The 80s Sci-Fi Adventure That Most Deserves A Modern Remake
It can feel like everything is being remade these days, with the 80s in particular turning into a gold mine for Hollywood studios, as we’ve already received a new Conan, Footloose, Karate Kid, and even Time Bandits. Yet, so far, the one remake that would be a license to print money today has been stuck in developmental hell for years, so while waiting, why not go back and catch the landmark original? Given how popular video games are, The Last Starfighter is still the ideal fantasy of a new generation.
Who wouldn’t love finding out that their video game is real, and now you have to go save an entire alien civilization? I remember the 80s, and I’d still love for that plot to be true.
Gamer To The Rescue
The Last Starfighter is the greatest example of a simple sci-fi concept executed well, as again, the entire plot is that Alex, an angry, going-nowhere teenager, is really good at playing Starfighter. He’s so good that once he gets the high score, the game’s creator, Centauri, meets with him….and then kidnaps him and replaces him with an android. Centauri was tasked with using Starfighter to find recruits for the Rylan Star League in their conflict with the Ko-Dan Empire.
To give you an idea as to how simple and by-the-book The Last Starfighter is, English professors could use it to teach Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey, as the film manages to hit every single beat with all the grace and elegance of Babylon 5’s Kosh.
More Fairy Tale Than Sci-Fi
Simple doesn’t mean bad, and The Last Starfighter, released in 1984, may have been accused of ripping off Star Wars by critics at the time, but that could be said of almost every sci-fi movie when you get down to it. Instead, I think of the movie as more of a fairy tale, complete with the feel-good, everyone gets a moment of happiness ending. Not every sci-fi movie needs to launch a franchise or have enough meat on its bones to create countless merchandising opportunities; it’s okay to get in, tell a fun story, and get out.
Ground-Breaking CGI
The Last Starfighter was at least praised for its use of computer graphics, standing alongside Tron as an early pioneer of CGI. A Cray supercomputer created the special effects, which sounds strange today when a smartphone has more processing power, but the result was 300 scenes with CGI and a 1983 eye-popping budget of $14 million. If, excuse me, when it’s remade, the film’s special effects will finally be able to match the original version of the story, which, amazingly for an 80s film, is even more relevant today.
The Plot Would Work Today
Ready Player One proved audiences love stories about going into their favorite games, which means that The Last Starfighter is already perfect for the kids of today. Every gamer dreams of being praised for their skill; I should know; I earned the Platinum Trophy in Sifu, and you better believe I work that into every conversation. And in the last few years, Hollywood has stayed away from films about being a gamer to bring games to life instead, but that’s resulted in Borderlands, which we can agree was a mistake, so why not get back to basics?
The Most Obvious Video Game Tie-In Of All Time
REVIEW SCORE
The worst thing I can say about The Last Starfighter is that a video game tie-in never happened. The NES game was a re-named version of another game, and so, when the remake happens, at least we’ll finally get the perfect video game tie-in. By approaching the film as it was meant to be, namely, wish fulfillment and a fairy tale instead of a hard sci-fi epic, it’s still delightfully charming today. Over-the-top 80s acting and cheesy costumes are now a reminder of what happens when sci-fi doesn’t take itself so seriously.
The Last Starfighter is only available via Video on Demand through YouTube, AppleTV, and Amazon Prime Video.
