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(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“A space trucker and his cute fiancé are on their way from a space station to Earth with an unknown cargo. When space pirates hijack them, 5000 disintegrator robots are found in the cargo.”
There are times when even I – yours truly, editor-in-chief of SciFiHistory.Net – prefer to dismiss any chance of histrionics and just call a film like I see it. In that spirit, let me assure you that Space Truckers is not a particularly good story.
Now … as a film, yes, it might be mildly entertaining. It might have a few interesting ideas here and there. It might offer up a kinda/sorta guilty pleasure experience for those who really are more interested in throwing on a film more for noise and giggles than anything else. It certainly isn’t a project that necessarily breaks any barriers, nor is it a yarn that might somehow transcend space and time in the years ahead and get inducted into the National Film Registry for its continuing contributions to the art form. It’s negligible, at best, and forgettable, at worst.
Hell, let me go a step further …
In the catalogue of Stuart Gordon films – of which I’m a fan and will admit to having seen quite a few – I’m not even sure how memorable it is.
I think that it does demonstrate a time wherein the storyteller probably had some of the best financial backing of his career – it would certainly appear so given this reasonably star-studded affair and extensive effects work – and perhaps that required him to pull back on some of his darker tendencies. This talented writer, director, and producer was truly ‘put on the map’ with features like Re-Animator (1985), From Beyond (1986), and Dolls (1986). One might argue that his career trajectory at this point turned – success brings with it greater expectations from studios and suits – and he arguably left some fascination with more subversive topics behind, delivering 1989’s Robot Jox as about as demonstrative of crowd-pleasing fare as could be. It’s a grand adventure – I’ve privately dubbed it ‘the best Tom Cruise film that Tom Cruise never made’ – and I encourage all to see it. But Gordon still is revered for his earlier treasures more than anything else, and I say that’s definitely deserved.
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“A space trucker and his cute fiancé are on their way from a space station to Earth with an unknown cargo. When space pirates hijack them, 5000 disintegrator robots are found in the cargo.”
There are times when even I – yours truly, editor-in-chief of SciFiHistory.Net – prefer to dismiss any chance of histrionics and just call a film like I see it. In that spirit, let me assure you that Space Truckers is not a particularly good story.
Now … as a film, yes, it might be mildly entertaining. It might have a few interesting ideas here and there. It might offer up a kinda/sorta guilty pleasure experience for those who really are more interested in throwing on a film more for noise and giggles than anything else. It certainly isn’t a project that necessarily breaks any barriers, nor is it a yarn that might somehow transcend space and time in the years ahead and get inducted into the National Film Registry for its continuing contributions to the art form. It’s negligible, at best, and forgettable, at worst.
Hell, let me go a step further …
In the catalogue of Stuart Gordon films – of which I’m a fan and will admit to having seen quite a few – I’m not even sure how memorable it is.
I think that it does demonstrate a time wherein the storyteller probably had some of the best financial backing of his career – it would certainly appear so given this reasonably star-studded affair and extensive effects work – and perhaps that required him to pull back on some of his darker tendencies. This talented writer, director, and producer was truly ‘put on the map’ with features like Re-Animator (1985), From Beyond (1986), and Dolls (1986). One might argue that his career trajectory at this point turned – success brings with it greater expectations from studios and suits – and he arguably left some fascination with more subversive topics behind, delivering 1989’s Robot Jox as about as demonstrative of crowd-pleasing fare as could be. It’s a grand adventure – I’ve privately dubbed it ‘the best Tom Cruise film that Tom Cruise never made’ – and I encourage all to see it. But Gordon still is revered for his earlier treasures more than anything else, and I say that’s definitely deserved.
If anything, Space Truckers probably earned a bit of street credit (or notoriety) from its cast, which is a curious assortment of names big and small from its era. Dennis Hopper got top billing in the role of ‘John Canyon,’ the space trucker of the title; and he shared most of his screen time with Stephen Dorff, Debi Mazar, and a young Charles Dance. Rather than recount all of the familiar faces, let me get to the story particulars I find important, and then I’ll do a bit of dissection of the narrative and what it all might mean.
Truckers opens with a fabulous preamble to set the stage for some of what’s to follow: an installation’s armed task force is wholly wiped out by the new age of killbots – which are immeasurably as cool as the sound thankfully – engineered by Dr. Nabel (played by Dance). Company CEO E.J. Saggs (Shane Rimmer) apparently has his sights set on other aspirations which might put these automatons to illegal uses; and – as often happens in the early stage of any founding conspiracy – this means that Nabel is necessarily expendable. As such, we’re led to believe this good doctor has left the building (meaning ‘life itself’).
