SCI-FI WAR MOVIE: The Last Starfighter

                “The Last Starfighter” is a beloved sci-fi movie from 1984.  It was directed by Nick Castle and written by Jonathan Beutel.  Beutel got the idea when he saw a boy playing a video arcade game and associated it with the King Arthur sword in the stone story.  The movie was the first feature film to use CGI instead of models.  The movie had an amazing 27 minutes of effects. 

                Alex (Lance Guest) is a whiz at a video arcade game called Starfighter.  He lives in a trailer park.  One day an alien named Centauri (Robert Preston in his last film role) arrives and takes Alex to his planet.  His high score in the game has made him a prime recruit to pilot a real starfighter to help defeat the evil Ko-Dan who are threatening the benevolent Star League.  While Alex goes through training, he is replaced by the clone Beta Alex for comic relief.  Beta Alex has to interact with Alex’s girlfriend Maggie (Catherine Mary Stewart) with humorous effect. (Additional scenes involving Beta Alex were added because of positive test audience responses.)  Meanwhile, Alex and his navigator Grig (Dan O’Herlihy) must single-handedly duel with the entire enemy armada.

                “The Last Starfighter” is a charming bit of fluff.  The premise is very creative, but the rest is standard sci-fi fare aimed at 14-yearold boys.  What stood out is the state of the art visuals and it is nostalgic to watch the movie today.  However, the effects seem cheesy now.  It’s like you are watching a video game.  The plot is full of clichés.  The reluctant warrior.  The evil villain.  A fight against all odds.  The con-man mentor.  The woe is us destruction of the base.  The screenplay plagiarizes a bit from “Star Wars”, but that is not surprising.  It many ways it is a low rent “Star Wars” knockoff.  Unfortunately, that tells you the acting is average, with the exception of Preston.  The dialogue is not campy enough.  And the movie is just not that suspenseful.  The happy ending is to be expected, but Alex’s victory is guarantee because he has the “Death Blossom”.   Seriously, how can you lose with a weapon with that name?

                As far as it being a war movie, the strategy and tactics are actually fine.  The bad guys launch a surprise attack a la Pearl Harbor.  The invasion is defeated by taking out the command ship, which is typical in sci-fi war movies.  There is a special weapon, although everything else is standard.  The enemy has nothing scary.

                If you are a nerdy gamer, this is the movie for you.  Not only does Alex’s gaming skills give him a chance to save the Universe, but he has a hot girlfriend. 

GRADE  =  C

ROUND 1

VS.

#8 The Last Starfighter vs. #9 War of the Worlds

PLOT - In "The Last Starfighter", a league of planets is in need of ace starfighter pilots to face an evil empire. Arcade games have been set up on Earth to find potential starfighter candidates. A teenager at a trailer park gets the high score and is whisked off as a recruit. Meanwhile an android clone is left for comic relief and to interact with his girlfriend. There are some bumps in the road, but Alex proves to be an ace pilot without the aid of  "the Force". The plot is inventive in its setup, but pretty clicheish afterwards. It's basically a low rent Star Wars exploitation flick, but still fun. GRADE = C (7)

Spielberg's version strays far from the novel and the original film. It is the story of a father and his son and daughter and their adventures during the alien invasion. Hell of a way to bond with your kids and shed your reputation of being a ne'er do well. It is not so much a war movie as a trek-during-a-war movie. The plot has several big disaster scenes and enhances the horror element of the story. In Spielberg's typical quest for the family friendly ending (literally), the movie is rife with implausibilities and ridiculous human actions. GRADE = C (7)

STRATEGY AND TACTICS - In "The Last Starfighter", the Rylan Star League’s strategy is relying on its "Frontier defensive wall".  A wall in outer space? The enemy manage to sabotage the starfighter base (like the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor) and then plan to penetrate the wall. Alex is the lone Gunstar that can stop their command ship. The tactic is classic commando raid. GRADE = B (8)

Spielberg's movie does not dwell much on strategy and tactics since it concentrates on the trio of humans. There are no scenes of the President and the military dealing with the crisis. It appears the strategy is suicidal attacks on the tripods based on an atrocious scene where the Army goes straight at the incomparably superior aliens. The soldiers are joined by unarmed civilians! The tactics are simply frontal attacks. As far as the aliens, they are simply destroying and conquering. They don’t need finesse. GRADE = C (7)

WEAPONS - Alex's Gunstar is similar to Luke's X-Wing fighter (surprise!). It has a pilot and a weapons specialist. The armament is lasers, photon bolts, and particle beams. Alex's is equipped with a secret weapon called the Death Blossom which enables it to defeat a host of enemy fighters that are similarly armed. This is necessary because the good guy has to take on the enemy by himself.  GRADE = C (7)

"WOW" is set in present time so the humans have tanks and rockets. Nukes are not used. Christ, if we can't use them against an alien invasion, why have them? They would probably be useless anyway because of the alien force fields. This is a not a fair fight. The aliens have heat rays that disintegrate people. Thank God we are a germy people.  GRADE = C  (7)

SPECIAL EFFECTS - TLS was one of the first movies to make extensive use of CGI which means at the time it was amazing, but today looks dated and cheesy. It looks like a video game looks now. There are 27 minutes of effects in the film which is nice quantity. GRADE = C (7)

Since it is a big budget Spielberg extravaganza, the special effects are amazing. The initial destruction of the city sets the tone for mankind's doom. The alien craft are cutting edge effects. CGI and miniatures were used. The tripods were modeled after jellyfish. The aliens are creepy and not obscure in darkness. GRADE = A (9)

ANALYSIS: The opening match of the tournament is between a Star Wars knockoff and a Spielberg blockbuster. Neither is much of a war movie. TLS does conclude with a battle, but it is really more of a one ship raid. The movie concentrates more on Alex's recruitment and incorporation into the starfighter role and his clone's comic relief dealings with the trailer park denizens. It's a bit of fluff, but it earns good will from its target audience of people wanting a Star Wars type movie to tide them over until the next installment. WOW is on the other end of the spectrum. Being a Spielberg huge budget extravaganza, it has a much higher bar to jump. The movie may have the word "war" in the title, but it is even less of a war movie than TLS. Spielberg made an intimate invasion movie. If Cruise is going to play the rogue daddy role, you can't have him in a spaceship and you can't waster screen time in some other character. Although very popular, the movie requires the audience to disregard numerous stupid elements in the plot. I personally think much of the movie is ridiculous. Although I much prefer TLS, WOW wins the match mainly because of its effects.

WOW = 30
TLS = 29