One of my favorite movies from the 80s is The Last Starfighter, which starred Lance Guest as Alex Logan, the intrepid video gamer who gets a chance to save the universe.
Alex is a young man who is living in a trailer park with his mother and youger brother. He has a girlfriend, played by Catherine Mary Stewart, but life seems to be pretty boring for him. When he isn't fullfulling his duties as the handyman for the residents, he spends his time playing Starfighter.
What Alex doesn't know is that the game is actually a testing device created to find those worthy of becoming Starfighters, the universes best chance of defeating the evil Ko-Dan empire which is trying to wipe out the Rylan Star League. When Alex beats the highest score, he is recruited by the game inventor and brought out to space were he is enlisted and trained as a starfighter. Needless to say he helps win the day and defeat the incursion, but some of the bad guys escape and Alex is face with a pretty tough choice. Does he go back home and forget this ever happened or does he stay and help train a new generation of Starfighters to defend against future hostilitites? He does what any true hero would do, he returns home, tells his family what happened, and takes his girlfriend back to outerspace to keep us all safe.
What I enjoy about Alex, and other heroes like him, is that he is just a regular guy who finds himself in a situation where he can make a difference and save the day. What makes these heroes special, is that they don't run away, even when the are scared out of their minds. They stick around and fight. They do their best, hoping that in the end, it's enough.
I never saw this one!
ReplyDeleteI never saw it either. Actually I never heard of it, although the plot kind of reminds me of Ender's Game.
ReplyDeleteOhhh, I loved that movie, and had forgotten totally about it. Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteOMG! My brother and I used to watch this one over and over! It always freaked us out when the recruiter guy took his face off. LOL What a great blast to the past!
ReplyDeleteI never saw this one, but I do recall it being on TV and my older sons watching it.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds really incredible. Like you said...an ordinary guy caught up in a situation.
A couple of months ago as I was flipping through channels I came across this movie. It'd been ages since I'd seen it. I still really like it.
ReplyDeleteYou are spot on about Alex and what makes his brand of hero so special.
I remember this one! Great choice! You're so right about the hero being afraid, but doing the right thing no matter what. That's what makes them a hero. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, I remember this! What's not to like about a movie that gives you permission to play video games - in the event that you might have to save the universe one day :)
ReplyDeleteMichelle, You better get on that then.
ReplyDeleteCarol, I'll say the same to you that I did to Michelle, except add pronto to it :-)
Peachy, You are more than welcome.
Katy, It's one of those movies that no matter what, you never get tired of.
Laurel, It's a wonderful movie and if you ever get a chance to watch it, you won't be dissapointed.
Literary, I'm the same way, no matter how long I go between viewings, I still really enjoy it.
Alexia, I couldn't agree with you more.
Stephanie, Aidan tried to give me the same argument after I let him see the movie. We don't have a video game system in the house.
Oh yea, I remember this one. I loved this movie growing up. And another one, I can't remember the name of it. It was about a young boy who finds a small ship and he flies it and it even went under the water. The ship I think flew as he thought. It was a beautiful shell or clam shaped shiny silver ship. Then the boy was taken to be studied by the government. Oh, I forget the name.
ReplyDeleteAnother movie I have been thinking of too, is Space Pirates. I always got a kick out of when they go through the time warp and they all age so fast and the son grows up to be the hero for the time. The son they didn't even know she was going to have. :D
Great pick this week!