At this point, the film segues into Canyon completing one of his infamous space-runs behind schedule. At the docking port, he runs afoul of the trucking company dispatcher Keller (George Wendt), and he winds up losing his pay along with his company job. A curious twist of Fate has the space trucker joining forces with an up-and-coming trucking graduate – Mike Pucci (Stephen Dorff) – and, together, they accept the task of delivering what they’re told is a shipment of sex dolls from space back to Earth. As Canyon’s fiancé Cindy (Debi Mazar) also needs a trip back to the Big Blue Marble to care for her recovering mother, she joins them in the cab for what she thinks is going to be a routine transport.
At this point, Truckers starts to veer into some wild territory, some of which makes little sense other than to be developments required by screenwriters Gordon and Ted Mann.
Canyon opts to use apparently uncharted outer space to cover the distance between the station and Earth – as opposed to the approved spaceways – which kinda/sorta begs the question as to who governs the Final Frontier and for what possible purpose. While we see these police cruisers dogging the intergalactic freeways, we’re never quite given enough information to know what purpose they authentically serve (and at whose authority), so it’s little more than a clever idea perhaps intended to produce a few laughs.
However, even Canyon admits to knowing that open space puts him and his cargo at the risk of piracy, but we’re given no plausible reason (except for expediency) for him to go rocketing off into parts unknown. Almost immediately, his rig is overcome by the massive carrier known as the Regalia and its intergalactic scum under stewardship of Captain Macanudo. As luck (or script convention) has it, Macanudo is actually the aforementioned Dr. Nabel; now that he’s rebuilt himself from that dastardly assassination attempt of the beginning, he’s a half-human half-cyborg bandit hell bent on taking down any and all takers.
Truckers opens with a fabulous preamble to set the stage for some of what’s to follow: an installation’s armed task force is wholly wiped out by the new age of killbots – which are immeasurably as cool as the sound thankfully – engineered by Dr. Nabel (played by Dance). Company CEO E.J. Saggs (Shane Rimmer) apparently has his sights set on other aspirations which might put these automatons to illegal uses; and – as often happens in the early stage of any founding conspiracy – this means that Nabel is necessarily expendable. As such, we’re led to believe this good doctor has left the building (meaning ‘life itself’).
At this point, the film segues into Canyon completing one of his infamous space-runs behind schedule. At the docking port, he runs afoul of the trucking company dispatcher Keller (George Wendt), and he winds up losing his pay along with his company job. A curious twist of Fate has the space trucker joining forces with an up-and-coming trucking graduate – Mike Pucci (Stephen Dorff) – and, together, they accept the task of delivering what they’re told is a shipment of sex dolls from space back to Earth. As Canyon’s fiancé Cindy (Debi Mazar) also needs a trip back to the Big Blue Marble to care for her recovering mother, she joins them in the cab for what she thinks is going to be a routine transport.
At this point, Truckers starts to veer into some wild territory, some of which makes little sense other than to be developments required by screenwriters Gordon and Ted Mann.
Canyon opts to use apparently uncharted outer space to cover the distance between the station and Earth – as opposed to the approved spaceways – which kinda/sorta begs the question as to who governs the Final Frontier and for what possible purpose. While we see these police cruisers dogging the intergalactic freeways, we’re never quite given enough information to know what purpose they authentically serve (and at whose authority), so it’s little more than a clever idea perhaps intended to produce a few laughs.
However, even Canyon admits to knowing that open space puts him and his cargo at the risk of piracy, but we’re given no plausible reason (except for expediency) for him to go rocketing off into parts unknown. Almost immediately, his rig is overcome by the massive carrier known as the Regalia and its intergalactic scum under stewardship of Captain Macanudo. As luck (or script convention) has it, Macanudo is actually the aforementioned Dr. Nabel; now that he’s rebuilt himself from that dastardly assassination attempt of the beginning, he’s a half-human half-cyborg bandit hell bent on taking down any and all takers.
