The Last Starfighter 25th Anniversary Edition DVD Review
Posted by Michael Weyer on 09.23.2009
The cult sci-fi adventure that paved the way for the CGI revolution gets a new set with extras enhancing how wonderfully fun it is.
The Last Starfighter 25th Anniversary Edition DVD
Universal Studios
101 Minutes
1984 was the year the summer movie season as we know it came to be. Sure, previous years had some big films in summer but not the massive roll-out of big hits as this. Ghostbusters, the Karate Kid, Conan the Destroyer, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, , Revenge of the Nerds, Gremlins, Red Dawn, Star Trek III and those are just the ones that became hits. It showed once and for all how summer was the time for Hollywood to release the big-budget blockbusters intended to pull audiences in droves.
In the midst of this year came a movie that became something of a sleeper success (in terms of budgets at that time) that was overlooked by all the mega-hits around it. But in the quarter century since its release, The Last Starfighter has become a cult hit, greatly loved by all many who have seen it. More notable is that the movie was a true groundbreaker in movie history, its use of the then untested CGI effects helping pave the way for the films of today. Mixed in with its wonderful story and acting and it more than stands the test of time today. While it got a good DVD release in 1999, Universal has seen fit to update it with a brand-new edition that showcases this terrific film in all its amazing brilliance.
The Film
We open in a small run-down trailer park in the middle of the California deserts. Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) is a young man with big dreams but lacking the funds to make it happen. He’s clearly annoyed watching his girlfriend Maggie (Mary Catherine Stewart) go with her college-bound friends and wants much more out of life than working here. His sole distraction is “Starfighter,” a video game that he’s quite excellent at, even managing to beat the high score one night. That brings to the park Centauri (Robert Preston of The Music Man fame), the inventor of the game who wants to make Alex an offer. Thinking he’s won a prize, Alex gets in the car only to have it turn into a spaceship blasting off into space as Centauri reveals an alien visage under his human mask.
Landing on the planet Rylos, Alex discovers that the entire plot of the game is true: The peaceful Star League is under threat by the evil Ko-Dan Empire, aided by treacherous Rylan Xur (Norman Snow). The only hope are the Starfighters, pilots with the unique “gift” for fighting. It turns out the game was set up as a way to test potential humans for that (a nice bit is the suggestion this isn’t the first time Centarui’s pulled this as someone accuses him of “being up to your old Excalibur tricks”). Naturally, Alex wants absolutely no part of this and demands Centauri take him home. While he’s gone, Xur launches an attack that destroys the base and the Starfighters. On Earth, Alex discovers that Centauri had left behind Beta, an android double of Alex to take his place while he was gone. When an alien assassin attacks, Centauri makes it clear Xur knows Alex is a Starfighter and wants him dead. So while Beta draws their attention on Earth, Alex goes back, allying with navigator Grig (Dan O’Herlihy) to attack the Ko-Dan before they breach the frontier. Of course, it’s not until they’re in flight that Alex realizes what happened to the rest and that he is…the Last Starfighter.
The movie’s strength is in the way it both embraces and plays with sci-fi conventions. In many ways, it can be considered the opposite of Star Wars in the path of its hero. Like Luke Skywalker, Alex has big dreams of getting away from his dead-end life (the scene where he looks a mobile of planet overhead clearly mirrors Luke gazing at the twin suns) and being somebody big. But when he gets that chance, rather than embrace it, he acts like a kid might and wants nothing to do with something so huge and responsible. In his first battle, he freaks out about actually killing a man and when he does so, wants to quit once more. But in the end, he realizes he has to embrace that destiny in order to save those he cares for.
Guest manages to carry all that in the lead role. He may seem a bit bland at times but he gets better as the movie goes. He sells the scenes of Alex arriving on Rylos, overwhelmed at the alien culture and wanting to go back as well as Alex finally accepting his role as a hero and soldier. Guest also nicely handles the role of Beta who has some trouble adapting to Earth life and customs but carries a nice humor through it. There’s a fun bit where Centauri explains how the assassins are going to go after Beta and the android is jarred to realize how he’s been set up as a shooting target with Guest selling the comedy well. He and Stewart get along great, believable as a young couple handling the possible tension of leaving and Stewart’s relationship with Beta is funny. But she also sells what could be an overdramatic moment where she declares her love for Alex to the stars and the great final scene.
In what would turn out to be his last role, Preston is a delight as Centauri, a con man at heart who appears to enjoy stringing Alex along. He expresses honest confusion at Alex being upset about being drafted without being told why as well as nearly having a stroke when they try to take back the money he was paid for the recruitment (“Do you have any idea what it took to invent the games, to merchandise them, to get them into the stores by Christmas?!”). But he’s also a good voice to guide Alex as when he tries to urge him into coming back and when Alex says he’s just a kid from a trailer park, Centauri fires back “if that’s all you think you are…that’s all you’re ever going to be!” But he’s almost outdone by O’Herlihy who makes Grig a terrific character. The lizard mask actually aids the performance, making the navigator a fun figure to watch with his wheezing laugh and optimism despite the situation such as when Alex realizes it’s just them against the armada (“It’ll be a slaughter!” “That’s the spirit!” “No, my slaughter!”) and the scene where he talks of his family is truly moving. The character becomes a good friend and mentor for Alex and his presence helps enliven the entire film.
Just as Alex is the antithesis of the classic sci-fi hero, so Xur isn’t the typical villain. This is no Darth Vader figure feared by all or a Ming the Merciless master. He is what his father claims, a spoiled child who thinks he’s a lot smarter than he truly is. The Ko-Dan commanders are disdainful of him and one of the many great undertones of the film is how it’s clear they’re just using him to take over Rylos and once they do, they’ll get rid of this arrogant blowhard. But Snow makes Xur stand out with his true belief he’s destined to rule and refusal to accept he’s wrong which sets up him for a fall.
