The Last Starfighter
The Last Starfighter (1984)
Quintessential 80’s Sci-Fi. In fact, it’s like the 80s was designed for this movie, rather than the other way round. Last Starfighter has everything you’d expect from the time. A rousing score, a plucky small town hero who’s dreaming big, a colourful cast of townfolk, intergalactic aliens hellbent on ruling the universe, and my favourite part… Granny with a shotgun.
What it also has which was very unusual for the time outside of Tron was a fair bit of early CGI, especially when it came to the space battles. I must admit I’m a much bigger fan of miniatures and models than CGI, but it’s always interesting seeing the early attempts way before they looked remotely realistic.
It didn’t rely purely on Playstation graphics however, as the alien design where enjoyable, and it used sets wherever it could for both interiors of the planet station, and the battle ship. It felt like the CGI was used as its own thing, rather than replacing others, and didn’t feel lazy. If anything, at the time, they probably took the harder route. Also… the film pretty much had a Delorean a whole year before Back to the Future.
The Last Starfighter for me always fits into that category of 80s sci-fi kids movie like Short Circuit and Flight of the Navigator, but its lost none of its appeal as an adult. I still like Alex, the Gunstar is cool as hell, and the different aliens are fun. The plot is ludicrous, but also something you immediately get behind because why the hell not. Isn’t Alex living out all our fantasies as a kid?
Centauri is fun, I like Beta too, and the final battle kicks all kind of ass. It’s one of those movies which definitely doesn’t try to be too philosophical, and instead enjoys itself. It knows that it’s somewhat nonsense, but is made with heart, and a love of the genre. So many kids repeatedly watched this movie back in the day, and I was one of them. We all wanted Alex to save the day, and become the person he was meant to be… which turned out to be The Last Starfighter.
The Last Starfighter is 80s sci-fi just as you remember it. Big concept, fun heroes, and executed with enough nonsense charm that you can’t help but be swept along for the interstellar ride.
