लास्ट स्टारफाइटर

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.

Being a child of the eighties, I can remember this movie fondly and with a lot of nostalgia for a time when movies that are corny now were just pretty damn cool then. The Last Starfighter is a great example except it isn't corny.

Some people are complaining about the visual effects but let me tell ya, they are pretty good even by today's standards. Some of these effects snobs think that if a movie's effects aren't groundbreaking or super realistic, they aren't good. Special effects are effective if they enhance a movie, not just because they use the latest computer effects or bring something entirely new to the movie world. Anyway, back to the movie.

The cast all does a good job but none of them ever went on to fame, a occurance that I blame solely on soulless Hollywood execs. Lance Guest especially, come on he did a good job. He deserves better. The plot is simple but fun and this movie is perfect for kids, as I was at the time I saw this the first thru 300th time. This movie has everything: video games, aliens, space dogfights, lasergun battles, teen angst, and 80's cheese. The Last Starfighter is a classic. Bottom Line: What a movie. If you were alive in the 80's and you missed this then you are so deprived. If you haven't seen it yet then stop reading this and go rent it or something.

The story is simple and has probably been retold in every heroic setting possible. It's also a bit of wish fulfillment for those of us that grew up pumping quarters into arcade video games.

In my opinion the acting is above average for a movie like this. It is much helped by veteran actors Robert Preston and Dan O'Herlihy. Lance Guest does a great turn as Alex as well.

The effects were not appreciated at the time, I think, but hold up fairly well. They were drawn on that Holy Grail of computers to us children of the 80's; a Kray Supercomputer.

The score is well done, the humor timed well and the overall good feeling I get from watching it never fades. You can't go wrong with this gem.

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.

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.