The Last Starfighter

Summary

“Greetings, Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada.”

The Eighties were a magical time for family friendly films. A popular film series called Star Wars had set the bar very high for science fiction, but several films tried their best to present intergalactic tales that didn’t borrow too many elements from those films. One of the best of these films was The Last Starfighter. Directed by Nick Castle, The Last Starfighter was one of the first films to use digital modeling sequences made with supercomputers. These sequences look pretty simple today, but at the time they were truly revolutionary. The Last Starfighter has aged well not because of the sequences featuring the effects, but because of the strength of the storyline that flows through the film. Arrow Video has given fans of the film a beautiful new Collector’s Edition.

At the Starlite Starbright Trailer Court, Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) lives with his little brother Lewis and his waitress mother. He is the champion of an arcade game called Starfighter that sits directly outside the general store in front of the trailer court. Alex is dating Maggie (Catherine Mary Stewart) and they have plans to stay together as they grow up. Lewis likes to watch Alex play the game because Alex is truly exceptional at it. While Maggie leaves for a day on the lake, Alex is left behind watching Lewis so his mom can pick up a shift at the restaurant. That night Alex beats the high score on Starfighter. This sets off an unexpected chain of events. A strange car pulls up to the trailer court. Centauri (Robert Preston) steps out of the car. He has arrived with his assistant Beta to congratulate Alex on his high score. Centauri leaves Beta behind and invites Alex into his car. Centauri explains that through a fluke, the game had been dropped off at his trailer park instead of Las Vegas. The game was not actually an arcade game so much as it was a recruiting tool to find candidates to defend the galaxy. The car blasts off for outer space. Centauri wipes off his human face and then puts it back on. Alex and Centauri soon arrive on Rylos. Alex is a candidate to be a pilot of a Gunstar space ship in the battle against the evil and formidable Xun. Meanwhile, back on earth, the Beta robotic unit duplicates the features of Alex so that nobody back home will be suspicious. This isn’t a perfect duplication, and Lewis and Maggie soon notice very odd behaviors in Alex. Alex has his doubts about taking on the mission, but when most of the Starfighters are wiped out by an attack, Alex agrees to partner with Grig (Dan O’Herlihy) to protect the galaxy.

The Last Starfighter is a great family film. The script by Jonathan R. Betuel is cleverly executed and never devolves into crude jokes or makes the interstellar battles the primary focus. It is a breath of fresh air to watch a film that relies on special effects but does not allow the special effects to overpower the storyline. It reminded me of just how important good writing is to create a memorable blockbuster. The script has a lot to enjoy because the characters are all likable and the comedic elements of the film all land. Comedy is difficult to write, especially within the confines of an adventure film, and The Last Starfighter navigates those rough waters well.

The acting in the film is led by promising young actors. Lance Guest does a solid job of differentiating his performances as both Alex and the Beta unit. He does good work in both roles and is very easy to root for as the hero of the film. Catherine Mary Stewart had already starred in the cult classic Night of the Comet, so I already liked her, but she is attractive and cute here. She would go on to play Gwen in Weekend at Bernies. Dan O’Herlihy is unrecognizable as grig due to a great makeup job, but he still lends his dry talents to the role. Robert Preston was such a great actor and it is no surprise that he made Centauri come to life with his large personality and smile.

Nick Castle is probably best known for working with John Carpenter on the script for Escape from New York and for playing the original Michael Myers in Halloween, but he proves himself very capable here of directing a complex science fiction film. He drew excellent performances out of the actors and took a big risk by employing the computerized special effects in the film. The techniques used in the film were not a sure thing and recognized a huge risk for the filmmaker. Speaking of which, the early computer graphics are awesome. They look like graphics that would later be the norm in computer games of the early Nineties (for reference, they look like graphics on a game on the 3DO or Jaguar video game systems.) For the film, Nick Castle utilized cinematographer King Baggot. They managed to tie together the numerous effects shots with the live action shots seamlessly. The score by Craig Safan is bombastic and wonderful. It fits the film perfectly.

Overall – The Last Starfighter is a great family film from the Eighties. Fans of Spielberg and George Lucas’s early films will find a lot to like about the film. The most obvious reason the film works is because it really has heart, which just can’t be made up for with any amount of special effects. Recommended.

Video

The Last Starfighter returns to Blu-Ray with a brand new 4K transfer from Arrow Video that looks great. From the liner notes:

“The Last Starfighter has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 [sic] with 2.0 stereo, 5.1 audio and a 4.1 mix created for the film’s 70mm release. 

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution at EFILM. The film was graded and restored at R3Store Studios in London. Audio remastering on all audio mixes was completed at Deluxe Audio, Los Angeles. 

All materials for this restoration were made available by NBC Universal.”

The new transfer by Arrow makes the prior video presentations of the film obsolete. There are huge improvements over the previous releases. Grain is very fine and fine detail is excellent. Colors are true to the source and the print is in great shape. The cinematography of the film by King Baggot looks great. Fans should be extremely excited to see the care given to the film. We can only hope that more Universal Studios titles will land in Arrow Video’s capable hands!

Audio

Similar to the video, the audio presentation on The Last Starfighter is very well done. The English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track sounds very good. The soundtrack featuring Silverchair, Sublime, Wax, Belly, and Weezer still sounds great. Dialogue is clear and I did not detect any noticeable drops in quality.

Supplements:

Maggie’s Memories: Revisiting The Last Starfighter – actress Catherine Mary Stewart discusses the enjoyment she felt working on the film and her pride in how the film has continued to gain fans over the years.

Into the Starscape: Composing The Last Starfighter – composer Craig Safan discusses working on the great score in the film.

Incredible Odds: Writing The Last Starfighter– screenwriter Jonathan Betuel discusses writing the film and his pride in the final product.

Interstellar Hit Beast: Creating the Special Effects – special effects supervisor Kevin Pike discusses how they produced some of the practical effects.

Excalibur Test: Inside Digital Productions – author Greg Bear discusses Digital Productions and the revolutionary effects they created for the film.

Greetings Starfighter! Inside the Arcade Game – Estil Vance describes how he created an arcade game replica of the Starfighter game featured in the film.

Heroes of the Screen – an enjoyable archival making of featurette.

Crossing the Frontier: Making The Last Starfighter – a well made archival making of featurette for the film.

Image Galleries

Theatrical Trailer

Teaser Trailer 

Audio Commentary with Lance Guest and Jackson Guest

Audio Commentary with Nick Castle and Ron Cobb

Audio Commentary with Mike White

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

The Last Starfighter is rightfully considered one of the better family films from the Eighties. With a well-written and inventive script, likable performances, and fun special effects, it has a lot to offer. The biggest reason the film has continued to please fans for over thirty five years is that the film really has heart. Arrow Video have given the film a fantastic new Blu-ray release that makes the prior release bu Universal obsolete. The new transfer from a 4K scan looks great and the large selection of supplementary features are all top notch. For fans, this Collector’s Edition should be at the top of their shopping list.