The script is a great mix of humor and action that helps the film shine, seeming down to earth with its relatable characters but still the fantastic elements needed for a sci-fi adventure. Of course, the big deal are the effects. Tron may have gotten there first but in terms of really using CGI for major action scenes as well as settings, Starfighter truly blazed a trail that’s been followed ever since. Even today, the CGI is pretty good during the space battle sequences and showing the Rylos base. Some may sniff at it as cheap but back in 1984, watching a space battle in such a way was like watching morphing or bullet time on the screen for the first time. They still hold up now and look even better with the DVD allowing a crisp picture that enhances every scene with vibrant detail.
But all those effects wouldn’t be anything without a story to back them up and this film delivers that in spades. The acting matches the terrific script which both embraces and shift sci-fi clichés and adds in a great sense of wonder that rises it above being a mere Star Wars clone. There’s no real deeper meaning here, this movie is pure escapist fun and in that way it works wonderfully well. Better still is Craig Safan’s wonderful score with its main title a soaring epic that pulls you in and enhances the saga wonderfully. It’s a shame that the movie ends in a way tailor-made for a sequel that never came to be but for what we get, it’s an utter delight, a groundbreaking film that still stands the test of time for fans old and new.
Rating: 8.0 out of 10.0
Video: 2.35:1 Anamorphic. The video has been cleaned up nicely from the 1999 release, very crisp and clear, allowing you to see sharper details of the film, which is important with its visual effects work.
Rating: 9.0 out of 10.0
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 with subtitles in English, French and Spanish. The sound is also much clearer, allowing you get dialogue, effects and music in one package. Some sections may need some volume alteration but for the most part, pretty good.
Rating: 8.0 out of 10.0
Bonus Features: While most are from the 1999 release, there’s a couple new things put in.
First, an audio commentary by director Nick Castle and production designer Ron Cobb. As you expect, they share a lot of anecdotes about making the movie, especially the challenges in using CGI when it was a completely untested field and thus they were making up a lot of stuff as they went along. Castle acknowledges how he wanted to avoid the big movies like Star Wars and E.T as much as he could while still retaining a sense of wonder with the film. With Preston, they share how Centauri was envisioned as a “galactic Harold Hill” so why not get the first and greatest Hill to play him? At first, Preston seemed unsure but soon got into it, inventing many of Centauri’s mannerisms himself. They point out stuff you might have missed like how the Ko-Dan bridge is shaped like a circuit board and the inspiration for a lot of the alien designs. Castle also remarks how his wife and cousin can be seen as Rylans in a few scenes. It can get technical discussing the CGI stuff but fun discussing working with the actors and putting everything together well as it’s clear how Castle’s embracing of the film’s fun aspects led to it being so successful.
Crossing the Frontier: Making The Last Starfighter (32:02) was originally on the 1999 set. Hosted by Guest, it’s a straightforward look at the making of the film with interviews with much of the production crew. Guest comes off a bit flat narrating but becomes more lively when he discusses his own experiences making the film. He goes into how he had to handle the dual characters of Alex and Beta with a funny bit on how he had his hair cut after filming but they needed him back for reshoots so he had to wear a wig. Robert Preston is shown from on-set interviews of the time and it’s clear he was having the time of his life playing the part (“I wish everyone could enjoy their job as much as I enjoy mine”). It moves to the CGI stuff with Gary Demos and John Whitney Jr the wizards who, in a 1982 interview, make the prophetic claim that CGI would be the way of the future for movies. We get to see footage of the initial test they made for ILM with Larry Yeager talking about how they first intended to use it to enhance model work but then realized how it could be better used for the entire movie. While a bit dry discussing the CGI, it’s fascinating seeing how stuff taken for granted today was made in a time when no one knew how to do it. A nice detailed look at the film’s creation.
Heroes of the Frontier (24:19) is a new documentary for this release featuring brand new interviews with Guest, Castle, Safan and the rest along with new interviews with Catherine Mary Stewart. The latter is able to give her own feelings on the film and how after all these years, it’s the one people know her best by. While they give props to Preston again, Dan O’Herlihy is nicely discussed (with a photo of him out of makeup but in uniform) as everyone talks about how he came up with much of Grig’s character himself such as the laugh and Stewart speaks for many fans when she says that when the man’s name is mentioned, she just sees him as Grig. It repeats a lot of information about the CGI but with another decade, they can be amazed more at how so much of what they did has been used in TV and movies ever since. They also discuss how, given how huge the video game industry is today, the idea of basing a movie around a game being real was truly ahead of its time and thus younger people are able to get into it. While a lot of this is superfluous after watching the first doc, the new interviews do offer a fresher look to show how the film’s cult following has grown over the years.
We get both the theatrical teaser and trailers as well as an image gallery. The latter has some unique chapters with designs, action figures (both planned and produced) as well as the film’s alternate ending, in which Alex was to address the Star League council with multiple aliens around. The commentary reveals that they were running out of budget and decided to excise it in favor of keeping the CGI battles. No deleted scenes but still a fantastic set of bonuses to enhance your appreciation for the film.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10.0
The 411: The film remains a delight, a truly fun adventure story that still resonates, especially in today's video game obsessed culture. The groundbreaking CGI effects still hold solid, especially with the new picture and sound quality but the heart of the film is what pulls you in. The extras offer a fascinating look at CGI in its infancy and makes you respect the challenges the filmmakers took and thus enjoy the movie even more. Whether you like the effects, the acting or the story, this is a great example of a movie that's aged well...not surprising given how ahead of its time it really was.
