From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jun 19 14:21:41 2002 Path: news.island.liu.se!news.ida.liu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news.net.uni-c.dk!logbridge.uoregon.edu!HSNX.atgi.net!sjc-peer.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!sn-xit-05!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Dennis Schwartz Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Last Starfighter, The (1984) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 17:58:44 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 32007 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 323198 X-RT-TitleID: 1011981 X-RT-SourceID: 873 X-RT-AuthorID: 1315 X-RT-RatingText: C Summary: r.a.m.r. #32007 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 71 Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3820 rec.arts.sf.reviews:289 LAST STARFIGHTER, THE (director: Nick Castle; screenwriter: Jonathan R. Betuel; cinematographer: King Baggot; editor: C. Timothy O'Meara; music: Craig Safan; cast: Lance Guest (Alex Rogan), Robert Preston (Centauri), Dan O'Herlihy (Grig), Catherine Mary Stewart (Maggie Gordon), Kay E. Kuter (Enduran), Norman Snow (Xur), Barbara Bosson (Jane Rogan), Chris Hebert (Louis Rogan), John Maio (Alien), John O'Leary (Rylan Bursar); Runtime: 100; Warner Bros.; 1984) "It features a bland story and acting, but it has a certain charm that makes this teen sci-fi'er endearing." Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz Alex Rogan (Guest) is a high school senior living with his mother and younger brother in a backwater trailer park who aspires to go to an out of town college and escape his dull life, but his application for a loan is turned down. Feeling despondent, the youth goes to his trailer park office and plays his favorite video game where he's piloting his Gunstar ship to protect the Frontier against Xur and the Kodan Armada. He beats the Starfighter game and the park residents gleefully spread the word that Alex is their hero. He is approached shortly afterwards by the game's fast-talking inventor Centauri (Preston) and asked to come with him in his souped-up sportscar for his surprise prize. It turns out he's taken in a spacecraft to another planet, where he's recruited to fight in an intergalactic war against a superior enemy that simulates the video game. On the planet Rylos, he's pitted against Xur (traitor son of the Rylan leader) and the Kodan Armada (a gaggle of aliens). They are the same characters from the game, but this is real-life. Alex is given the honor of being a Starfighter and in taking on the invading enemy's entire Armada. If all that sounds preposterous, it is because that's what it is. Thankfully the film doesn't take itself seriously and it's all played for laughs as a parody of such sci-fi flicks. The film follows two stories. The first is Alex's story of fighting on the side of one alien army over the other, which he first refuses to do but when he returns to Earth and is attacked by enemy aliens and soon finds out that all the other Starfighters were killed and only he can save the universe -- he returns to Rylos. Here he receives help from a reptilian-looking creature called Grig (O'Herlihy), who trains him and becomes his pilot as he becomes the gunner. The second is the story of "Beta," the simuloid beta unit who looks just like Alex and replaces him in the trailer park so no one will know he's missing. This makes for some pretty funny stuff as the robot has to fool his wiseacre kid brother, Louis (Herbert), who collects Playboy magazines and is totally obnoxious, into thinking he's having a nightmare when the robot has to make mechanical repairs on his ear and takes off his head in full view of him. He also has to fight off hot girlfriend Maggie (Stewart) when he's not sure of what to do to her sexually. On top of that, there are bounty hunters who can't tell one Alex from another and hunt the Beta down on Earth. The computer-animated special effects were good for the eighties, and the video game looked just like the war battles. This one is a must see for video-junkies and those who like off the wall cult films. It features a bland story and acting, but it has a certain charm that makes this teen sci-fi'er endearing. It is also derivative of Star Wars, having the same heroic journey of someone who came out of nowhere to save the world for the good of mankind. REVIEWED ON 6/11/2002 GRADE: C Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ http://www.sover.net/~ozus ========== X-RAMR-ID: 32007 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 323198 X-RT-TitleID: 1011981 X-RT-SourceID: 873 X-RT-AuthorID: 1315 X-RT-RatingText: C