I sure am going about seeing Joe Dante’s filmography in an odd manner, as I somehow saw only Gremlins before this century. But, as I said of 1987’s Innerspace, better late than never. Such is the case with Explorers, the feature he made between those two films.
I was the right age for this when it was released, so I find it odd I don’t even recall it being in theaters. I remember the videotape being on rental store shelves, and I assume I was already a bit too old for it at that point. Whatever the reason, I didn’t see it until a whole four decades after it was released.
Similar to Gremlins, this picture finds Dante invading the same dream California suburbia that was Spielberg’s turf. It is the kind of world where there is a creek bed boys use as a thoroughfare, and which tends to be lit by long shafts of light slicing through mist. I suspect no place has ever existed anywhere except in the rose-tinted memories of guys over 30.
The boys are Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix and Jason Presson. All three will be essential for a homegrown space mission. Hawke is a dreamer obsessed with sci-fi. Phoenix is the genius. Presson has the mechanical know-how to realize their plans. And Hawke is literally the dreamer, as circuitry designs are beamed to him in his sleep, the images planted in his mind by the aliens summoning them for a meeting.
I think one reason why I wasn’t interested in the film back in the day is I mistakenly though the boys somehow made a fully-functioning spaceship entirely on their own. If that was the case, I wouldn’t be able to get on board with the idea they could make a vessel that could withstand the g-forces of launch, let alone the extreme temperatures, radiation and lack of air pressure in space. If I had given it more thought, I probably would have wondered how they were going to create an explosion great enough to achieve escape velocity, and how that wouldn’t draw the attention of the authorities.
What I didn’t know going in was the alien technology bestowed upon Hawke in his dreams is to create a force field which can be controlled by entering various data in Phoenix’s Apple IIc computer. And even that had been modified, per the custom card made from additional specs in Hawke’s dreams. The first test of the field is ominous, as the only trace of its brief existence is a perfect hole bored through a line of paperbacks as if by a laser. I like Presson’s disbelief at this, which he believes to be a joke played by two kids he’s just met: “Do you try to pull this on every other sucker that comes down here?” At that time, the force field was invisible, but Phoenix discovers additional settings to do things like toggle its visibility. For its next test, it goes completely out of control, flying through a great many things. Fortunately, none of them are human or animal.
Once it is under control, the idea for making a craft is as simple as putting together whatever they can find in the junkyard and ensuring they have oxygen to breathe. And so they weld together to the seat of a tilt-a-whirl car half of a metal trash can, the door to a washing machine, the front of an old television and other such things. The result looks like a space capsule by way of random crap on the walls of a Cracker Barrel or a T.G.I. Fridays. What I find bizarre is that seat from a carnival ride somehow plays calliope music all on its own. It goes out of control when they’re wheeling it away from the junkyard, and the tempo of the music increases as it speeds up.
That moment pushed me out of the film. Another moment that broke my suspension of disbelief concerns the sci-fi film showing at the local drive-in. The kids’ spaceship tears through the snack bar and the characters in the movie projected on the screen react to this. In a farce, this could have been funny. It isn’t when set in a movie that in any way resembles reality.
That there is a scene at a drive-in seems to be one of the indicators we’re watching a solidly 80’s movie. Funny, but another sign for me is Mary Kay Place, as Hawke’s mother. I’m not sure how often she was cast as a mother in films and TV shows of the time, but it felt like she was the template for such roles in that era. That the lads name their spacecraft The Thunder Road after a Springsteen song is another sign. Alas, another way it dates itself to that period is the first thing the boys do when they learn how to control the force field is to float Hawke outside the bedroom window of crush Amanda Peterson in hopes of watching her undress. Yes, folks, this was the kind of creepy behavior regarded as completely acceptable in 80’s Hollywood movies aimed at kids.
Another sign the movie is from the mid-80’s is something far less offensive, and that is the early CGI animation used for Hawke’s dreams of circuitry. These brief moments are highly reminiscent of Tron, though they were done by Industrial Light & Magic, seemingly one of the few companies working in that field which did not work on that production.
I won’t spoil the nature of the aliens once the homemade ship finally gets to their craft, but the long setup before the reveal felt like a description often applied to Alien: this is like a haunted house set in space. One of the first things our heroes encounter on the alien craft is a giant, robotic, stop-motion spider, the purpose of which now seems even more mysterious in retrospect. Then there will be the exchange between Hawke and an alien, the first communication between humans and extraterrestrials: “We come in peace.” “[In a Bugs Bunny voice] Ehhh…what’s up, doc?” In what is a recurring theme in sci-fi, everything the aliens know about us comes from television and radio transmissions. In what is doubtlessly an improvised line, Robert Picardo, as one of the creatures, says, “I watched four episodes of Lassie before I figured out why the weird little furry kid never spoke.”
Speaking of the cast, the performances are solid all around, especially the three young leads. It is hard to believe Hawke had not acted before this, being cast after only accompanying a friend who was auditioning. Hawke wasn’t even trying out for anything, and this reminded me of the plot of 1943’s Thursday’s Child. Phoenix, already an experienced actor at the time, wanted the role which would go to Presson, even going so far as to audition with a pack of cigarettes rolled up in his t-shirt sleeve. He found it difficult to adjust to the role of a nerd, and he is, admittedly, less than fully convincing, despite obviously giving it his best effort. Still, I would think his real-life upbringing in a family of transient hippies had some parallels to the clan of genius iconoclasts which is his family in this film. I find it curious that, after this production, opportunities either dried up for Presson or he voluntarily walked away from the industry. Regardless, his performance here is the most interesting and believable, even a bit haunted at times. No wonder Phoenix wanted that part. Most importantly, the conversations between the three feel realistic and I suspect there was a fair amount of adlibbing.
The effects are well-done, in consideration of the time in which the movie was made. Many will chafe at the primitive CGI, but I think it is perfect for the realization of computer circuitry, with all those perfect straight lines and curves. It isn’t like they were trying to render human faces. The kids’ vehicle when in flight fares as well or poorly as other vessels using bluescreen technology of the time. It will either be endearing or slightly risible, depending upon your temperament. Rob Bottin’s alien suits are highly articulated and one of the best demonstrations I have seen of the form. Alas, odd pacing gives us too much of the aliens in the third act when I was thinking the end was in sight.
It is hard for me to pinpoint the exact reasons why, but Explorers failed to completely connect with me. Part of that could be not seeing it when I was the ideal demographic, though I was in that group at the time, and so my inner 12-year-old should still be able to appreciate more than I did. That it fared so poorly with critics and audiences at the time suggests I am not alone in finding the picture curiously unlikeable. It may have highly likeable leads with good chemistry, and effects on part with similarly budgeted films of the era, but it all feels a bit empty.
Dir: Joe Dante
Starring Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix, Jason Presson
Watched on Shout Factory blu-ray