The Last Starfighter

Starring: Lance Guest, Dan O'Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart, Norman Snow, Robert Preston
Directed by: Nick Castle
Rating: PG
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
1984

Times Seen:
Tim: 3

Summary: An ordinary teenager (Lance Guest) is excellent at the arcade game, Starfighter. He is shocked when an alien (Robert Preston) arrives and informs him that the game was a test for real life starfighters, and enlists him in a galactic army as a starfighter- to stop a powerful, evil threat.

Review:

Tim: I know that it is easy to poke holes in this movie. Over time, it certainly can be criticized. However, I still really like this movie. Yes, it might have lost a little of its shine since I watched it as a kid (and I loved it then), but this is still an enjoyable movie.

To appreciate The Last Starfighter, you really have to put yourself back in 1984. This was one of the first films to use computer generated special effects. The special effects look cheesy today, but were really the first foray into an era that would transform movies forever after. That is worth something. I actually thought they were pretty good. They didn't look realistic, but it conveyed the point very well.

One of the things I really like about this movie is that it is on a fairly small scale. We don't have any big, epic battle scenes (although I admit I would have loved one), and this smaller scale allows the film to never lose sight of the humanity at the heart of the movie. While this is a movie about battles in space, it is really a movie about a teenager wanting to do something more with his life. That is easily relatable, and helps us to identify with our heroes.

The cast, for being mostly unknowns, are quite good. I really enjoyed the performance of Lance Guest as Alex Rogan. Guest is an everyman actor, a guy who seems believable in the trailer park and in outer space. He gives a very good performance, and I was always a bit surprised he didn't achieve greater success in Hollywood. I admit he isn't the greatest actor, but he gives it his all here. His comedic timing was good, and he gives a likeable, fun performance. He works really well with Catherine Mary Stewart. Stewart is good as well, and the chemistry between Guest and Stewart is greatly responsible for this film's success.

I also like the story, of how a video game is really a test to find real life starfighters. This is an interesting idea, and something thousands of children dreamed of growing up playing video games. Yes, this also means that much of the movie is a bit silly and hard to believe. This film is also quite lightweight however, which hurts the movie in some ways and helps in others. It hurts because no movie wants to be lightweight and dismissable. It helps because it doesn't even take itself too seriously, so it is easier to overlook some of these other flaws. I was able to overlook many flaws, but some- like much of the dialogue and the absolutely atrocious ending- were just too much.

The Last Starfighter is a movie that is easy to criticize, but has also achieved a certain level of cult favorite status. I enjoyed this movie as a kid, and I enjoy it now. It isn't pefect, but it is perfectly harmless, and quite fun and imaginative.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Flight of the Navigator, Wing Commander, Avatar, Star Wars, Star Trek