- Joined
- May 9, 2003
- Messages
- 3,103
THE LAST STARFIGHTER
25TH ANNIVERSARY BLU-RAY
Studio: Universal
Film Year: 1984
Film Length: 1 hour 41 mins
Genre: Science Fiction/Arcade Action
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
BD Resolution: 1080p
BD Video Codec: VC-1 @ over 25 mbps (live action) and over 30 mbps (CGI)
Color/B&W: Color
Audio:
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 @ an average 3.5 mbps (dialogue) and over 4 mbps (big music hits)
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Film Rating: PG (Mild Language, Implied Sexuality, Mild Action)
Release Date: August 18, 2009
Starring: Lance Guest, Dan O’Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart and Robert Preston
Written by: Jonathan Betuel
Produced by: Gary Adelson and Edward O. Denault
Directed by: Nick Castle
Film Rating: 2/5
The Last Starfighter arrives on Blu-ray just after its 25th anniversary of its theatrical debut. The film today is a curiosity more than anything else. Fans of the film still love it after all these years, but it was never a major hit in its day and time has not shown it to be more than the light, somewhat derivative adventure it was originally meant to be. Back in 1984, the film was a modestly budgeted sci-fi adventure with a simple plot about an arcade game actually being a test simulator for space fighter pilots. (The hook here was to appeal to arcade gamers with the story of a high score winning you more than momentary notice with your friends.) Since the budget was relatively modest, the filmmakers chose to use computer graphics for their visual effects shots, as they could hopefully be produced cheaper than the traditional models employed by ILM, EEG, Apogee and the other major effects houses of the time. Even given that, the effects were still fairly costly, resulting in a lower budget for the actual production. Things weren’t as threadbare as one might see in really low-budget films, but this was not an extravagant production by any means. The only star in the cast was Robert Preston, in his final screen role. Some other roles are taken by character actors (such as Dan O’Herlihy and Barbara Bosson), and the leads were played by young actors Lance Guest and Catherine Mary Stewart, who at the time had only been in a few projects, mostly as guests on TV shows. Location filming was mostly limited to a trailer park setup that was quickly filmed at the beginning of the shoot and a few simple sets. None of this would be as noticeable if the script and storytelling weren’t equally skimpy. While the filmmakers repeatedly stated that they were trying not to make a typical Spielberg-type fantasy, that was exactly what they made, only without either the depth of character or the sweep that Spielberg could deliver in his films. Once the young man got into space for the adventures, the film switched over to the computer graphics – but even at the time, these came across more as animation than as photo-realistic effects. (Nowadays, the shots seem closer to animatics than completed visuals – and the filmmakers admit on the disc that the work shown here could probably be done on a laptop today.)
All of that said, the film still has a goofy kind of appeal to it. The whole thing is so earnest about itself that it almost won me over a couple of times. Guest and Stewart have a fresh appeal about themselves, and Preston is clearly having fun reprising his character from The Music Man, albeit with some alien attributes. The sheer effort being made by the cast to make this all believable almost gets the viewer past the rubber alien masks and the incredible leaps in story logic. (I’ll make one exception to this – Norman Snow as the villain of the piece is so over the top that he took me out of the movie as soon as he began speaking.) For fans of the film, and of arcade gaming, there’s a lot of fun to be had with all the elements here. And I have a feeling that they’ll purchase this release as soon as it hits the street. But I do feel that I should caution more casual viewers to rent this first.
The Last Starfighteris getting its latest home video release with this 25th Anniversary edition, having previously appeared on DVD for its 15th Anniversary in 1999 and in high definition on HD-DVD a couple of years ago. The Blu-ray incorporates all the special features from the earlier releases, and couples them with new HD picture and sound, as well as a new HD featurette about the production. I should note that other reviews are already mentioning there may have been some DNR applied here, but I did not see this in my viewing of the film. I encourage anyone with a large HDTV (60” or larger) to please comment in this thread if they see evidence of this problem.
VIDEO QUALITY 3 ½/5
The Last Starfighter is presented in a 1080p VC-1 2.35:1 transfer that varies between the earthbound trailer park scenes which to my eye showed a natural range of colors and fleshtones, as well as a pleasing, filmlike quality, and the CGI space shots, which come in crystal clear and sharp. If anything, the HD transfer really brings out the contrast between the live action and the CGI to the point that the CGI shots look even less photo-realistic, and even more like animation. This isn’t a problem with the transfer – it’s a problem with the film that has existed since it was first shown in theaters. So the transfer is a good one, but it points up a problem that can easily take the viewer out of the movie even faster than this would happen with an SD transfer. I should note here that I am watching the film on a 40” Sony XBR2 HDTV. As I said before, if anyone watching this film on a 60” or larger monitor is seeing any problems like DNR impacting the picture, please post a comment on this thread.