As you might surmise, Truckers at this point unspools into a big of high stakes lunacy. Cindy opts to sleep with the robotic captain as she’s led to believe such a coupling might earn their freedom; once sequestered in his quarters, she outsmarts the fallen scientist rather easily and then – ahem – successfully impersonates him amongst the crew who really ought to have realized this diminutive New Yorker neither looked now sounded like the towering and physically imposing Dance. (He’s nearly a foot taller than the lady, so, as I implied, this was clearly intended as comic relief … and not of the intellectually challenging variety.) It’s also at this point that Macanudo learns that the species of killer machines he just happened to have created is now back in his possession, and this means he might be able to seek out and destroy those who previously robbed him of his manhood and livelihood.
That’s not quite the direction that Gordon and Mann’s script decided to pursue. Instead, Canyon, Pucci, and Cindy escape; and – once they discover that they’re on track to Earth with the ability to extinguish the entire human race – they rise up to become the heroes that every good adventure needs in the last reel. Sadly, there’s a bit more to the story that winds up feeling tacked on – Saggs has usurped the World Presidency, and it was his plot to use these killbots originally to secure the role. Now that he’s already been installed, the robotic army is no longer needed; and he seeks to execute the space truckers like he had Dr. Nabel years before. As I said, all of this feels entirely inconsequential – the stuff of artifice that screenwriters feel they must insert to give their picture greater political relevance (or a longer running time) – and it just doesn’t work. Thankfully, it’s a short sequence, but it’s never good to leave viewers on a sour note.
Casting Hopper as the titular trucker is an intelligent gamble, at best. For those who don’t know, the actor represented the American counterculture for a number of years; so, having him as this man of somewhat independent means working in opposition to the social or political establishment probably earned the support of the film’s older investors. Alas, methinks Truckers came to be perhaps a decade and one-half beyond the luster of Hopper’s best luster – he had been seen on screens the year prior in the box office disaster that was 1995’s Waterworld – and I can’t imagine his association here did much to bolster the project’s potential. He’s a bit long in the tooth here, as the saying goes, and a younger, sturdier lead might’ve given it a better outlook.
As for the others?
Well … Dorff has never quite been a household name. He’d find greater success two years later in the first of the Blade pictures, appearing as the antagonist to Wesley Snipes’ protagonist; and he was quite good in the film. Mazar – as the love interest – never quite registers here, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on any major shortcoming. It feels as if she’s trying to channel the same personae that Marisa Tomei brought to life so vividly in 1992’s My Cousin Vinny; and it just doesn’t work, certainly not in space-based picture. Such a fish out of water attraction has its limitations, and most of her scenes fall flat. Dance is good – he chews scenery a bit and seems to be oddly having a good time in his cyborgized existence – but even that can’t quite elevate the general malaise to so much of what accounts for dramatic pacing. It’s a near-miss, but he makes the most of it.
That’s not quite the direction that Gordon and Mann’s script decided to pursue. Instead, Canyon, Pucci, and Cindy escape; and – once they discover that they’re on track to Earth with the ability to extinguish the entire human race – they rise up to become the heroes that every good adventure needs in the last reel. Sadly, there’s a bit more to the story that winds up feeling tacked on – Saggs has usurped the World Presidency, and it was his plot to use these killbots originally to secure the role. Now that he’s already been installed, the robotic army is no longer needed; and he seeks to execute the space truckers like he had Dr. Nabel years before. As I said, all of this feels entirely inconsequential – the stuff of artifice that screenwriters feel they must insert to give their picture greater political relevance (or a longer running time) – and it just doesn’t work. Thankfully, it’s a short sequence, but it’s never good to leave viewers on a sour note.
Casting Hopper as the titular trucker is an intelligent gamble, at best. For those who don’t know, the actor represented the American counterculture for a number of years; so, having him as this man of somewhat independent means working in opposition to the social or political establishment probably earned the support of the film’s older investors. Alas, methinks Truckers came to be perhaps a decade and one-half beyond the luster of Hopper’s best luster – he had been seen on screens the year prior in the box office disaster that was 1995’s Waterworld – and I can’t imagine his association here did much to bolster the project’s potential. He’s a bit long in the tooth here, as the saying goes, and a younger, sturdier lead might’ve given it a better outlook.
As for the others?
Well … Dorff has never quite been a household name. He’d find greater success two years later in the first of the Blade pictures, appearing as the antagonist to Wesley Snipes’ protagonist; and he was quite good in the film. Mazar – as the love interest – never quite registers here, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on any major shortcoming. It feels as if she’s trying to channel the same personae that Marisa Tomei brought to life so vividly in 1992’s My Cousin Vinny; and it just doesn’t work, certainly not in space-based picture. Such a fish out of water attraction has its limitations, and most of her scenes fall flat. Dance is good – he chews scenery a bit and seems to be oddly having a good time in his cyborgized existence – but even that can’t quite elevate the general malaise to so much of what accounts for dramatic pacing. It’s a near-miss, but he makes the most of it.
