The Initial Release (1984)
The initial concept for The Last Starfighter originated from writer Jonathon R. Butuel. It was derived from the growing trend of companies gaining multi-million dollar sales in merchandise that accompanied their successful science fiction properties. Butuel saw an opportunity for profit, particularly in regards to arcade gaming. The idea was to release the video game in the arcades alongside the movie release to maximise a potentially prosperous medium, while simultaneously having it serve as a playable advertisement to the film. While the arcade game never came to fruition, the movie did. The Last Starfighter was a story written with the intention to capture the demographic of gamers that began to surface in the early ‘80s. A conceptual link was made between the many rogue qualities of protagonists in the space epic variety (first spawned by Star Wars) with the need that young gamers felt to become this type of hero.
My Full Experience (2015)
Greetings Starfighters! A long time ago in a cul-de-sac far away, I openly accepted that science fiction would become a big part of my life. Certain precautions were made to steer me from this route at a young age. However, no matter how many football games I watched, There was never a connection with the sport that would have compelled me to record a single match. On the other side of the ‘verse, there were Sunday movies on RTE. Traditionally, they were Disney family films, but occasionally they surprised us with an action packed sci-fi flick for the big kids. Every Sunday, I was ready to record should the latter crop up. I had gathered quite the collection on VHS that slowly petered away as the years went by and DVDs became more in vogue. Of these tapes lost in time, I now have only three; The Last Starfighter is among them.
An open heart wanted me to embrace it as I did as a child, but a lingering part of me thought I was being harsh. Ultimately, It boils down to grievances I have with the pacing of the film.
The Last Starfighter gives us the space-traversing story of teenager and avid arcade addict Alex Rogan (played by Lance Guest) as he finds his trailer park days upturned. A galactic war that he believed took place only in the realms of his arcade cabinet turns out to be a training programme for the true saviour of humanity. The creator of the game, known as Centauri (Robert Preston), recruits Alex into the ranks of The Star League, which is basically a union of allied planets. Standing in the way of the league is the Ko-Dan empire led by Xur (Norman Snow) who, predictably, wants to conquer worlds.
Throughout the film, we see the archetype of the reluctant hero in Alex as he internally battles with the idea that he is a chosen hero. In his place on planet earth, we are left with a robot copy of Alex in order to facilitate comedic moments between machine and woman as his girlfriend remains in the dark of the whole situation. Therein lies problematic elements that dawn on the viewer very quickly. The Last Starfighter is a visually stunning and creative piece that continually hypes up the oncoming star battles it promises. The unfortunate downside, in my view, is the insistence on time-wasting. A movie billed as The Last Starfighter should focus primarily on star fighting. The bulk of this production is spent building up to a battle that closes the movie.
In the mean time, the plot drags its feet by making Alex unwilling to step up to his responsibility. This is a fair complaint, due to the sheer amount of time we spend before any actual science fiction elements are introduced into the world. There are brief glimpses initially and then a half hour of Alex in regular life. This is followed by the aforementioned scenes of robot comedy segments on earth whilst Alex mopes about trying to find his calling in life elsewhere.
The execution is stellar in most regards, including the on-screen chemistry between Alex and Maggie (played by Catherine Mary Stewart) who bounce off each other nicely in the eventual discovery of worlds beyond their own. With a pairing of notable actors as side characters and these two in lead roles, the world feels more believable from their performances. I must also compliment the score that serenades the stars from John Williams. The Last Starfighter has all the ingredients of a wonderful movie and yet it’s the very structure of the narrative that knocks it down for me. When you have a world so fleshed out that it makes the viewer eager to explore and you promise them action-packed sequences surrounding these set pieces, you had better well deliver.
This film has a charm to it. If your expectations are in line with mine and you expected a Star Wars rip off, then you will be let down. As a stand alone production, it works as a quirky sci-fi comedy with neat ideas and nice visuals. As a space epic? More was needed; cutbacks on chunks of exposition, trimming of the scenes on earth and, for the love of sci-fi, let us see the stars! Explore the ‘verse — because although it all sounded interesting — we didn’t see a lot of it.
Overall, The Last Starfighter isn’t quite how I remembered. Fortunately, it is still a fun enough experience and still worth checking out. Just be aware that it has less starfighting than advertised.
Do you remember watching The Last Starfighter? Let us know in the comments!