AUDIO QUALITY 3 ½/5
The Last Starfighter is presented in an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix in English, which presents the dialogue clearly in the front channels and distributes music and atmospheric effects through the surrounds. When Craig Safan’s Williams-esque score really kicks in with the brass, the subwoofer comes to life – and this happens frequently during the film. There is also some great directionality in this mix, including things like a young boy firing a dart gun into a metal siding at screen right and getting a satisfying “tang!” out of the right channel.
SPECIAL FEATURES 3/5
The Blu-Ray presentation of The Last Starfighter comes with a fair amount of materials, but I should note that much of this stuff is duplicative, and some of it is actually inaccurate or misleading information.
My Scenes – The usual Blu-ray bookmarking feature is available here, allowing the viewer to set their own bookmarks throughout the film.
BD-Live - This Blu-ray includes access to Universal’s BD-Live online site, allowing for the viewing of trailers online. If you’re registered with Universal BD-Live, signing in makes it possible to activate various online funcitons. A “How-To” guide is also included for anyone that needs it.
D-Box Motion Code – An option is presented to use this motion code in sound systems that can handle it.
Commentary by Director Nick Castle and Production Designer Ron Cobb – The scene-specific commentary from the 1999 DVD is carried over to here, and it’s still fun to listen to the guys talk about and laugh through the film. As an interesting note, Castle shows up in the left channel and Cobb shows up in the right channel. Right off the bat, Castle establishes that this was not an extravagant production by noting that the studio would not even allow him to do the studio logo over his CGI planet for the start of the film. Strangely enough, Castle takes all the way to the end of the film to acknowledge his start working with John Carpenter, and misses some obvious opportunities to note the more experienced cast that show up in the trailer park. But Ron Cobb goes a long way toward describing the elaborate ideas he originally had, and how those had to be scaled down when it came time to making them actually work in the film.
Heroes of the Screen (24:19, 1080i) – This is a new, HD featurette that more or less goes back over the ground already covered both in the commentary and in the 1999 featurette. But it is interesting to see everyone as they are today. The only problem here comes from producer Gary Adelson’s sometimes effusive descriptions of the success of this film. At one point, he mentions that the film is “at the top” of everyone’s list, and at another point, he talks about the film being made when video games were just becoming really popular. He’s wrong on both counts. For the latter point, even Nick Castle admits in his commentary that the film was made at the tail end of the second wave of video game popularity. (Having lived through the period, I can attest to the arcade gaming years being strong all the way from 1978 through to the mid-80s – and I no longer have the spent quarters to prove it…) For the former point, Adelson is giving the film a much higher popularity quotient than it actually had at the time. It had its fans then, and it has its fans now, but showering it like that is a bit much. At least composer Craig Safan admits that it’s a little over the top to be titling this featurette “Heroes of the Screen”. As an added curiosity, this featurette is done in the form of a comic book, so that we scan over panels and pages to get to each interview segment.
Crossing the Frontier – The Making of The Last Starfighter (Total 32:02,480p, Non-Anamorphic) – This featurette is preserved from the 1999 release, and is an interesting companion now to the new featurette, in that we can see the same participants in two times ten years distant from each other. Most of the ground here is the same as what is shown in the new featurette, so there is a lot of overlap. The featurette comes in four parts, which can be viewed separately, or via a “Play All” function.
Teaser Trailer (1:33, 480p, Non-Anamorphic) – The original teaser for the film is presented here in standard definition, carried over from the 1999 DVD. It’s definitely showing its age, but it’s fun to watch nonetheless.
Theatrical Trailer (2:47, 480p, Non-Anamorphic) – The original theatrical trailer is presented in standard definition, again carried over from the 1999 DVD. The difference between this and the teaser is mostly that some of the CGI footage has been included in short bursts.
Image Gallery – A series of galleries are presented for slideshow viewing, meaning that the disc automatically cycles the photos through every few seconds. If you hit fast forward, you can get them to go quicker, or you can pause them to stop on a particular image. This extra is sensibly arranged so that the viewer can select which area they wish to examine. The areas here are Cast, Starfighter Arcade Game, Starfighter Command, Starcar, Gunstar, Ko-Dan Armada, Alternate Ending, Anatomy of a Starfighter Computer-Generated-Image and Promotion & Merchandise. The “Alternate Ending” section shows photos of the original staging of a scene from the film’s ending – at a time when it was staged inside a theater. After preview screenings, Nick Castle convinced the studio to let him do some reshoots, including a restaging of that scene as an exterior. (The content is the same – only the location changed.)
Subtitles are available for the film and the special features, in English, Spanish and French. A full chapter menu is available for the film.
IN THE END...
The Last Starfighter is a curiosity from the 1980s, a throwback to a time when arcade gaming really was a big phenomenon, and when CGI was still a craft in its infancy. In watching the film, you can step back to a time before Jurassic Park or the Star Wars prequels, and before even Babylon 5 in the evolution of this technical area. It’s not a particularly great film, but it has an earnest appeal to it, and its fans will appreciate the new attention it has been given in this release.
Kevin Koster
August 9, 2009.
Edited by Kevin EK - 8/10/2009 at 03:18 am GMT
