Netflix Losing The Best Sci-Fi Secret Masterpiece Of The ’80s
It is hard to imagine that a director as prolific as John Carpenter could be described as having movies that are underrated. But when his filmography includes such iconic films as Halloween, The Thing, and Escape from New York, it becomes a bit easier to understand how some of his movies might slip through the cracks. And unfortunately when it comes to Starman, Netflix will soon be losing this sci-fi hidden gem, which provides all the more reason why you should watch it now.
Jeff Bridges In Starman
Starring Jeff Bridges in his pre-The Big Lebowski days, 1984’s Starman tells the story of an alien planet that has intercepted one of the Earth’s attempts at communicating with intelligent life in outer space. Thinking that this could be a chance to establish new allies and friendly connections, the aliens send a scout to visit our planet in response to the message they received.
Unfortunately, the Earth’s military does not share the same friendly spirit that its scientists did when relaying the message. When the alien scout arrives near our planet, its ship is met with immediate hostility and is shot down to crash land on the planet. Starman focuses on this alien as it adopts a human form and begins a desperate attempt to escape a planet that is far less friendly than what it had been expecting.
A Classic Fish-Out-Of-Water Story
Starman falls into a similar genre as classic films like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial or The Iron Giant, where a naïve visitor to our world is immediately feared and attacked just for being different. While the humans who first meet the eponymous Starman are similarly afraid of him, they soon realize that he does not mean anyone any harm and is just afraid of this strange new world. The Starman receives help from a handful of humans who see the good in him and want to save him from the viciousness that so many other humans greet him with.
Forgotten At The Box Office
Despite being a well-liked movie even upon its release, Starman unfortunately did not do well at the box office, making less than $29 million against a $24 million budget. Perhaps E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial coming out just a few years earlier made audiences feel like this movie was not anything special. But Jeff Bridges acting in the movie was so praised that he even got nominated for a Best Actor award at that year’s Academy Awards.
Ahead Of Its Time
In retrospective reviews, audiences have been much more receptive towards Starman. In true John Carpenter fashion, it seems like this is another case of one of his movies being underappreciated at release before later becoming a classic, much like what happened with The Thing. In fact, in many articles looking back at the movie in hindsight, it is listed as one of the best sci-fi movies of the time period.
Watch On Netflix While You Still Can
Too many people missed Starman when it first debuted, but that is not a mistake you want to let happen again now in 2024. Before Starman is gone from Netflix on June 30, make some time to check out this movie and see this sci-fi classic that flew under too many people’s radar.
