Review of The Last Starfighter (1984) by Nick G — 06 Jan 2011

The plot basically boils down to this: Space Invaders is real and the arcade cabinet is a training device to recruit soldiers for an interstellar war. The movie perfectly translates the components of space shooter games into its imagined reality. Spoiler Alert: The hero single-handedly defeats the invading force and wins the climactic battle by using what is basically a power-up, just like one would on the last level of any game in this style. In fact, the battle sequences progress in the same way, from basic training to fighting a screen full of bad guys, just like in any Wing Commander-esque video game.

As somebody who grew up playing video games and still enjoys sinking hours into destroying hostile aliens, the concept that the skills I developed doing so are not only useful, but vital to the fate of the universe has undeniable appeal.