Starman

In 1977, the Voyager 2 travels to the outer space with messages of peace and greetings from Earth. A small alien spacecraft comes to Earth to make contact with Earthlings but the military airplanes shoot it down. The spacecraft crashes in Chequamegon Bay, Wisconsin and the alien wanders in a form of energy to the house of the young widow Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen), where he uses the DNA from a hair of her husband Scott (Jeff Bridges) to take his human form. The Starman contacts his mother ship and he needs to be in a crater Arizona in a couple of days to return to his star; otherwise he will be left behind and will die.

The Starman forces Jenny to take him to Arizona and she is hostile with him in the beginning. However, she learns that he is a peaceful being and she chooses to help him. But the army is chasing them and the despicable NSA chief George Fox (Richard Jaeckel) wants to hunt him down while the SETI scientist Mark Shermin (Charles Martin Smith) wants to help The Starman since he is sure that he has come to visit Earth peacefully.

"Starman" is still a wonderful sci-fi after thirty years. Nominated to the Oscar and to the Golden Globe, Jeff Bridges has magnificent performance and chemistry with Karen Allen. John Carpenter succeeds once again and makes a movie with a beautiful story, with drama, romance, action and humor. I saw this movie many times in the past on VHS but today I saw it on Blu-Ray. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Starman - O Homem das Estrelas" ("Starman - The Man from the Stars")

Note: On 25 August 2020, I saw this film again.

Note: On 28 February 2025, I saw this film again.

Through the eyes of an alien, we view our world. Such is the beauty of John Carpenter's 'Starman'. His gentle alien comes in the form of a human clone (Jeff Bridges), and as we watch him interact with the rest of our race, we see both the good and the bad in all of us. It is this particular role that I find to be Jeff Bridge's most superb acting (or close to it, given his amazing work in 'The Fisher King'). To me he always did seem an alien in an unfamiliar human body, rather than the actor "Jeff Bridges". While there is certainly some over-simplification in the movie, and it can get a little sappy, I find the 'sap' in this case to be both touching and beautiful. How wonderful, how sad, how miraculous, to watch ourselves through the innocent and wise eyes of this alien being. A brilliant look at human beings, a sweet love story, and an excellent exploration of our spirit.

Hey what a beautiful movie! Even as an alien, Jeff Bridges was brilliant. Karen Allen, as usual, gave her all and lit up the screen. The chemistry between the two was a delight.

This is not your typical over the top FX SciFi. It is an action drama with an underlying love story that would interest, even those who don't like this genre. But then I suppose if John Carpenter were to make a movie about the number 2758.369, it would be a interesting!

What more can I say - Great stuff!

Jeff Bridges is one of my favorite actors and it's a shame that he has not yet won an Oscar. He has been acting for thirty-five years and only been nominated four times. Starman (1984) gave him his third nomination and while he had tough competition that year, F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce in Amadeus, his performance is brilliant and every bit as good. The way that Bridges takes the character and the little glitches in his movement and speech are fascinating. It is a complete transformation and it's flawless. I was reminded of how Dustin Hoffman played his character in Rain Man with all his little stutters and twitching, but Hoffman studied the disease and had something to work with. Bridges pulls this performance off from scratch and hits a bullseye. Karen Allen and Charles Martin Smith are both good as well and the score is wonderful. The story may be a bit derivative and there are some story lulls, but who cares. This is a must-see movie simply for Bridges performance.

*** out of ****

I have always admired Jeff Bridges, but it wasn't until now that I realized he made movies when he was younger. So I was surprised to see him in this role as an alien who does not understand anything of what's happening here on earth. I can now understand why he became such a star. His performance is really good, maybe one of the best things Bridges ever did in his career! But the movie is good on all levels. A strong story, that succeeds in avoiding all the predictable jokes about a stranger getting to know the customs of a new environment (like e.g. Crocodile Dundee, or Blast from the Past), good actors, strong directing and great special effects (Bridges' transformation from a baby to an adult!) that never predominate the rest of the story. It's hard to believe this movie is already 18 years old! Like many of these '80-movies, it has this timeless quality that makes a movie worth watching even twenty years later (just like Out of Africa, The Natural, Tootsie, E.T., Blade Runner,...). If you're looking for a sweet and strong movie that gets into your heart, watch this!