Written by / 11/04/2024 / No comments / , , , , , , , , , ,

LANCE GUEST WITH ROBERT PRESTON IN 'THE LAST STARFIGHTER'

Title: THE LAST STARFIGHTER Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2

The connection of THREE AMIGOS, GALAXY QUEST and TROPIC THUNDER... of actors thinking they're taking part in just another paid gig that turns out to be incredibly real and dangerous... in a way began with Nick Castle's THE LAST STARFIGHTER where Lance Guest plays the oldest son of a trailer park landlady... in the kind of lonely Middle American town that Steven Spielberg practically created for CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (and a bit like the "there's something better somewhere else" planet of Tattooine in STAR WARS)...

Castle includes other Speilbergian touches, like a highway speed-limit-sign rattling from the power of a spaceship.... here belonging to scene-stealer Robert Preston, who, with his signature speaking voice that practically sings every line, is beyond perfect as the pre BACK TO THE FUTURE DeLoreon-driving alien-in-human-form recruiter for an actual "star war" that Guest's Alex Rogen is hired to fight in...

Lance Guest in THE LAST STARFIGHTER

The catch here is — he's an extremely agile video gamer, specifically the titular LAST STARFIGHTER that was created to test possible pilots... yet the slowest parts happen once Alex winds up in a giant space-ship (with grids like STAR WARS' Yavin strategy center) where a group of eclectic applied-effect aliens are preparing for battle...

But the tightest, most intriguing character-development occurs in the villain's vessel where Norman Snow — as a spoiled-heir-turned-evil-tyrant — overacts with the kind of heated fervor needed for science-fantasy... 

Lance Guest in THE LAST STARFIGHTER

Leaving the best sequences on the ground... particularly those involving Alex's "Beta Unit" replacement clone, awkwardly (and hilariously) attempting to seamlessly blend in with his... or, Alex's... best girl Catherine Mary Stewart and precocious Playboy-reading little brother...

Meanwhile random humanoid assassins provide necessary sudden-jolt action sequences... injecting jump-scare horror into the sci-fi adventure... between trips into outer space... 

Lance Guest in THE LAST STARFIGHTER

Where the whole space war (with dog-fights looking as if STAR WARS were in the TRON computer) never feel complete enough to matter beyond Alex's camaraderie with a stalwart alien played by Irish veteran-actor Dan O'Herlihy... 

As director Castle strategically narrows the exterior action into what feels like random video game sequences, which brings the whole theme... of the gamer taking part in the real thing... into a neo-pulpy wish-fulfillment yarn that works better in various narrowly-escaping sequences than as an attempted-epic whole.

Dan O'Herlihy in THE LAST STARFIGHTER
Lance Guest in THE LAST STARFIGHTER with Dan O'Herlihy
Lance Guest in THE LAST STARFIGHTER with Catherine Mary Stewart
Lance Guest and Robert Preston in THE LAST STARFIGHTER
Lance Guest and Catherine Mary Stewart in THE LAST STARFIGHTER
Norman Snow in THE LAST STARFIGHTER
Kay E. Kuter (Yavin STAR WARS homage) in THE LAST STARFIGHTER
From Nick Castle's THE LAST STARFIGHTER
Arrow Video's THE LAST STARFIGHTER
Dan Mason as Lord Kril THE LAST STARFIGHTER
Lance Guest in THE LAST STARFIGHTER
From Nick Castle's THE LAST STARFIGHTER
Catherine Mary Stewart in THE LAST STARFIGHTER
From Nick Castle's THE LAST STARFIGHTER

Share This Post :
Tags : , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

All Time Popular

Featured Post

LANCE GUEST WITH ROBERT PRESTON IN 'THE LAST STARFIGHTER'

Title: THE LAST STARFIGHTER Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2 The connection of THREE AMIGOS, GALAXY QUEST and TROPIC THUNDER... of actors thinking ...

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM
Movie Reviews, Interviews, Articles and Pop Culture from White Heat to Blue City

RIP ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

TOTAL HITS

Popular Trending

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE
RANDOM QUOTE: "He was unique... and he was dead." Craig Stevens, Peter Gunn

FILM NOIR & NEO NOIR CRIME

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE BREAK 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)THE SERGEANT 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)RIOT 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6) CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER

BRITISH NEW WAVE CINEMA

RARITIES AND EXPLOITATION

HAMMER HORROR & THRILLER

Popular This Month

CHARLES BRONSON CINEMA

CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

WESTERN GENRE REVIEWS

PEAKING INTO THE SIXTIES

KICKING IN THE EIGHTIES

TALES AND REFLECTIONS

REVVING THE SEVENTIES

Most Popular Last Year