The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC, 16:9 (720x480) VBR | 01:40:38 | 7.5 Gb
Audio: English AC3 5.1 @ 448 Kbps | Subs: English HoH, French, Spanish
Genre: Space Adventure, Sci-Fi Action, Sci-Fi Comedy
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC, 16:9 (720x480) VBR | 01:40:38 | 7.5 Gb
Audio: English AC3 5.1 @ 448 Kbps | Subs: English HoH, French, Spanish
Genre: Space Adventure, Sci-Fi Action, Sci-Fi Comedy
Trailer-park teenager Lance Guest regularly escapes from his humdrum existence by playing the video game Starfighter. His expertise at this recreational endeavor attracts the attention of affable stranger Robert Preston. Before he knows what's happening, Guest is whisked by Preston into the outer reaches of the galaxy! It turns out that the Starfighter game is being played in deadly earnest in outer space, and that Guest is expected to join Preston's Star League, then do battle with the wicked Kodan forces. Guest's principal ally is the lizardlike Grig (Dan O'Herlihy–and we didn't recognize him either). His great rival is the traitorous Xur (Norman Snow). The contrast between Guest's earthbound life as the son of single-mother Barbara Bosson and his new position as Starfighter is daunting at first, but soon the boy is manning a spacecraft and zapping the baddies as though he's been doing it all his life. The Last Starfighter was clearly designed with "sequel" in mind: giveaways include the resurrection of a "dead" character and the surprisingly casual escape of the villain. While the film didn't stir up enough business to warrant a sequel, the Starfighter video game remained a much-sought-after commodity by joystick-happy "warriors" all over the country.Synopsis by Hal Erickson, Allmovie.com
At the time of its release, The Last Starfighter attracted a strong following among critics (if not viewers) because it used state-of-the-art effects to create a world separate enough from Star Wars to escape accusations of plagiarism, yet magical enough to inspire wonder. The passage of time has not elevated it to the level of common cultural reference, nor did it result in the franchise the producers clearly wanted. But the film's efforts toward originality are still appreciable. For one, instead of taking place in the future, The Last Starfighter imagines that intergalactic strife and epic gallantry are concurrent with the humdrum lives of American teenagers in trailer parks, and it shifts between these two realms with ease. It provides a satisfying logical leap for those who have dreamed themselves away into video games. It cleverly substitutes a robot doppelganger for the departed Alex Rogan, creating a deft subplot about the infiltrator's attempts to sidestep suspicion. It casts an eternally wise Robert Preston as an interstellar mentor/tour guide, and a boyishly charming Lance Guest in the hero role that should have earned him a lot more film work. The CGI spaceships look crisp, too, even if they stand a little too cleanly against the background. The best explanation for the popular failure of The Last Starfighter is that it caught the audience on a downtrend away from science fiction, which went through a period in which it was box-office poison compared to escapist alternatives like sleek thrillers and action-adventures.Review by Derek Armstrong, Allmovie.com
IMDB 6,7/10 from 24 688 users
Wiki
Director: Nick Castle
Writer: Jonathan R. Betuel
Cast: Lance Guest, Robert Preston, Kay E. Kuter, Catherine Mary Stewart and other
The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
Special Features:
Audio commentary by director Nick Castle and production designer Ron Cobb
- "Heroes of the Screen" retrospective documentary
- "Crossing The Frontier: The Making Of The Last Starfighter" documentary
- Stills Gallery
- Teaser trailer
- Theatrical trailer
All thanks to original releaser
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