LAST STARFIGHTER, THE - HD DVD review

Some movies do not age well. Yet, we still hold them close to our hearts. One such film is the 1984 computer generated effects pioneer "The Last Starfighter." With its primitive special effects, Eighties' hairstyles and clothing, thin characters and even thinner plotlines, "The Last Starfighter" is still a fun film. However, the older it gets, the more its luster diminishes. Capitalizing on the emerging technologies of computer animation and popularity of arcade games, as well as building on the science fiction craze generated by the "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" films, "The Last Starfighter" became one of the very first films to have a majority of its visual effects built from computers and used a Cray X-MP supercomputer to build its spaceships and spacescapes.

Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) lives with his mother and brother in a small trailer park. He spends most of his time fixing up neighbors problems in the trailer park and running odds jobs for his mother. He often must miss out on having fun with his girlfriend Maggie (Catherine Mary Stewart) and is looked upon as an outsider by many of the others that are his age. His brother Louis (Chris Hebert) looks up to him and cheers Alex as he partakes in one of his few escapes in life, a "Last Starfighter" arcade game that exists at the trailer park. Alex pines to leave the trailer park behind and attend a nice college and not live his entire life in the same geographical area and not make something of himself. He hopes to take Maggie with him and begin a new life.

One night Alex captures an amazing high score on the arcade machine. The entire trailer park rallies as Alex racks up the high score and defeats the mother ship. Later on, a man named Centauri (Robert Preston, in his last film) drives up in an exotic car and persuades Alex to take a ride with him when Centauri tells Alex that he is the creator of the game that Alex has mastered. The ride doesn't take him to the next town, instead Centauri drives him through space and they arrive at a distant planet many galaxies away. The game Centauri invented was no ordinary arcade game, it was a training simulator and Centauri and others now want Alex to become a Starfighter and pilot one of the starfighters that he controlled in the game. He meets a friendly alien, Grig (Dan O'Herlihy), who would serve as his navigator. Alex simply wants to return home and doesn't feel he has what it takes to save the galaxy from the evil Xur (Norman Snow).

When Alex returns home, he finds himself slapped by Maggie and also finds an android has taken his place. The ‘Beta' unit explains that he serves as a temporary replacement until Alex is done fighting in the intergalactic war. Alex tells the android to leave, but plans are abolished when an alien assassin attempts to kill Alex. Alex realizes that he is not safe on Earth and must now embark on the journey offered to him by Centauri. During the fight with the assassin, Centauri is shot and critically wounded, but he is able to make the journey home. When they arrive, they discover that Xur has attacked the starfighter hanger and all of the spacecraft and pilots have been killed. Grig had been working on a prototype of a new model and was spared. Together, Grig and Alex must pilot the prototype and that Alex is now the last starfighter.

"The Last Starfighter" is both corny and primitive when viewed nearly a quarter of a century after the film first appeared in theaters. The computer generated imagery lacks the textures and details of modern effects and the entire film now has a video game look and appeal, with graphics that cannot match what is now capable with the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3. Whereas this was an impressive film in 1984, it now looks horribly dated and lacks the wow factor it originally possessed. The plotlines of the film have also not held up well. The premise of "The Last Starfighter" is nicely thought out. Unfortunately, the execution falls on the weak side. Alex and countless others are ‘volunteered' into the Starfighter Legion, but when Alex finally defeats the massive armada of Xur, the fleet numbers one relatively non-offensive mothership and a couple dozen starfighters. This mighty armada of evil could hardly make a dent on any of the capital sized starships from "Star Wars" and certainly does not seem like the mighty force it is stated to be in the film.

There are other serious flaws in the plot of the film. However, it still manages to entertain. "The Last Starfighter" does not pretend to be an Academy Award winning film and only the late Robert Preston adds any credence to the production. The characters are not overly fleshed out. They have enough of a story arc to have Alex change his mind a couple of times, but Grig and others are as flat in dimension as the film's CGI textures. This film was created to embrace emerging technology and surpass the work done with the two year older "Tron." It was intended to capitalize on the popularity of arcade machines such as "Pac-Man" and "Zaxxon." "The Last Starfighter" was not created to rival the work done by George Lucas. It was not intended to become a massive space epic. The film was wholly intended to be innovative and immediately successful. In that regard it succeeded.

"The Last Starfighter" just has not stood the test of time. It is still a fun little romp across the galaxy. The film serves as another solid reminder of the odd decade we commonly call the Eighties. The neon clothing and synthesizer based music are in full display in the film. The sensibilities of the time and the overtones of the Cold War are readily apparent in the film. The Xur aliens wear Communist red, while the Starfighter Legion wears clean and pure whites and light tans. This is a film that is a museum piece of the decade in which it was produced. It is a fun little film to remind us of the times and the days when digitally created effects were primitive and reminded us more of arcade games than they did the dinosaurs of "Jurassic Park." The film did not hold a candle to the physical effects of the seven year older "Star Wars" in 1984 and even less so today. It isn't the classic that George Lucas' space opera became, but for many of us, "The Last Starfighter" is still guilty pleasure and a film that is enjoyable in its dated cheesiness.

