Plot: What’s it about?
It’s the beginning of the eighties and director John Carpenter has gotten himself some hits in the horror genre and some hits in the sci-fi genre. At this point, he switches gears from looking at the fun gritty side to take a calmer gentler side to tell a story about one woman’s loss and the gain she receives one night unexpectedly. She knows she’ll never piece back what she had lost but she’ll never shake the experience she had with the Starman.
A long time ago, Voyager Two had launched into the skies to determine if there was any life amongst other planets in the galaxy. In this present day world, unknown to all Earthlings, one such being responds to this craft and lands onto the world in the backwoods of Wisconsin. Meanwhile, Jenny (Karen Allen) grieving the loss of her husband has a miraculous sight that her eyes can’t possibly begin to imagine. A being (Jeff Bridges) resembling her dead husband comes into her presence and she takes him in as if he had come back to be with her. Although it seems that he has returned, other officials want something done with what had landed in her area. She soon realizes nothing lasts forever when this being, who she enjoys experiences with and is protected by it, has his own watch that he has to get back to as well.
This is a nice change of pace for director Carpenter. Although this viewer loves his “let’s do it for the fun of it” idea of filmmaking complete with wacky characters, dark environments and the Panavision advantage, Starman has its share of a similar vision, complete with the same Carpenter credits typeface, but a more deeper look inside as a woman can come to terms with what she had lost and has another chance despite being on the run. It also differs in music score whereas Carpenter, who usually does his own scores, takes a back seat and gives Jack Nitzsche a chance at the helm and gives Starman a good score that almost sounds like Carpenter never left musically.
The acting by all is wonderful led by the always reliable Jeff Bridges who gives a touch of the outer space being in all of us as his character carefully starts understanding English and having his own way of picking up driving as well as a little luck out west. Karen Allen plays Jenny with enough sympathy and enough gusto that the audience shares in her sympathetic towards her as well as a little more knowing that this Starman won’t be around much longer if his actions are not fulfilled. At first, the audience doesn’t know what to make of this new being that’s landed but after a little while his learning and their running make for two people under unique circumstances coming together to fulfill their needs and give each other a little bit of assistance along the way. Starman is one that is out of this world and for the most part a nice departure and very entertaining.
Video: How does it look?
I remember seeing this film in theaters but, as of this writing, that’s been over four decades ago and I assure you I wasn’t thinking about image quality. But I know that Sony does a bang up job with their 4K catalog titles and after just a few moments with Starman in my player, I was already impressed. Granted, for a film made in the mid 80’s we can’t expect too terribly much, but the colors seem to be stronger and bolder, detail is sharp and contrast is strong. These are all good things. Couple the image quality with John Carpenter, a director whose films I adore, and you’ve got yourself a winning hand. Kudos to Sony for bringing this to 4K.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby Atmos track of the film lets the score, effects and dialogue balance out throughout all channels with the dialogue taking the center channels and the score and effects playing out throughout the outer channels. Although the film does have a bit of audio limitation from being an film of the eighties, outer space zooms in and out and explosions do give a loud boom but with some protection and a slight muteness but not one to take away from the resulting audio experience. It’s an upgrade over the previous track to be sure, but nothing out of this world (sorry, couldn’t resist).
Supplements: What are the extras?
Disc One (4K)
This disc contains no bonus materials.
Disc Two (Blu-ray)
- Audio Commentary – Director John Carpenter and Actor Jeff Bridges did this track a while ago, I think even for the DVD though I could be mistaken. It’s a pity that you have to use the Blu-ray to listen to the track as it’s full of interesting information about the film. I love Carpenter’s commentary tracks and this is right up there with the best of them.
- Deleted Scenes – Running nearly 20 minutes, we get 18 total though none really added a lot to the film. It’s stood on its own for quite some time and though it’s nice that these are included, I don’t think anyone missed them.
- Behind-the-Scenes Time Lapses – This is an interesting segment with two scenes profiled “Pep Rally Prep” and “The Light at the Window.”
- They Came from Hollywood: Revisiting Starman – Carpenter, Jeff Bridges and a few others share some of their memories about the film and its enduring appeal.
- Making-Of Featurette – A 10 minute feature that’s about as vintage as they come with some tidbits from the cast and crew as well as some behind the scenes footage.
- Music Video – “All I Have to Do is Dream” by The Everly Brothers
- Still Gallery
- Theatrical Trailer
The Bottom Line
After Halloween and The Thing, John Carpenter was known as the “horror king” (I don’t really know if that as an official moniker as I just made it up) but with Starman, he showed us that he can make a more family-friendly film that was every bit as good as his horror films. Sony’s new 4K offering gives us everything we could have wanted and fans will love them for it.
