Rating: PG
Genre:
Science Fiction
Release Date: 06/08/1999
SubTitles: French/English
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 101 Minutes
Flags: Mild Violence, Questionable for Children, Adult Language, Sci-Fi Violence, Suitable for Teens
Distributor/Studio: Universal Studios
Trailer-park teenager
Lance Guest regularly escapes from his humdrum existence by playing the video game
Starfighter. His expertise at this recreational endeavor attracts the attention of affable stranger
Robert Preston. Before he knows what's happening,
Guest is whisked by
Preston into the outer reaches of the galaxy! It turns out that the
Starfighter game is being played in deadly earnest in outer space, and that
Guest is expected to join
Preston's Star League, then do battle with the wicked Kodan forces.
Guest's principal ally is the lizardlike Grig (
Dan O'Herlihy--and
we didn't recognize him either). His great rival is the traitorous Xur (
Norman Snow). The contrast between
Guest's earthbound life as the son of single-mother
Barbara Bosson and his new position as Starfighter is daunting at first, but soon the boy is manning a spacecraft and zapping the baddies as though he's been doing it all his life.
The Last Starfighter was clearly designed with "sequel" in mind: giveaways include the resurrection of a "dead" character and the surprisingly casual escape of the villain. While the film didn't stir up enough business to warrant a sequel, the
Starfighter video game remained a much-sought-after commodity by joystick-happy "warriors" all over the country.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
