Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

The Last Starfighter 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 20, 2023

Note: Per its frequent operating procedure, Arrow is offering a standalone 4K UHD release of a title they previously released on 1080 disc. For convenience sake, I am porting over applicable parts of my original The Last Starfighter Blu-ray review of Arrow's 1080 release from a couple of years ago.

1962 had one of the most competitive races in the Best Actor category of the Academy Awards of that decade. While Gregory Peck deservedly was recognized as the winner that year for his performance as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, he had considerable competition from the likes of Peter O'Toole as Lawrence of Arabia, Burt Lancaster as the Birdman of Alcatraz, Jack Lemmon's troubling portrayal of alcoholism in Days of Wine and Roses and the one perhaps unusual inclusion, Marcello Mastroianni in Divorc e Italian Style . There's a perhaps glaring omission in this list, one made all the more glaring due to the fact that the film which featured the overlooked performance, The Music Man, racked up more than a few Oscar nominations that year, including one for Best Picture. But somehow Robert Preston, who had originated the role of maybe, maybe not huckster Harold Hill on Broadway, taking home a Tony Award for his efforts, did not receive a Best Actor nomination for his equally splendid work in the film version (I'm sure there are some fans out there who feel strongly that Preston should have replaced Mastroianni in the "final five".) Preston in fact had to wait until 1983 to score his one and only Academy Award nomination, in the Best Supporting Actor category, for his wonderful performance in Victor/Victoria (he ended up losing to Louis Gossett, Jr., for An Officer and a Gentleman. Two years later, there was quite a bit of scuttlebutt that Preston would finally not just be nominated for, but might actually win, an Oscar for his turn in The Last Starfighter, but, alas, the awards gods were not with him, and he was overlooked yet again. Even if a statuette wasn't to be part of Preston's career, The Last Starfighter offers Preston to strut his stuff as what might even be thought of as a kind of galactic Harold Hill, in this instance using his perhaps lugubrious charms to recruit one young man to do a bit more than play a trombone.

The Last Starfighter was released on Blu-ray way back in 2009 by its parent studio Universal, and for those wanting a plot recap, I refer you to Martin Liebman's Th e Last Starfighter Blu- ray review of that version. Marty's review is also a good resource for screenshot comparisons and lining up the array of supplements between the two versions (I'll just cut to the chase and say the Arrow version is a clear winner in both categories). As often happens with these re- releases, my score for the actual film varies just a bit from Marty's.

The Last Starfighter 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from Arrow's prior release of the film on 1080 disc. Per Arrow's standard operating procedure, this release does not include a 1080 disc.

The Last Starfighter is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the restoration:

The Last Starfighter has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 [sic] with 2.0 stereo, 5.1 audio and a 4.1 mix created for the film's 70mm release.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution at Company 3, Burbank. The film was graded in HDR10 and restored in 4K at R3Store Studios, London. The Dolby Vision grading was completed by Fidelity in Motion, New York.

Audio remastering on all audio mixes was completed at Deluxe Audio, Los Angeles.

All materials for this restoration were made available by NBC Universal.

I'll only note that there are a couple of interesting differences in the above verbiage from the verbiage that is reproduced in my original 1080 review, culled from that release's insert booklet, the most interesting of which is that version credited EFILM instead of Company 3, which may indicate either a typo (one way or the other), or that this is a whole new scan. The 1080 verbiage also understandably left off comments about HDR and Dolby Vision. This is another 4K UHD presentation where a surplus of old school opticals and composites, as well as some of the digital anomalies in the then groundbreaking computer generated effects I noted in the 1080 review, may not always find a friend in the increased resolution this format offers. That said, some of the practical effects, like the kind of funny "creature" makeup that some characters wear (notably Grig's lizard like head) actually offer some rather excellent and at least relatively believable fine detail upgrades in this version. Grain is very heavy a lot of the time, some of which is due to those aforementioned opticals and composite effects, but it's surprisingly tightly resolved in the brightly lit outdoor moments, if considerably chunkier, splotchier and much more yellow looking in some of the darker material. I frankly wouldn't say HDR and/or Dolby Vision has materially changed the palette, though reds in particular look amazingly vivid in this version. Flesh tones can occasionally look slightly pink and flushed, though never really unnatural. A number of scenes later in the film have an almost peach colored look now, which is one of the few real highlight differences I noted in this version. My score is 4.25.

Update: Arrow has kindly let me know that EFILM and Company 3 are actually the same organization with a name change.

The Last Starfighter 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As outlined above, there are three audio options on this disc, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, DTS-HD Master Audio 4.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Marty wasn't especially thrilled with the engagement of the surround channels on the Universal disc, but I found this Arrow rendering to be nicely immersive in its two surround offerings, although admittedly not in the more hyperbolic ways that contemporary science fiction outings can tend to be. That means that, much as Marty mentioned in his review of the Universal version, rear channels may come into play less than might be expected. Despite that sound design element, fidelity is excellent across the board, and there are some fun if subtle differences between the 5.1 and 4.1 mixes. Dialogue and Craig Safan's score both resonate strongly and clearly, and the inventive sound effects offer consistent interest. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Last Starfighter 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This 4K UHD release nicely ports over the supplements from the 1080 release.

• Maggie's Memories: Revisiting The Last Starfighter (HD; 9:28) is an interview with Catherine Mary Stewart.


• Into the Starscape: Composing The Last Starfighter (HD; 12:20) features Craig Safan. Semi-tangentially, for those who may be interested, there's a rather charming musical version of the film by Skip Kennon and Fred Landau that fans of the film might enjoy checking out.


• Incredible Odds: Writing The Last Starfighter (HD; 9:27) is an interview with screenplay author Jonathan Betuel.


• Interstellart Hit Beast: Creating the Special Effects (HD; 10:14) features special effects supervisor Kevin Pike.


• Excalibur Test: Inside Digital Productions (HD; 7:46) is an interview with sci-fi author Greg Bear, who discussed Digital Productions, the company which did the film's CGI.


• Greetings Starfighter! Inside the Arcade Game (HD; 7:24) features arcade game collector Estil Vance.


• Heroes of the Screen (HD; 24:19) is an archival making of featurette.


• Crossing the Frontier: Making The Last Starfighter (HD*; 32:02) is another archival making of featurette.


• Image Galleries

  The Cast (HD)

  
  

  Starfighter Arcade Game (HD)

  
  

  Starfighter Command (HD)

  
  

  The Starcar (HD)

  
  

  The Gunstar (HD)

  
  

  Ko-Dan Armada (HD)

  
  

  Alternate Ending (HD)

  
  

  Anatomy of a Starfighter CGI (HD)

  
  

  Promotion and Merchandise (HD)

• Trailers

  Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:47)

  
  

  Teaser Trailer (HD; 1:33)

• Audio Commentary with Lance Guest and Jackson Guest


• Audio Commentary with Nick Castle and Ron Cobb


• Audio Commentary with Mike White

*720

Additionally, Arrow has provided their typically well appointed insert booklet, reversible sleeve and a slipcover, though this version omits the poster that Arrow's 1080 release offered.

The Last Starfighter 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Though I actually have had a soft spot for The Last Starfighter since I saw it in a theater years ago, I may not be quite the fan of it that Marty evidently was, based on our slightly different scores for the film. This 4K UHD release by Arrow offers some subtle improvements in detail, and better suffusion in a palette that maybe isn't always the most spectacular for a supposed sci fi epic, though the old school effects and now rather quaint computer animation may actually look a little wonkier in the increased resolution this format offers. With caveats noted, this 4K UHD release comes Recommended.