By Joshua Tyler and Jonathan Klotz | Published
Greetings Starfighter! It can feel like everything is being remade these days, with the 80s in particular becoming a gold mine for Hollywood studios. We have already received a new one Conan, Free, Karate Kidand even Time bandits.
Few of them worked, but the one that would actually be a license to print money has yet to happen. talking about The Last Starfighter. Stay tuned to find out what’s happening with plans for more.
The latest Starfighter is still relevant
Considering how popular video games are, The Last Starfighter is still the ideal fantasy of a new generation. Who wouldn’t be happy to find out that their video game is real and now you have to go save whole extraterrestrial civilization? I remember the 80’s and I still wish this storyline were true. The The Last Starfighter is the best example of simple science fiction the concept is executed well.
The film’s title is a reference to both the name of a video game in the story and a rank given to a particularly talented individual. A Starfighter is a job, not a ship. In the context of the film, a Starfighter is a being that controls the Gunstar’s weapons.
The Gunstar is basically a space battleship, like the X-Wing from Star Wars or the Star Fury from Babylon 5. Except it’s cooler than both.
The whole plot of The Last Starfighter is that Alex, an angry teenager who isn’t going anywhere, is really good at a game called Starfighter. He’s so good that after he gets the high score, the game’s creator, Centauri, meets him, then kidnaps him and replaces him with an android.
The Centauri were tasked with using the Starfighter to find recruits for the Rylan Star League in their conflict with the KohDan Empire. Raised to the stars and teamed up with an alien pilot named Grieg, played with gusto by Dan O’Herlihy, Alex is now the galaxy’s last hope to save us all from a malevolent invading force.
It’s the little moments that make this 80’s classic special
It’s the creative little details that make it The Last Starfighter special. Beta Alex, the earth robot that stands in for our hero, is funny, scary and impressive. Grieg’s strange family background adds a fun dimension to his character.
Kathryn Mary Stewart, as Maggie, is the most perfect teenage friend ever seen on screen, except for Jennifer in Back to the future. The Last Starfighter trailer park side characters also hit memorable notes. Their unwavering support for Alex, a way of repaying all the kindness he has shown them over the years, is the beating heart at the center of the film.
Most notably Robert Preston as the enigmatic Centaur. It’s the closest film I’ve seen to matching Mentor’s magic on screen Back to the future Doc Brown.
The Last Starfighter is so pure and so classic in its storytelling style that English professors could use it to teach Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey. The film hits every single beat with all the grace and elegance of Babylon 5 Trash can.
How the last Starfighter was received in the 80s
The Last Starfightermostly just because it was released in 1984, it was accused of ripping off Star Wars by critics at the time. But that could be said of almost every sci-fi film released since George Lucas’ box office dominance. In case of The Last Starfighterthis is not a fair criticism. The Last Starfighter is more of a star tale, ccomplete with a sense of well-being: everyone gets a moment of happiness.
Not every sci-fi film needs to launch a trilogy or have enough meat on its bones to create decades of merchandising opportunities. Often the most satisfying movies come in, tell a fun story, and come out. And few movies are more satisfying than The Last Starfighter.
Like the Star Wars rip-off complaint, most of the criticism the film received from critics was for the wrong reasons. Roger Ebert, in a rare misstep, called it “pretty lame stuff.” At the same time, Ebert and other critics praised it The Last Starfighter for the use of computer graphics, standing alongside Tron as an early pioneer of CGI.
A Cray supercomputer created the film’s special effects, which sounds strange today when a smartphone has more processing power. The result is 300 CGI spaceship scenes and an impressive 1983 budget. of 14 million dollars.
Unfortunately, these special effects don’t hold up at all. It’s not the movie’s fault, it’s just that technology has advanced. Conceptually, the film’s effects are still great. That Cray supercomputer just wasn’t up to the challenge of meeting modern CGI standards.
Outdated special effects are just one of many reasons The Last Starfighter is so ripe for a remake, but it’s big. When The Last Starfighter has finally been remastered, these space battle scenes will be able to match the quality of the film’s still relevant story.
Ready player one proved that audiences love stories about getting into their favorite games and this movie’s story isn’t half as good as The Last Starfighter. However, this is proof that The Last Starfighter is now as perfect for kids today as it was for kids in the 80s.
Every gamer dreams of being praised for their skills. I should know that I won a Mech Warrior team tournament in 2005. and you better believe I still use this in every conversation. yes I still wear the t-shirt in the first place.
For the past few years, Hollywood has been staying away from movies about gamers in order to bring gaming to life. But it led to Borderlands. We all agree that the movie was a terrible mistake, so why not go back to basics?
The worst thing I can say The Last Starfighter is that a true relationship with video games never happened. The NES game called The Last Starfighter was a renamed version of another game. And the Atari game was just a bunch of shapes that didn’t have much to do with the movie.
By zooming in The Last Starfighter as it was meant to be, namely a wish-fulfillment and a fairy tale instead of a hard sci-fi epic, it’s still as fascinating today as it was then. The film’s over-the-top 80s acting and fancy costumes are now a great reminder of the way magic can happen when science fiction isn’t taken so seriously. It could be great.
The Last Starfighter Returns: Current Plans for Remakes and Sequels
The Last Starfighter it was great. It will be even better. So where is this The Last Starfighter a remake? Some iteration of a The Last Starfighter the sequel has been in development since at least 2005, but if you think that means it’s close to happening, think again.
Things were looking so good that three years ago we got a concept trailer for The Last Starfighter 2 by writer and director Gary Whitta. Unfortunately, in 2022 Witta took to Twitter and said: “To be honest, there’s a decent chance this will never happen. But if it doesn’t, it won’t be for lack of effort on my part and on John’s part.”
Whitta mentions John Betuel, who wrote the screenplay for The Last Starfighter and has been attached to the sequel since the originalthe original director, Nick Castle, had hoped to helm a sequel himself. Vita, best known as writer of 2016 Rogue One: A Star Wars Storywas the last director hoping to take on the project.
Last year, Vita sang a much different song, saying on Twitch: “We are very, very close. We’re basically on the one-yard line and I believe it’s going to happen.” Because Whitta didn’t pick up where it left off The Last Starfighter continuing the proverbial one-yard line, there’s no way to know for sure what happened.
More recently, Kurt Russell and his son Wyatt Russell have expressed interest in remaking this classic 80s film. How serious they are about doing something remains to be seen.
Decades ago The Last Starfighter sequel was in development, the original film hit theaters with a modest return at the box office. It wasn’t a failure and it’s not a dead franchise. But for now, it looks like it may be a while before the film gets a well-deserved revival.
Things have to change and it’s up to you. You were recruited by the Star League to give back, The Last Starfighter.
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