Synopsis
Trailers
Reviews (95)
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J
A very strange and sudden burst of pop commercial sweetness for Carpenter, presumably a response to the unjust failure of The Thing but one that proved no less artistically fruitful for him as he gets to take elements from old-fashioned Hollywood films he loves (romantic comedies, road movies, westerns, etc) and put a tender, grandiose post-Spielberg alien contact science-fiction spin on them. Bridges is obviously doing some spectacular proto-Dougie Jones physical acting and mugging as the alien wearing the widow’s hot dead husband as a skinsuit (all the way to an Oscar nomination, no less) but Allen has the more challenging and rewarding task of watching this absurd premise with wide-eyed terror and a gentle, broken heart that slowly warms…
417 5 -
C
The human race sucks but Karen Allen’s radiant eyes like beacons of pure light could be the sole reason aliens would choose to visit us.
304 3 -
Llaird 8 月 23, 2026
Carpenter is biting Spielberg really hard here, and it’s the damndest thing that it still feels so sincere. Was this a weird Salieri and Mozart rivalry playing out after Spielberg’s friendly E.T. became an international sensation and Carpenter’s The Thing tanked? Whatever his intentions, when Carpenter has Karen Allen give “the Spielberg face” while watching alien Jeff Bridges resurrect a deer, I melt and evaporate away. Carpenter is so different than the rest of his generation in how he assimilates existing works. It’s not tribute or pastiche, nor an attempt to deconstruct or recontextualize or play any post-modern games with classic Hollywood material. He just remakes it as his own. Sincerely, without a hint of irony, and in Allen and…
219 -
M
“Shall I tell you what I find beautiful about you?” Carpenter’s BALL OF FIRE. (It’s also THE TERMINATOR but nice — released two months apart)
440 1 -
P
Hollywood in the 80s really fucked up by not putting Karen Allen in every movie
1,535 12 -
S
85 “Tell me again how to say goodbye.” As a road movie and a cozy sci-fi picture, Starman is exceptional, but it shines as a film about grief and its lasting effects. John Carpenter allows for plenty of mood and intrigue, although the grandeur of the film is rooted in a gentleness and distinct lack of cynicism. We treasure the waking movements of a once-dead deer, and the first taste of apple pie. It mght also offer the greatest final shot of Carpenter’s career. You’re floating by the end of it.
639 5 -
I
Starman means a lot to me, so I’ll get this out of the way first. I love Starman so much—the story, the cast, the pacing, the score, and Carpenter’s direction… especially since (at least on paper) he’s the last person I would ever suspect or choose to make this kind of picture. I don’t revisit this often and there’s a reason for that, which I’ll go into because I think it’s time to change that… Jenny Hayden: Love is, um, it’s when you care more for someone else than you do yourself. In my 20’s I lost someone. We were together for years until that fateful day, which happened to be my birthday. Just like that, she was gone. When we…
1,585 75 -
F
I love that there is a movie out there specifically designed to show beyond a reasonable doubt that John Carpenter is a better filmmaker than Steven Spielberg. There are lots of things that could go wrong about this, but it is handled with so much care. And the whole travelogue, treated by Carpenter as one might expect as a modern trek western, is beautiful, from the landscape to the interactions with minor characters to how Allen/Bridges relationship develops. Bridges gives a wonderful, often strange performance that lays heavy in the whole alien-learning-humanity beat (he got an Oscar nomination for his efforts, and it will always be weird someone got one from a Carpenter movie), and somehow Karen Allen, who gets…
281 4 -
J
A gentle film about grief, loss, decency and human (or not-so-human) kindness. Something I kind of needed, to be honest. Jeff Bridges is terrific as a physical actor, and Karen Allen absolutely kills it in a wonderful, nuanced performance.
