:
Glenn Wilder,
Lance Guest,
Robert Preston,
more...
:
Nick Castle, Jr.
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: 
: Universal Studios
: Science Fiction , Space Opera
: 101 min.
: English
: English, French
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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. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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| historic film
by dpowers
April 9, 2005 - 1:27 PM PDT
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1 out of 1 members found this review helpful
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the last starfighter was the first motion picture to use entirely computer-generated effects sequences, and those sequences are beautifully realized. great effort was made to maintain realistic space physics and lighting, in order to promote the technology both for films and for scientific work, and the results are better than many CGI efforts today.
the overall design is good: the non-CGI sections are pretty, using ideas from 2001, star wars, superman, ET, and the star trek movies. the CGI inserts blend well and the handful of shots with both are well integrated.
as for the live-action part, it's... it's up to you. the story is essentially lifted from 1950s space adventure stories, which works, and the characters aren't horrible. if that's enough for you, rent it, don't read any further.
if it's not enough, what can i tell you? the emotional flow of the story is bungled - complete with ham-bone speeches out of nowhere by characters who didn't previously matter. the joke timing is off by a minute or two. line delivery is universally wooden. i mean, it's pretty bad. because of that i'd say, find a copy of joe dante's explorers from 1985 and see that first. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.09)
69 Votes
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