The film tells the story of Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), a teenager who, after winning the high score in an arcade game that's secretly a simulation test, is recruited by an alien defense force to fight in an interstellar war.

It also features Dan O'Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart, and Robert Preston in his final role in a theatrical film.

The character of Centauri, a "lovable con-man", was written with him in mind and was a nod to his most famous role as Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man (1962).

Aside from his girlfriend Maggie, Alex's only diversion from his mundane existence is an arcade game called Starfighter, in which the player is "recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada" in a space battle.

On the evening he breaks the game's record as its highest-scoring player, Alex becomes angry and depressed on learning his bank loan for a college tuition has been rejected.

Alex learns there is actually a real conflict between a Star League of peaceful worlds and the oppressive Ko-Dan Empire; the latter's armada, poised to invade Rylos, is led by Xur, a tyrannical Rylan traitor who has sabotaged the Frontier forcefield shielding Rylos and other worlds from the Ko-Dan.

The last line of defense against the armada is a small fleet of Gunstar spacecraft, operated by "Navigators" paired with gunners called "Starfighters".

Alex meets a friendly reptilian Navigator named Grig, and explains his unwillingness to take part in the coming conflict.

After publicly executing a Star League spy, Xur threatens Rylos with imminent invasion, and an unnerved Alex asks to be taken home.

Alex is proclaimed the savior of Rylos, and is persuaded to stay and help rebuild the Star League's Starfighter legion by Grig, Rylan Ambassador Enduran, and a recovered Centauri.

He wondered what would happen if a video game were a metaphorical sword in a stone, and a boy racked up an incredible score, which would cause a ripple effect across the universe.

The depiction of the Beta unit before it had taken Alex's form was a practical effect, created by makeup artist Lance Anderson.

Because Lance Guest had cut his hair short after initial filming had been completed and he contracted an illness during the re-shoots, his portrayal of Beta Alex in the added scenes has him wearing a wig and heavy makeup.

Wil Wheaton had a few lines of dialogue that were ultimately cut from the film, but he still is visible in the background of several scenes.

[7] Composer Craig Safan wanted to go "bigger than Star Wars" and therefore utilized a "Mahler-sized" orchestra, resulting in an unusual breadth of instruments, including "quadruple woodwinds" and "eight trumpets, [trombones], and horns!

The website's critical consensus reads: "While The Last Starfighter is clearly derivative of other sci-fi franchises, its boundary-pushing visual effects and lovably plucky tone make for an appealing adventure".

While the actors were good, particularly Preston and O'Herlihy, Ebert wrote The Last Starfighter was "not a terrifically original movie" but it was nonetheless "well-made".

[12] Colin Greenland reviewed The Last Starfighter for Imagine magazine, and stated that "apart from a mildly amusing little sub-plot with the android replica left on Earth to conceal his absence, Alex's adventure is strictly the movie of the video game: simple as can be, and pitched at a pre-teen audience who can believe Alex and Grig blasting a hundred alien ships and escaping without a scratch.

[14] In 2017, Variety described it as having "a simple yet ingenious plot" and added that "the action is suitably fast and furious, but what makes the movie especially enjoyable are the quirky character touches given to Guest and his fellow players."

The home computer version was eventually renamed and released (with some minor changes) as Star Raiders II.

In a follow-up interview with Gizmodo, Whitta referred to the project as "a combination of reboot and sequel that we both think honors the legacy of the original film while passing the torch to a new generation.