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.

This is a hybrid of Sci-Fi/fantasy/ and comedy ; dealing with a video-gaming boy, seemingly doomed to remain at his trailer park home all his existence , finds himself enlisted as a gunner for an alien defense force. He is named Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) who lives in a remote trailer court where his mummy (Barbara Bosson) is manager and everyone is like a big extended family and along with his enjoyable girlfriend (Catherine Mary Stewart) . Meantime, Alex turns the top player of Starfighter, a stand-up arcade game where the player guards "the frontier" from "Xur and the Kodan armada" in a space battle ,after getting video game prowess it makes him the main objective from extraterrestrial forces as good aliens as bad aliens. After achieving his best score, he is approached by the Arcade game's inventor, named Centauri (old Robert Preston's last movie). In his wildest dreams Alex never suspected that tonight he would become...The Last Starfighter , a gunner from outland and all sorts of bizarre things begin to happen . Stepping into Centauri's vehicle, he is seemingly doomed to stay at his roulette all in his life ; however ,he soon finds himself recruited as prime pilot for an alien defense force (commanded by Daniel O'Herlihy) to do battle in outer space and take on arch-villains.

This agreeable comedy/Sci-Fi film packs action , comic dialog ,hilarious situations, thrills , a love story and is pretty entertaining . Passable computer generator FX , though nowadays dated , with spectacular dogfighting and innovative by that time of the 80s. Very good and rousing musical score by Craig Safan in John Williams style .

Likable Lance Guest as a videogaming boy living in a trailer park home who undertakes a risked adventure , a gorgeous and enjoyable Catherine Mary Stewart and Dan O'Herlihy who's unrecognizable in lizard-like makeup ; of course , excellent, as always, veteran Robert Preston as Centauri who actually is a disguised alien who whisks him off to another planet . The motion picture is professionally directed by Nick Castle . He is a prestigious writer and filmmaker as ¨The boy who could fly , ¨Tag : assassination game¨ , ¨Delivering Milo¨ , ¨Dennis the menace¨, ¨Major Payne¨ and ¨Tap¨. It's viewing delight and amusing though toothless entertainment that benefits greatly from sympathetic acting and rudimentary but effective special effects.

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.