The Last Starfighter
Originally published on social media on August 9th, 2022
Did you know that some of the best places to find great films are yard sales? Just last weekend, my family and I found a 4-film DVD set of 80’s Sci-Fi flicks at a yard sale. My mom got really excited about this find as she remembered loving one of the films, “The Last Starfighter”, when she was in middle school! Watching this film together was a fun opportunity for my sister and I to learn even more about my mom’s adolescence.
This film has three distinct tones:
The first tone revolves around 80’s video game culture. Of course, that’s a main part of the plot, but the film itself made you feel as if you were in an 80’s video game & it was a blast (pun intended).
The second tone revolves around an all-American mobile home community with members who are mainly past the age of 60, but who all truly care for each other & embrace the quirkiness of being in each other’s lives. The best comparisons I can make to describe this tone are to other films like Cocoon or Batteries Not Included. The main character of course is a teenage boy, but I love seeing how involved the community was in his life & how they celebrated his victories.
The third tone is the classic 80’s coming of age dynamic as the main character steps into his own as a man (and Starfighter).
These three tones together create a film experience that is nostalgic & enjoyable. Personally, I’m grateful that there were not too many action/star fighting scenes and enjoyed the attention given to developing the plot. Also, I adore Robert Preston and thought that his presence in the film was a cherry on top.
It’s funny — sometimes with films, my mind is made up about it as soon as the credits roll. Other times, my mind needs time to process it all before I decide whether or not I like it. However this time, I had a hard time finding my grounding on what this film really was going to be like and therefore am having a hard time developing my opinion of it. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I think I would need to watch it again in order to truly make up my mind about it.