Review: John Carpenter has made several great films about aliens, but this is probably his most mainstream and it is very effective. Jeff Bridges received a well-deserved Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a visiting alien assuming the form of a widow's dead husband after his craft is shot down over Wisconsin. Karen Allen plays the woman struggling to cope as she is taken on a cross-country trip by the alien trying to reach his rendezvous point while the government attempts to track them down. It combines two of my favorite movie genres, fish-out-of-water stories and road trips. (I really like the Starman theme music and the picture quality on this Blu-Ray is great.)
Quotes:
"So they're sending you guys on meteorites now?"
"Uh, only when they change course."
"Change course? Can they do that?"
"This one did. So they tell me. Twice. Either that or some airhead over at NORAD misread a glitch on his monitor. It also came down slower than suborbital speed. So, naturally, they decided to fire some missiles at it."
"You are really some kind of Martian or something, aren't you? What do you want here? What are you doing? What do you want with me? Where are you taking me? Why do you look so much like Scott?"
"I can't get no... satisfaction!"
"That does it!"
"What the hell is that?"
"Well, it's sort of an invitation, Major. You remember that package we sent up with the Voyager probe? There was a gold anodized disk with greetings from Earth in 54 different languages. Complete with a nice speech from Kurt Waldheim, 'To whom it may concern. Come and see us some time.'"
"Shit."
"Don't mind him. He's just learning to speak English."
"Well, he got a hell of a start on it."
"Are you crazy? You almost got us killed! You said you watched me. You said you knew the rules!"
"I do know the rules."
"Well, for you information, pal, that was a yellow light back there."
"I watched you very carefully. Red light, stop. Green light, go. Yellow light, go very fast."
"What's it like up there?"
"It is beautiful. Not like this, but beautiful. There is only one language. One law. One people. And there is no war, no hunger and the strong do not victimize the helpless. We are very civilized... but we have lost something. I think you are all so much alive. All so different. I will miss the cooks and the singing and the dancing. And the eating... And the other things."
4 out of 5 Stars
