Movies: The Last Starfighter

In the back of every avid video game player's mind is the small hope that someday, somehow, the skills of playing the game will translate to something that matters in real life. Movies like "The Last Starfighter" are expressly geared towards tapping into this deep, optimistic part of the gamer's subconscious. While on the surface it's just another 80s space opera hoping to cash in on the success of "Star Wars," there's some other, more noteworthy stuff going on here.

Alex is just a normal guy, albeit poor and lacking direction in his life. He's an ace at an arcade game that features suspiciously incredible-looking graphics (games in the 80s didn't look like this, folks). Finally, he masters the game...




A mysterious stranger appears...




And he eventually joins the Star League in their desperate battle against the Ko-Dan armada. Yes, it's corny, but everybody does a good job of playing it straight. The special effects are pretty good for the time (all the CGI was rendered on a Cray supercomputer), and there's some intentionally tongue-in-cheek parts, like when the Ko-Dan command ship finally gets its comeuppance:




My personal take-away from the movie was the special weapon employed by Alex's fighter ship. The super weapon had an evocative name - the "Death Blossom." When activated, it rapidly spun the ship around in place while automatically firing a barrage of lasers and missiles at everything in range. The term has been adopted by U.S. troops in Iraq for the tendency of Iraqi military and police to wildly spray in all directions upon taking a hint of enemy fire. :-)

Rating: 6/10 - a cult classic, but still watchable