Review of Starman (1984) by Matthew Franklin C — 09 Oct 2008

When John Carpenter released The Thing in 1982, he came under tremendous fire for what was deemed (at the time) the goriest movie ever made. In response to this, Carpenter went completely the other way with this movie about the gentlest alien since ET.

It's love story that shows that you don't have to be human to have humanity, and that life can go on in the face of the most devastating tragedy. As a HUGE fan of Carpenter, it would be easy to dismiss this movie as a sell-out, in the wake of harsh criticism.

But Carpenter is a master storyteller with an unmatched visual style, and both serve him well here. Karen Allen gives the performance of her career. From a woman completely broken by the sudden death of her husband, she has her humanity reawakend by this visitor who finds beauty in life, and shows her that her life is not over.

I write not too much about Carpenter or Allen because for all the great things they do, this movie belongs to Jeff Bridges. Bridges received an Academy Award nominaton for his performance here, and the fact that he lost is one of the great slights in Oscar history.

His character has to learn to be human in every way. Physically, emotionally, verbally, and every other way you can imagine. From his first bumbling steps, and his bird like movements of his head, he grows in both body and mind, to where by the end of the movie, he's more human than the government agents that are hunting him.

A towerhouse performance by one of the best actors of modern times. Equally as important is the musical score. Normally Carpenter supplies the score to his movies. This time, he turns the duties over to Jack Nitzche, and it is one of the most haunting and beautiful scores of all time.

Somehow the score ties together all the emotions that the characters run through. I'm not one for romantic movies. But this is one that I highly recommend.