Perhaps the biggest problem with all of this is that Truckers – in spite of some good efforts by the cast and the crew – never quite emerges as anything individually identifiable. I can’t tell what this flick wanted to be. Comedy? Action? Farce? Just good ol’ boy schtick? Far too often, its reminiscent of other genre entries – that curious phenomenon where it feels like scenes were written and crafted derivative of greater films – and it never escapes with its own forward momentum. The art direction is populated with a kind of garish color scheme – a good portion of the picture feels like it was lifted from some cartoon and/or comic book inspirations – and one might need to drop of Dramamine in order to avoid the resulting head rush. Effects sequences are wildly dated – stunt work safety wires are obvious in a great number of places – and such weaknesses probably push this one to be considered more absurdist output than anything else.
At this point, 1977’s Smokey And The Bandit remains the highwater mark for the very best films about loadin’ up and truckin’. Sadly, Space Truckers can’t even score a distant second.
I have read that Truckers is considered a box office bomb, most of which was owed to the fact that it was reasonably expensive, clocking in at over $25 million to produce. (Receipt totals vary, but the consensus appears to be that it earned only $2 million in ticket sales.) Apparently, it never even got a U.S. theatrical release, instead going direct to home video release or cable broadcast airings.
Space Truckers (1996) was produced by Goldcrest Films International, Peter Newman Productions, InterAL, Mary Breen-Farrelly Productions, Irish Film Industry, and Pachyderm Productions. The film is presently available for streaming and/or physical media purchase on a variety of platforms. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I found the sights-and-sounds to be pretty good: digital effects being what they were in the mid-1990’s, there are some rather obvious inferior shots here and there, but take it all with a grain of salt – as I think was intended – and it’s more charming than it is distracting. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? Since I viewed this via streaming, there were no special features under consideration.
Weirdly colorful – and not in a good way – Space Truckers (1996) sets the stage rather nicely only then descends into a stinking pile of mediocrity at warp speed. Stylistically, the film reminded me of Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element – a picture that wouldn’t even emerge for a year or so yet – and that’s not a bad thing. The problem is the creative choice never quite benefits the rest of the production as the narrative bobs and weaves – like an out-of-control vehicle – between adult and pure kiddie fare all too often. It might’ve had a chance in hands other than Gordon’s – no insult intended – but ‘as is’ it kinda/sorta feels too much like a car crash.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that I’m beholden to no one for this review Space Truckers (1996) as I viewed it as a paid subscriber of Amazon’s Prime Video.
-- EZ
At this point, 1977’s Smokey And The Bandit remains the highwater mark for the very best films about loadin’ up and truckin’. Sadly, Space Truckers can’t even score a distant second.
I have read that Truckers is considered a box office bomb, most of which was owed to the fact that it was reasonably expensive, clocking in at over $25 million to produce. (Receipt totals vary, but the consensus appears to be that it earned only $2 million in ticket sales.) Apparently, it never even got a U.S. theatrical release, instead going direct to home video release or cable broadcast airings.
Space Truckers (1996) was produced by Goldcrest Films International, Peter Newman Productions, InterAL, Mary Breen-Farrelly Productions, Irish Film Industry, and Pachyderm Productions. The film is presently available for streaming and/or physical media purchase on a variety of platforms. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I found the sights-and-sounds to be pretty good: digital effects being what they were in the mid-1990’s, there are some rather obvious inferior shots here and there, but take it all with a grain of salt – as I think was intended – and it’s more charming than it is distracting. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? Since I viewed this via streaming, there were no special features under consideration.
Weirdly colorful – and not in a good way – Space Truckers (1996) sets the stage rather nicely only then descends into a stinking pile of mediocrity at warp speed. Stylistically, the film reminded me of Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element – a picture that wouldn’t even emerge for a year or so yet – and that’s not a bad thing. The problem is the creative choice never quite benefits the rest of the production as the narrative bobs and weaves – like an out-of-control vehicle – between adult and pure kiddie fare all too often. It might’ve had a chance in hands other than Gordon’s – no insult intended – but ‘as is’ it kinda/sorta feels too much like a car crash.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that I’m beholden to no one for this review Space Truckers (1996) as I viewed it as a paid subscriber of Amazon’s Prime Video.
-- EZ
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