Last Starfighter, The (HD DVD)

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Video:

As previously mentioned, "The Last Starfighter" was a pioneer in digital effects. The film was the first picture that attempted wholly computer generated based effects that tried to pass off as photo-realistic objects. The first shot shown in the film to showcase these effects was the blast off of Centauri´s spacecar. The film contains a number of alien costumes and futuristic sets that help augment the computer based imagery with real-world effects. Regardless of the style of visual effects used in the film, "The Last Starfighter" looks terribly dated. The computer graphics of the various monitors contained in the film look about as impressive as early Eighties Earth technology and are hardly believable as super advanced alien technology.

The HD-DVD release of "The Last Starfighter" does very little to help the film look better. This catalog release has not been given the red carpet treatment and its visuals look overly dated in high definition partly because of the film grain, dull coloring and softness of the HD-DVD transfer. The 2.35:1 film is mastered in VC-1, but is among the lower tier of Universal´s catalog titles. Scenes that were brightly lit border on being good, however, as soon as the lighting drops, the quality of the visuals drops terribly. Black levels are low and marred with grain. Shadow detail is poor because of the overly soft dark sequences. Colors border from being good to showing their age. The pink fleshtones look partly washed out and other colors are affected by the grain and softness. Detail is hindered by the primitive visual effects and an uninspired transfer. The best looking sequences are when Grig is on-screen. He seems to have the best detail to his face. The print itself is fairly clean; aside from the film grain. I had high hopes that this fond memory of my first year as a teenager would look great, but these hopes were dashed within the first few minutes of the film.

Sound:

The sound quality of "The Last Starfighter" is an improvement over the video quality, but not as impressive as one would hope from a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. The disc also contains a Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack in English, but the TrueHD mix is louder, cleaner and has more rear presence. Oddly, the only real rear presence in the film occurs whenever the character of Xur is on-screen. There is a bass reverberation in the rear speakers that accompany his presence and it is very noticeable. The iconic "Death Blossom" sequence is another of the film´s audible highlights. The .1 LFE channel has a little life throughout the film, but the bass is not very deep and hardly pushes the subwoofer. The front speakers are hugely in the majority in "The Last Starfighter" and they handle the sound effects and score by Craig Safan with efficiency. "The Last Starfighter" is nowhere near as aggressive or involved as films half its age and a few films of the same vintage. Dialogue is good, but a moment or two of clipping could be heard. The film just sounds as dated, but not as dated as it looks.

Extras:

"The Last Starfighter" does come equipped with a couple of supplements. The first and most noteworthy supplement is the Feature commentary with director Nick Castle and production designer Ron Cobb. The two talk back and forth throughout the film and the commentary is engaging and involved. With much of the focus on the film´s production being the computer generated effects, it makes sense to have Cobb involved and he points out many of the effects in the film. Castle is a laid-back individual and points out many obscure fun facts about the production. They are entertaining and never dull in this commentary. My only complaint was a buzz heard in the main speakers that seemed tied to Cobb´s microphone. The second feature is the Crossing the Frontier: The Making of the Last Starfighter (32:00) documentary. This retrospective feature includes star Lance Guest and a very nice look at the film. Mastered in 4:3 full screen, Guest narrates and includes comments by those in the commentary. Most of the documentary looks at the ´groundbreaking computer-generated visual effects´ and is an overall nice affair. The film´s Theatrical Trailer finishes the features that are contained in a reworked Universal menu system.

Closing Comments:

There are a few films from my impressionable years that I fondly remember and still enjoy watching. They have not all held up over the decades since I first saw them, but I still believe they are fun and entertaining. One of these poorly aged wonders is the Nick Castle directed film "The Last Starfighter," which sported new-age computer generated imagery when it debuted in 1984. Over two decades later, the film looks primitive and seems far sillier than the awe-inspiring picture of my youth. It is often compared to "Tron" and has not aged nearly as gracefully as the Walt Disney CGI pioneer. Regardless, I still enjoy "The Last Starfighter," but I am less than impressed with the HD-DVD release of the film. The video quality is grainy and contains poorly saturated colors and overly soft visuals. The sound quality is in Dolby TrueHD, but its limited sound design keeps the soundtrack from aiding the visuals. The two main supplements were well worth my time and did save this HD-DVD release from being a complete bust. I´m sure I´ll break this film out again at some point, but it won´t be sitting on the top shelf of my collection with my other perennial favorites.