Video:

As previously mentioned, "The Last Starfighter" was a pioneer in digital effects. The film was the first picture that attempted wholly computer generated based effects that tried to pass off as photo-realistic objects. The first shot shown in the film to showcase these effects was the blast off of Centauri's spacecar. The film contains a number of alien costumes and futuristic sets that help augment the computer based imagery with real-world effects. Regardless of the style of visual effects used in the film, "The Last Starfighter" looks terribly dated. The computer graphics of the various monitors contained in the film look about as impressive as early Eighties Earth technology and are hardly believable as super advanced alien technology.

The HD-DVD release of "The Last Starfighter" does very little to help the film look better. This catalog release has not been given the red carpet treatment and its visuals look overly dated in high definition partly because of the film grain, dull coloring and softness of the HD-DVD transfer. The 2.35:1 film is mastered in VC-1, but is among the lower tier of Universal's catalog titles. Scenes that were brightly lit border on being good, however, as soon as the lighting drops, the quality of the visuals drops terribly. Black levels are low and marred with grain. Shadow detail is poor because of the overly soft dark sequences. Colors border from being good to showing their age. The pink fleshtones look partly washed out and other colors are affected by the grain and softness. Detail is hindered by the primitive visual effects and an uninspired transfer. The best looking sequences are when Grig is on-screen. He seems to have the best detail to his face. The print itself is fairly clean; aside from the film grain. I had high hopes that this fond memory of my first year as a teenager would look great, but these hopes were dashed within the first few minutes of the film.

Sound:

The sound quality of "The Last Starfighter" is an improvement over the video quality, but not as impressive as one would hope from a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. The disc also contains a Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack in English, but the TrueHD mix is louder, cleaner and has more rear presence. Oddly, the only real rear presence in the film occurs whenever the character of Xur is on-screen. There is a bass reverberation in the rear speakers that accompany his presence and it is very noticeable. The iconic "Death Blossom" sequence is another of the film's audible highlights. The .1 LFE channel has a little life throughout the film, but the bass is not very deep and hardly pushes the subwoofer. The front speakers are hugely in the majority in "The Last Starfighter" and they handle the sound effects and score by Craig Safan with efficiency. "The Last Starfighter" is nowhere near as aggressive or involved as films half its age and a few films of the same vintage. Dialogue is good, but a moment or two of clipping could be heard. The film just sounds as dated, but not as dated as it looks.

Extras:

"The Last Starfighter" does come equipped with a couple of supplements. The first and most noteworthy supplement is the Feature commentary with director Nick Castle and production designer Ron Cobb. The two talk back and forth throughout the film and the commentary is engaging and involved. With much of the focus on the film's production being the computer generated effects, it makes sense to have Cobb involved and he points out many of the effects in the film. Castle is a laid-back individual and points out many obscure fun facts about the production. They are entertaining and never dull in this commentary. My only complaint was a buzz heard in the main speakers that seemed tied to Cobb's microphone. The second feature is the Crossing the Frontier: The Making of the Last Starfighter (32:00) documentary. This retrospective feature includes star Lance Guest and a very nice look at the film. Mastered in 4:3 full screen, Guest narrates and includes comments by those in the commentary. Most of the documentary looks at the ‘groundbreaking computer-generated visual effects' and is an overall nice affair. The film's Theatrical Trailer finishes the features that are contained in a reworked Universal menu system.

Closing Comments:

There are a few films from my impressionable years that I fondly remember and still enjoy watching. They have not all held up over the decades since I first saw them, but I still believe they are fun and entertaining. One of these poorly aged wonders is the Nick Castle directed film "The Last Starfighter," which sported new-age computer generated imagery when it debuted in 1984. Over two decades later, the film looks primitive and seems far sillier than the awe-inspiring picture of my youth. It is often compared to "Tron" and has not aged nearly as gracefully as the Walt Disney CGI pioneer. Regardless, I still enjoy "The Last Starfighter," but I am less than impressed with the HD-DVD release of the film. The video quality is grainy and contains poorly saturated colors and overly soft visuals. The sound quality is in Dolby TrueHD, but its limited sound design keeps the soundtrack from aiding the visuals. The two main supplements were well worth my time and did save this HD-DVD release from being a complete bust. I'm sure I'll break this film out again at some point, but it won't be sitting on the top shelf of my collection with my other perennial favorites.