You Have Been Chosen

The early 1980s were an interesting time for special effects. In part because the art was so new and still in its developmental stage, there weren’t a lot of movies that attempted CGI for their special effects. Practical effects were king at that point, and CGI was this expensive style that didn’t really hold up as well as it should. Even back then, the effects could seem basic, or cheap, if they weren’t done right. It was magical to think that these cool effects could be made on a computer… but they also stuck out far beyond the uncanny valley to the point where they seemed fake then, and have only gotten faker looking since.

The Last Starfighter is a great film. It’s a fun and enjoyable little sci-fi romp that can hit as an all-ages film. But one of the few things that makes it hard to go back and watch the film again are its special effects. The film was a pioneer in CGI, which is great when it’s 1984 and no one has ever seen that before (only a year later Young Sherlock Holmes had the very first 3D rendered character ever, a stained glass warrior), but as soon as even a few years had gone past, those same special effects start to look old and weird. Now, in 2024, these effects look so aged they’re almost retro again.

Even in 1984, the novelty of these special effects weren’t enough to sell the magic of the film. Made for $15 Mil, the movie only managed to make $29 Mil at the Box Office. Sure, that’s enough to technically not be considered a bomb (at least give or take a few bucks), but the film didn’t really become anything close to a success until home video sales and licensing fees for TV were taken into account. The movie made money, sure, but in the era when every studio was cranking out their own space operas, hoping for a little of that Star Wars magic, this film simply wasn’t able to grab audiences’ attentions.

The film stars Lance Guest as Alex Rogan, a kid who got out of high school not too long ago and is looking to get into a good college and start his life. He’s been trapped at the Star Light, Star Bright mobile home park where he lives with his mom, Jane (Barbara Bosson), and little brother, Louis (Chris Hebert). He spends his days trying to find time to hang out with his girlfriend, Maggie Gordon (Catherine Mary Stewart), and the rest of his time playing Starfighter, a video game depicting a war between the Star League and the Ko-Dan Armada. That is, when he’s not being pulled away to take care of everyone else’s chores and needs around the trailer park.

One evening, after a disappointing day where he missed out on heading to the lake with Maggie, Alex manages to set a high score on Starfighter, defeating the Ko-Dan flagship and beating the game. What he didn’t realize, and isn’t revealed until a bit later, is that Starfighter was actually a test to find the next great pilot for the real Star League. A man named Centauri (Robert Preston) comes around, and he makes Alex an offer, a promise of a new life he just can’t refuse. That’s when it’s revealed that everything in the game is happening for real, up in space, and they need Alex. He’s the last potential starfighter and, without him, the whole galaxy is doomed (Earth included).

The Last Starfighter came out in a period of child-like wish fulfillment stories in Hollywood. Movies like The Goonies, Flight of the Navigator, and The Monster Squad all promised fantastic adventure to spice up mundane lives, all based on the interests of their young protagonists. Alex is older than the other protagonists in those films, but that doesn’t change the fact that this film has that same desire to see the fantastic, to be able to use your skills and knowledge to have an adventure like none out. The Last Starfighter promises that if you get good enough at a video game, maybe you too could be a hero in your own story.

Of course, the movie came out at a time when video games weren’t quite as ubiquitous as they are now. The film predates the Nintendo Entertainment System by a year, and even the install base of the Atari 2600 (which had been the previous biggest system in America) was still only about 10 Mil (give or take) at the time of release (and that doesn’t even take into account the massive market crash for video games the year prior). Arcade games were still massive among the kid and teen sects, but you had to be special to be good at an arcade title. Now, everyone could have a copy of Starfighter, and plenty would be able to beat the game. Centauri would be overloaded with possible pilots in 2024.

That’s part of the magic of this movie that maybe gets lost in the intervening years. You want that promise of a world beyond your comprehension, where your skills not as an athlete but just in the interests that you love could make you a hero. That’s a powerful, heady thing that the film taps into and while it might not seem as magical now (the second you think about it in the modern world) it was amazing back in 1984… that is if you were one of the kids that got to see it in theaters (or on cable soon after) back when the movie was out.

But I also think the film doesn’t quite know what to do with its own story. It spends a lot of time getting Alex into space, which is solid development, but then it spends almost as much time with him waffling about if he even wants to be a starfighter. He thinks the whole thing is dangerous (which is fair) and he quickly backs out of the arrangement. He’s a reluctant hero, but he never really feels like he grows into the role or embraces who he could be. It always feels like he wants to duck, to run, to get out of there, which doesn’t make for the most compelling protagonist.

And then, if I’m being honest, the whole climax of the film is rushed. We go from Alex struggling to even get into a ship and do his duty, to suddenly taking out the whole of the Ko-Dan Armada (spoilers for a forty year old movie) in less than 10 minutes. The whole film builds up to him embracing who he is and learning to fight the Ko-Dan for real… and then wraps it all up like it’s nothing moments later. It’s nice that the film doesn’t want to linger and draw things out too long but, at the same time, maybe you can put just a little more effort into it, film? Maybe just a tad.

And yet, all things considered, The Last Starfighter is fun. It’s an enjoyable romp with a silly premise that commits just enough to make it seem legit (at least within its own rules and universe). I can quibble about the details, but the overall film is a light and breezy sci-fi film that does hold up. Sure, if you showed it to kids now you might have to explain to them what an arcade game is, but outside of that it’s easy to get lost in the wish fulfillment of it all. The film has its charms, and is able to tell its fleet little story in a tight 100 minutes. If only more sci-fi epics could do all that as effectively.