The loser fantasy that having no particular talent except for playing video games just might be the one ability necessary to save the universe is pretty lame. But there are enough losers who have this fantasy that several films have been based on this very premise. The Last Starfighter is one.
From the commentary track on the DVD it's pretty obvious the makers were overly proud of being pioneers of CGI FX. But fact is it was a huge step backward for convincing FX & all the animation in this thing definitely looks like Saturday Morning Cartoon Time.
Any number of science fiction films from the 1950s (Forbidden Planet), the 1960s (2001: Space Odyssey) or 1970s (Alien) were miles ahead of 1984's Last Starfighter for convincing FX. So whatever advanced-for-the-time technological toys were first played with to make The Last Starfighter, it didn't do the job nearly well enough, & taking pride in doing something so badly is just not justified by doing badly in a novel manner.
Though there's not much here for adult viewers, this is a more than adequate corny kiddy flick, relatively innocuous as kill-the-aliens video game stories go. The smily-button upbeat & respectful attitude toward trailer trash is kinda sweet.
copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl
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