Really Surprised!

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

For every kid who dreamed of a far off adventure and an endless supply of quarters. A fun family-friendly popcorn flick.

....After all, Star Wars borrowed heavily from both Flash Gordon and Akira Kurosawa(in particular, the hidden fortress). But we are talking about TLS here, so here we go.The Last Starfighter is a space adventure PERFECT for kids around 10-11. The special effects, the tongue-in-cheek script, the whole movie is one of the most exciting and entertaining films to come out of the early 1980s. The use of CGI space ships-then state of the art-may look dated today, but keep in mind this was 1984, so I feel that it doesn't hurt the film that much.*Spoilers ahead* The story is about Alex Rogen, a high school kid living in a trailer park with a talent for an arcade game called 'Star Fighter'. One faithful night, he beats the top score, and the next day, a man named Centauri comes to recruit him to fight evil, the game acting as the proverbial sword in the stone which leads Alex to his destiny, leaving behind a robot double to fill in as his replacement. The film does a good job of making a star wars like fantasy that is just different enough to keep it fresh. Lots of fun, with an enthralling soundtrack and good acting all around, especially from the late Robert Preston(Centauri), who plays the role of Centauri. It is also interesting to note that the film was originally going to spawn a tie-in video game of the same name, Atari's first 3D polygonal arcade game to use a Motorola 68000 as the CPU, but it was never released. If you like Sci-fi and adventure, this film is right up your alley.

There are a few Sci-Fi movies that still hold up as great entertainment, despite being decades old. The Last Starfighter is one of them. I remember when I first watched it in the theater and the joy it gave me; a true 80's movie experience with popcorn! You felt that even you could be Alex Rogan, the boy from Earth who travels to another solar system to fight for freedom. It also had a theme of not letting great opportunities pass you by, of being more than everyone expects of you. And the movie was just plain FUN! I dismiss people who always spout "It's just a Star Wars rip-off", as if Star Wars is the only 80's Sci-Fi movie worthy of any consideration. I think Star Wars paved the way for movies like TLS to be made, at least that is my assertion. The Last Starfighter is a great family movie as well as a neat experience. It did make history as the first movies to use computer graphics for rendering all spaceships and space battles. Go check it out!

OK. If this were 1984 (the year of The Last Starfighter's theatrical release), you can be sure that I'd most likely be raving about this Sci-Fi/Comedy, kiddies' film with a little bit more enthusiasm. And, yes, rating it with a higher score than just 3 measly stars, as well.But, as things stand - Now 30 years later (after being thoroughly saturated for the past 3 decades by an onslaught of CGI effects in every single alien-related movie around), one can't help but see how totally inferior The Last Starfighter is in so many, many ways.Had I been able to somehow relate to the youthful characters in the story, I might have leaned a little less critically on this film, which I view as a blatant rip-off of Star Wars.But, as it stood - The Last Starfighter's story was a pretty well-worn tale that held no surprises and quickly got stale within its first half-hour.Yes. I will admit that some of the visual effects here were quite good - But this didn't come anywhere near to compensating for the rest of The Last Starfighter which, pretty much, sucked to infinity, and beyond.