630 2 -
L
possibly my favourite carpenter to date, exceptionally profound and heartbreaking, it’s the type of film that understands what it means to be human, the beauty in the strength, the variety, the connections and passions, the idiosyncrasies that make each of us unique. but mostly it understands the power of love, how seeing the face of the man you loved in person again, not just in a clip or in a photo can make the pain of the loss fade just a little bit. how as he develops as a person, he gains not just disconnected and apathetic knowledge about our species but the passion and warmth and humanity that is present throughout the best of us. but it’s about how…
222 1 -
J
So I’m here with mom, helping her out after the loss of her partner, going through photos and documents and organizing the memorial, and she tells me a friend of hers has recommended a movie that might help her process her grief. Something called Starman. I go apeshit with excitement. What magical friend told my seventy year old mother to watch Starman? I tell mom how much I loved that movie when I was a kid. How it played on HBO over and over again in the era when HBO meant “Hey, Beastmaster’s on!” (My Golden Age of HBO) I explained how the movie was important to me because it was a very personal, early example, possibly my earliest, of…
988 31 -
M
What begins as John Carpenter’s quirky, feel-good take on E.T. slowly builds and evolves into what can only be described as an unstoppable freight train of grief and longing made beautiful and uplifting by the sheer heart of Karen Allen and Jeff Bridges, a train riding headlong toward an ending that hits like a brick wall of transcendental emotion. One of those rare experiences where I just sitting there motionless, letting the entire credits roll through with that unfuckingbelievably gorgeous, ominous, haunting score echoing through my mind, thinking of those whom I love and cherish, having spiritual conversations with those I’ve lost, and pondering my place in this universe and the next. Yeah, I Cry. So What? Fuck Off.
481 12 -
FFlickets 8 月 22, 2026
IN 1977 VOYAGER II WAS LAUNCHED INTO SPACE, INVITING ALL LIFEFORMS IN THE UNIVERSE TO VISIT OUR PLANET. GET READY. COMPANY’S COMING.
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C
This bitch got a girl pregnant and left 😭. Anyway, no one warned me about the start of this movie which was so gross and scary istg, I did NOT deal well with that, but other than that, this movie was quite sweet and I enjoyed watching it. My only little nit picky thing, more of a personal pet peeve of mine, is I don’t like stories/tropes where an alien or whatever being that isn’t human, later turns into a…
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J
The second they pulled up to Vegas, I just knew Jeff Bridges was gonna activate that Dougie Jones swag to slay some slot machines. Keep ✅ Sell ❌
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N
Starman (David Bowie) John Carpenter has given you thrills. He’s given you chills. Now he takes you on a bold new journey to a place he’s never been before, the heart. And God help me it’s beautiful. Shout out to Carpenter for fighting the studio tooth and nail like an actual legend to get Dean Riesner’s name on this movie for reportedly doing multiple rewrites. His primal hatred for the system feeds my soul and gives me life. I think…
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B
if the alien ended up being a scary monster that wanted to destroy earth but also loved karen allen, it would probably also be a good john carpenter movie. as it is, it’s a really cool choice to make a road movie out of the concept of an alien invasion. it’s a pointed decision to make a very hopeful alien movie coming off of The Thing, and the fact that this was the hit movie confuses me a bit. there’s…
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S
Didn’t really resonate with me very much, but I will say there are some really great explosions.
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L
This was cute but I can’t believe they didn’t play starman by David Bowie
1 -
M
o et clonou o marido morto da mulher botou ela na chapa e ainda abandonou grávida, insano
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C
Was not ready for Karen Allen to have a conversation about aborting the baby alien inside of her after she had sex with an alien that took the form of her dead husband. This had to be incredibly traumatizing for her. It at least had to be deeply saddening.
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S
El Man le dice a la chica Pal monte no se lleva leña
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B
For years I wondered why John Carpenter did a romance movie. Then I finally watched it and saw that super fucked baby growth scene and realized there’s good ol Johnny boy.
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D
A beautiful change of speed from John Carpenter, and the standout under-seen gem from his filmography. One of my mom’s personal favorite films that I grew up on, and it was great coming back to this one all these years later.
