The Last Starfighter

I love THE LAST STARFIGHTER... it's a good, fun movie. A matinee type of film. It's not as great as Star Wars or some of the big budget movies of the time... (hmmm, where there any big budget Sci Fi movies other than Star Wars at the time?) The acting, though not great was charming. Lance Guest (brillantly playing Alex and the very naive Beta), Greg O'Herlihy (sp) playing the loveable Lizard creature Grig and of course.... Robert Preston as rascalous Centauri. And something that I forgot for a long time (until I saw it at a local store and had to buy it on DVD) was that this was one, if not THE, first movie to utilize CGI. Yeah, it's a far cry from what filmakers can do now with Apple Rendering software. But when I saw the movie in the Theater, I was impressed and thought that if Computer Graphics were this good in the this first movie... how much it will grow. It's a movie well worth having in your library. And as I'm watching it right now, I'm glad that I have it in mine.

None of the other reviews of this film (at least those that I have seen) understand what makes this movie so wonderful. This is one of the few movies I can recall that treat teenagers with some respect, instead of as cartoon characters. Alex has the same kinds of dreams and problems we all had at the age of 18, but he really does try to do the right thing, even when it goes against his desires. The film does not show the generation gap as a battlefield, but as a fact of life that Alex has to live with, and not one that is entirely negative.

This film is totally driven by the characters. The plot, and even the CGI, while groundbreaking for the day, are not the real magic here. It is the characters.

With the original "Star Wars" trilogy still fresh in the public's mind in 1984, "The Last Starfighter" was produced. Commercially the film did only fairly well at the box office, but that is not saying that this is not a more than adequate little science fiction entry. High-schooler Lance Guest is approached by a couple of aliens (Robert Preston and an unrecognizable Dan O'Herlihy) to go to a galaxy far, far away and fight an evil empire. Sound familiar? He is recruited for his mission via an arcade game of all things. Catherine Mary Stewart shines as Guest's love interest. Nothing spectacular and somewhat dated, but still a pleasant surprise that you will not regret watching. 4 stars out of 5.

Granted, I'm a child of the 80s, so there's some nostalgia at work here, but I'm surprised at how interesting and enjoyable this movie is. It sounds like a turkey when you read the main plot line, but it's very well-done and charming for what it is. Sure, it has its problems, but it never claims to be anything other than teenage sci-fi. A good ride.

This video game/ STAR WARS inspired space opera epic is more fun than it probably has any right to be. While there is an instant or two where the film suffers greatly from a case of the "cutes", the great casting here makes this one remain worthwhile. In particular Dan O' Herlihy, with his performance as Alex Rogan's alien friend Grig, absolutely steals this movie and gets to deliver most of the best lines. And when he's not stealing the picture, another veteran character actor named Robert Preston (Centauri) is. Good stuff especially suitable for teenage sci-fi fans but even as an adult I cannot help but have a soft spot for this cast...even Lance Guest and Catherine Mary Stuart do alright here.