Review of The Last Starfighter (1984) by Joanetta S — 09 Jul 2008

Before every movie started using computers for all it's visual effects, there was The Last Starfighter. It was the first movie to use computers to create all of it's outer space battles. It's a classic sci-fi adventure movie that speaks volumes about the power of following your dreams.

Lance Guest is perfect as the everyday kid that knows he was meant for something much bigger than his life in a trailer park. He gets the chance to find out when his skill at the videogame "Starfighter" leads to an encounter with an alien visitor, played by Robert Preston.

Suddenly he's whisked away to a distant planet, where he finds that the events in the "Starfighter" game are real, and he has been found to have the gift to be a real Starfighter. Dan O'Herlihy is his alien navigator Grigg, and Catherine Mary Stewart is the beautiful girlfriend who waits for him back home, while encountering a robot duplicate of her boyfriend, left behind to cover up his being gone.

The movie is really all heart. In the original Star Wars, there's a shot of Luke Skywalker looking out over the sands of Tatooine as the twin suns set. That iconic shot embodies the dream that every young person has of leaving home and dreaming of more than what they have.

This movie takes that idea and runs with it. When every kid (of every age) plays a video game, this is the situation they are dreaming they are in. The story and emotions are moved along by what is really one of the greatest musical scores ever, by Craig Safan.

It's an amazing piece of work. It's a groundbreaking movie that obviously looks dated today, but it's story is timeless.