Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Starman’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Perhaps the one item that is near or at the top of my list, when it comes to the many things that I love about cinema as a whole, is the sheer fact that movies can examine the human condition in unique and downright magical fashion. Because there really is no other medium out there that can isolate the best or worst parts of us and put them on display for two hours and leave us thinking about them long after the story has come to its end, and while many genres take the time to dissect the finer points of humanity, only one has more or less mastered it; science fiction.
 
Because Sci-Fi is able to provide us with an objective look at our world and who we are as a species by providing more tempered beings with situations and problems that we face every single day and that separation really does allow for us to see solutions we’ve never thought of before. But while this is an important part of Sci-Fi related storytelling, I think we can all agree that often times this societal analysis tends to focus more on the bad over the good and that’s understandable since it’s easier to dissect the darker side to our world. But there are Sci-Fi films out there that celebrate the beauty of our world and I recently took the time to revisit a movie that does just that in Starman.
 
Now this is a motion picture that most of us know, so there’s no point in taking the time to discuss the plot since it’s general knowledge by now and if by chance you haven’t seen it…get on that, please. Instead, I want to talk about what makes this film so magical and uplifting and one of the key elements that goes into that, is the acting. Because let’s be honest, the notion of an alien taking over a human clone is pretty out there in its own right and it takes phenomenal acting to sell that and Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen do just that. They’re simply brilliant on screen together and Bridges’ fascinating approach to inhabiting a human body allows for the audience to see our world through a fresh set of eyes and it draws you right into the story’s analysis of our beautiful world.

---

But how it examines our world is what matters the most since the film does take the time to show us the bad parts of humanity by way of some unsavory characters. After all, the good ol’ boy that is proud of his deer and Mark Shermin’s boss, George Fox, are more than happy to go after their own agendas, regardless of who they hurt along the way and that…it something we see just about every day on the news and in our everyday lives. And while that seems counterintuitive to my statement about this film looking at the beauty of things, it’s imperative to feature this part of humanity in the story because every single ugly act or dark moment in this movie is wonderfully counterbalanced by good deeds.
 
Throughout the entire film, we see people extend help or perform acts of kindness toward Jenny and the Starman and it’s equally as impressive to watch people immediately drop everything in order to help these star-crossed lovers get to where they need to go and seeing that outright gives you pause. Because it makes one realize that we tend to focus only on the negative in our lives and our world, and keeping that kind of focus, forces us to overlook all the good and decent acts that happen in our world on a regular basis and the story certainly seems to imply that the good outweighs the bad and we should embrace that fact and make it known to others as often as possible, and do what we can to counteract the bad, and it’s just rare to see a Sci-Fi tale offer up that level of hope and optimism.
 
If anything, all of those elements make this movie one of my favorite Science Fiction films and surprisingly, this one has held up well for being made in 1984 since the effects still work on film. But truly, it’s the story that shines above all else and after seeing it again after all these years, I’m quite taken aback at how good I felt after watching it. It’s simply a treat through and through, and what’s also quite incredible, is that it is directed by horror legend John Carpenter and his steady hand here makes one wonder exactly why he never received more directing gigs outside of horror. But I digress, because what matters the most is that this is a special film, one that leaves your spirits soaring and one that should be revisited as often as possible in these troubled times. 

---