22 1 -
B
“Tell me again how to say goodbye” When you tell me John Carpenter Alien Kidnapping Road Trip movie, I gotta say, I don’t expect the outcome to be a love story. A beautiful movie, unlike any of Carpenter’s other work. It manages to touch on grief, loss, life, and the chaos of living.
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D
Specialll efffects !
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J
Probably the weakest Carpenter film, but best 2010s track sampled from the score (Symphonies) for sure.
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C
This is a movie about an alien that crash lands in wisconsin and has to go on a road trip to Arizona to escape! I bought this movie in Arizona, and went on a road trip to move to Wisconsin where i watched it finally. Maybe im the alien that needs to go on a road trip to go back to Arizona! Weird movie 7/10!
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J
Another example of John Carpenter’s know-how for making memorable cinema with an atmsopheric score. Jeff Bridges gives a unique, brilliant performance as an alien visitor to Earth who takes the appearance of a recently deceased man. His wife, played somewhat sombrely but appropriately so by Karen Allen, accompanies him on his journey to return him to his beings before his body dies. This acts as her journey of closure in her own grief and it is this part of the…
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M
Así se vería ET si fuera una película romántica 💖
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AAhmed 8 月 20, 2026
It’s funny that I randomly watched this on the 20th of August, same launch date of Voyager 2, huh. It’s almost 3AM, and idk what should I write about this but what I know for fact is that imma watch it again later in the far future — in a different time of life. About this line: “You are a strange species. Not like any other. And you’d be surprised how many there are. Intelligent but savage. Shall I tell…
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Q
Lil bit sleepy and doesn’t quite make up for it with originality or a particularly great central pairing but they’re perfectly serviceable together and there’s a couple of nice ideas
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R
I seriously love this film. It’s stunningly shot, genuinely funny, very charming and heartwarming.
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J
This is probably one of the most unique and underrated movies in Carpenter’s filmography, a sci-fi love story about an Alien who takes the appearance of a widow’s death husband. It’s a really good movie about grief with a lighthearted and slightly comedic tone to it You could say the story is split in two, on one hand we have Jenny and the Alien, and on the other Mark, who is tasked to pursue them. I thought the pacing was…
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M
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J
“El amor es fantástico, así como… Ese pastel de manzana”
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M
Not your usual Carpenter film. A different take on the alien visiting Earth film. The 80s feel was great and the musical score worked. Bridges did well as the curious alien. Some of the special effects looked dated. I laughed as the “map overlay” that Bridges projected to show where to go and I’m like that’s like a proto-GPS.
1 -
S
Pa’ qué fuiste a la tierra 🌎?
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C
When Starman brings the deer back to life and gets in a fistfight with redneck hunters as a result I knew he was my GOAT. Breeding big eye cat girl Karen Allen a just reward. Very sweet for a Carpenter movie while still maintaining his seething contempt for authority. Of course if aliens came in peace we’d try to kill them, that’s all we know how to do!
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E
A different take on aliens coming to earth. Great performance from Jeff Bridges that includes several humorous moments. Slows a bit toward the end but overall an entertaining film. Very different feel from most John Carpenter films.
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C
A very atypical film for all those involved, and I personally really enjoyed it. Carpenter’s normally cynical and downbeat storytelling is paired with a sense of optimism in this, which leaves it feeling much more authentic than a simple “Feel good alien buddy” movie. Jeff Bridges delivers a seriously impressive performance, in his physicality, facial range and emotional depth, one of the deepest roles he’s ever done. Overall this feels like a breath of fresh air, and a brilliant show of versatility from the minds that created and performed within it.
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J
charming, funny, endearing, but i could not stay interested to save my life. the quality i was watching it was just really bad i think and it didn’t do much to work through its own story? its very sweet though awww, would you love me if i was an alien inhabiting the body of your former lover🤗🤗🤗
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8
genuinely if my dead husband came back to life to have a 3-day road trip with me before dying for the second time again, i would ascend.
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B
imagine falling for a clone of your dead husband thats actually an alien.. 🙂↔️🙂↔️
10 -
D
Terrific.
