far from profound, the film's acceptable Odyssy-esque story takes second chair to a wacked-out, 100% convincing vision of the future and the community of characters who inhabit the portions of it that the film concerns itself with, some of which was quite memorable;A pirate thug named "Scummy", square zero-g pigs, a bar/diner set in a revolving hub ala 2001 to simulate gravity, self-defense mechanisms with apparent senses of humor, and an uproarious, innappropriately hilarious death machine monster that is right out of Red Dwarf. The film has an irreverent view about it's idiom, manages some effective sex appeal amidst the laughs, and has a kind of upbeat infectiveness that might be tied into the comic book/cartoonishly bright color palette that manages to seep into almost every shot. And in the end what impressed me the most about Space Trucker was that, like the great satires that have come before it who also fashion their own self-contained universes where our laws of physics might not necessarily apply [The Simpson's and Shakes the Clown coming to mind immediately], the filmmakers wisely kept within the framework of the genre they were creating for -- schlocky modestly budgeted sci fi -- and by not bothering to aim any higher produced one of the most entertaining films I have sat through in months. Highly recommended, and destined for some sort of "cult" status when it is rediscovered.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Square pigs, killer robots, and crotch engines oh my....., June 27, 2003
Okay, this wasn't a bad movie, but it wasn't a great one, either. I think the biggest problem this movie had was the script. It just seemed pretty weak. I did like the characters, the special effects, and the actors, but I don't think they had enough to work with.
The story involves the last of the independant space truckers, Dennis Hopper, and how he's hired to take a shipment of supicious cargo to Earth which turns out to be ultra high tech killer robots that someone is planning to use to overthrow Earth's government. Anyway, there's some mildy amusing scenes, and stuff happens which all lead up to the climatic scene at the end involving the killer robots. As I said before, the special effects look really good and it's obvious that a lot of time and effort was spent in this area. The pirate ship was really well done. And, in Stuart Gordon fashion, the pirate captain looked like something out of Re-animator or From Beyond, from his half flesh, half metal head to his pull start groin.
The script wasn't really that strong, and some of the actors almost seem embarassed to be in the movie at times, but they perform adequately with what they are given. I thought Charles Dance (Alien 3, The Golden Child, Gosford Park) played his role quite well. And it was nice to see Dennis Hopper play something other that a deranged lunatic for a change.
All in all, fun, light entertainment, just don't expect too much from this movie in terms of a good script or decent character development.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
good unclean fun!, September 23, 1999
If you've seen "From Beyond", "Re-Animator", "Fortress", or "Castle Freak", then you are familiar with Stuart Gordan's work. He starts with a small budget, then makes a special effects extravaganza. He is also very careful to keep the story top notch. This is his masterpiece! It's presented in the spirit of "Ice Pirates", but is far superior. Top quality effects, talent, story and dialogue, art and production design make this a strong contender for the top space movies. I hate space movies that take themselves too seriously and forget to have fun. This a very obnoxious trait in B-movies. They are standing there in a trash can with a walky talky duct taped to their face with a deadly serious look on their face! Puuuhleeeeeaze! "Space Truckers" finds just the right tone and runs with it. Special features include a commentary by Stuart himself. Usually commentary tracks just with the director can be boring, but Stu was so integrally involved in the smallest detail of this film that he is constantly belting out info about the film. The documentary is cool and informative as well. This trivia game thing is catching on. If you screw up the answer, just hit your "menu" button while the clip plays to try that question again. When you pass the quiz, you are admitted to the production art section, where you can see concept designs by the famous Ron Cobb (Star Wars, Alien) and others. Good movie, good buy!
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