Let’s think back to the year 1984 (no, I wasn’t born back then, but work with me for a moment). E.T. had been released only two years prior, inspiring tons of lighthearted sci-fi movies to flood multiplexes through the decade. Far more importantly, the Cold War was in its last few years. The American public were still constantly paranoid about Russian nukes getting launched, yet visibly pissed off about the Vietnam War and living under the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction for four decades straight. Naturally, this translated into a mistrust and a distaste for the Armed Forces, particularly those officers at the very top.
This was the year that Starman was released, and it really does show.
The premise begins with Voyager 2, a real-life craft that was launched into space in 1977 with human greetings for any extra-terrestrial intelligence that may find it. In the movie, Voyager 2 is discovered by an advanced alien species that sends a scout to Earth in response to our peaceful invitation. Immediately after the craft arrives, U.S. fighter pilots shoot it down, mistaking it for a Soviet weapon. Of course. Upon landing, the alien stumbles upon Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen) and takes the form of her recently deceased husband, Scott (Jeff Bridges). The alien (whom I’ll just call “Starman,” also played by Jeff Bridges) proceeds to enlist Jenny’s help in rendezvousing with his cohorts at a predetermined point halfway across the country. Along the way, Starman learns about humanity and they both fall in love.
Given this premise, it should come as no surprise that the film was heavily influenced by E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In fact, there are scenes that rip off Spielberg’s work wholesale. Starman has a healing red glow, for God’s sake! I could also see shades of Short Circuit and Flight of the Navigator in here, though to be fair, those movies weren’t released until two years later. Furthermore, there were quite a few times when the romance storyline was buried in saccharine. When Starman asked Jenny to “define ‘love,'” it was all I could do to keep from faceplanting. Also, their last scene together was so loaded with cliches that it almost took me out of the film entirely. The score didn’t help matters, as it oversold the romance and was very repetitive. Incidentally, I was surprised to learn that the score was written by Jack Nitzsche, as John Carpenter usually writes the score for movies he directs.
Oh, didn’t I mention? This film was directed by John Carpenter. I honestly wouldn’t have connected this breezy sci-fi love story with the man who brought us The Thing, Escape from New York and Big Trouble in Little China, but here we are. Really, the only sign of his involvement here is in his trademark use of practical effects and stop-motion. Yes, I know that such special effects were everywhere before CGI, but no one did them like Carpenter did. Unfortunately, for every amazing special effect in this film, there’s one that hasn’t aged well at all. For example, the alien’s transformation into Jeff Bridges was staggering to watch, but the spaceship at the end was laughable in its execution.
I was actually quite fond of the pre-transformation alien in this film. This is a thing of pure energy, with no visible emotions or biology as we on Earth can understand it. After so many generations of movies and TV shows depicting aliens as men in rubber suits or special-effects monsters, I found this floating, sentient spark quite refreshing. It’s totally unlike anything seen on Earth and beyond human comprehension, which is exactly how an alien creature should be.
As for Jeff Bridges, he takes this role and nails it to a wall. His physical performance alone is staggering, with every gesture finely tuned to show an alien getting used to a new body. Even in the way he talks, you can hear this character tripping over his tongue and learning how to use his lips by trial and error. But perhaps best of all is what Bridges does with nothing but raw emotion. There’s always a distant and detached look in his eyes that perfectly serves as a reminder of how strange all this must seem to him. Yet even if it’s not always easy to see just how the gears in his head are turning, it’s always plain to see that they are. Starman is a character who simply can’t comprehend life on Earth, but he’s trying his hardest to do so. Moreover, he’s a highly advanced being who’s very optimistic about humanity and responds to our worse tendencies with benign indulgence. The character is thus distant and sympathetic at once — a very difficult combination that Bridges conveys with every second of screen time. He got an Oscar nom for this role and he damn well deserved it.
Still, this is really Jenny Hayden’s story. She goes through a very wide range of emotions here and Karen Allen plays every one to perfection. She wonderfully delivers a perfectly ordinary woman who’s resentful and scared of how she’s dragged in over her head, only to gradually get with the program and enjoy it. Her arc with Starman is every bit as turbulent, going from mourning over her husband, shocked to see his alien impostor and finally head over heels in love with him. It gets corny at times, but it would have been unsalvageable in the hands of a lesser actress.
As a case in point, there’s a particular scene in the third act involving a child. I’m not going to say exactly what it is, because A) it’s not something I want to spoil, and B) just describing it out loud makes me wonder what the writers were thinking. Still, this impossibly stupid idea works because our two lead actors put in so much effort to make it work. Of course, it also helps that the script doesn’t oversell the event. It isn’t some last-minute wink to the audience, just a throwaway moment in the third act that affects nothing in the plot except for our two leads. Furthermore, it was so carefully thought-out, poignantly written, and beautifully delivered that the scene became a highlight of the movie.
Finally, I feel that I have to talk about the government and its depiction in this movie. On the one hand, I can understand why they’re depicted as uber-militant boneheads who see aliens as a threat. That’s their traditional role in such films and the entire point of this movie is to contrast our current paranoia and xenophobia against the optimism and hope that we used to have. On the other hand, this movie shows us one — and only one — scientist (from the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) sympathetic to the alien. You’d think that the rest of the staff at SETI would be just as enthusiastic, wouldn’t you? And where the fuck is NASA in all of this? The UN recorded those messages on Voyager 2, so don’t they have someone to contact upon the arrival of some extraterrestrial emissary? Maybe it’s just the scientist in me or maybe I’m just too far removed from the Cold War setting, but I think it’s laughable how the U.S. government in this film skips right over diplomacy — yielding untold benefits for both species — and straight to blowing Starman up. By the way, wouldn’t killing an alien ambassador, cutting him open and putting him into jars just increase the chances of war between worlds? Way to think through your Earth Defense Plan, dolts.
On a similar note, there are way too many side characters in this film who are totally stupid and/or one-dimensionally nasty. Then again, this movie takes place at various points between Wisconsin and Arizona, so take that for what you will.
All of the pros and cons in Starman even out to a decent movie. There are several plot holes, the narrative has precious little subtlety, the score doesn’t work and quite a few special effects fall flat. On the other hand, there are some wonderful moments of heart and humor to be found, our two lead actors are both superlative and the film has a very optimistic view of human nature that I found appealing. It’s easy to lose this film in the shuffle of so many other sci-fi movies that came out around that time, but I’d still say it’s worth a look. If nothing else, any movie that John Carpenter made during the ’80s should be worth a consideration at the very least.