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E
Permite muitas interpretações, principalmente sobre a empatia da humanidade em momentos difíceis, algo que o próprio personagem comenta em determinado momento. Podemos perceber isso através de pequenas cenas, como estranhos ajudando os dois: seja uma mulher na lanchonete dando um sorriso gentil e dizendo o horário do ônibus para uma Jenny com uma arma na mão, alguém entregando um casaco na chuva ou até pessoas ajudando-os a fugir das autoridades sem fazer muitas perguntas. São momentos simples, mas que reforçam…
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J
Yes the special effects are goofy but this movie has more soul than 99% of movies made this century.
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R
An unusual Carpenter take on a sci-fi rom-com. Still, it has all the 80’s sy-fy magic, solid story and familiar actors performing their best. Too close to the E.T release to make an impact back then, but I love rewatching this picture from time to time. It has the vibe and the unmistakable quality of 80’s cinema. On the other hand – the friendly alien trying to get out of here is done to exhaustion by now, so that is…
14 -
F
Fodac que é tudo muito irreal, eu também quero amar um alienígena bonitão!!
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I
ET for adults Also an amazing road movie about grief Big fan
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P
Um romance/ficção científica cheio de sensibilidade, nem parece um filme do John Carpenter; faz uma boa exploração dos temas de luto e conexão, o desenrolar da história é cativante e tem ótimas atuações, até que compensou legal.
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D
C’était trop fun
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I
After making an ET-giddy America gak with The Thing, John Carpenter proved he could make normal tears jerk with this interstellar romance betwist a grieving widow (Karen Allen, delightful) and an alien (Jeff Bridges, cute but not too) who looks just like her ex.
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PPanniAlien 8 月 17, 2026
Eu acho que c tem que estar numa certa vibe pra ver e aproveitar como a galera que avaliou bem fez. Tem um ritmo específico pra história e se vc n tá , passa batido. Mais um do John Carpenter, que eu vi sem querer.
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L
Starman and Dougie Jones (Twin Peaks: The Return) share many similarities. Most evidently that they are both Mr. Jackpots on the Vegas slot machines. Not what you would expect from a John Carpenter film but I think that makes it even better. He proved that he is not just a genre director with Starman, a genuinely moving story and a beautiful ending.
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L
typen hennes heter scott men han døde men detgårfint det kommer en alien som elsker the rolling stones og tar henne med på en road trip til arizona. er det ikke en sang som heter starman? define bozo define a little jumpy define bambi define love define beautiful define shit I tought gun made you a little bit jumpy jenny hayden you make me a little bit jumpy UP YOURSSSS🖕🖕 BINGO
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S
Forse poco carpenteriano come film, ma c’è un Jeff Bridges in forma davvero smagliante. Film davvero bello.
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M
Define “I slept with an alien inhabiting the clone of my dead husband and I’m having his baby.” Jeff Bridges’ dead-eyed version of ET sure does look a lot like today’s uncanny valley AI slop.
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I
Karen Allen is fcking shining
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L
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N
nn jsp c’était con et pourtant j’y allais le cœur ouvert
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D
A departure from the norm for Carpenter that I don’t think completely works. I really like the two leads. Jeff Bridges really sells it, and I think Jenny as a character really brings a nice emotional core. There is a certain charm that comes from an early-ish Carpenter film. I liked the score. The end brought some nice emotion. There was some really good comedy. There was some interesting concepts sprinkled throughout. Whilst the core relationship was interesting, the romantic…
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L
Road trip + ET 👽 🚗 Bem sonsinho, mas pelo menos o final não é o que minha mãe achava que ia ser, gostei pra matar o tempo
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S
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L
my dad somehow manages to find the nichest films on netflix? this was so predictable, that’s not necessarily a bad thing though, made it an easy watch
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V
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M
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O
Entirely way too long… but Karen Allen and Jeff Bridges make up for the entirely too boring subplot the scientists and government agents represent. But goddamn, do I miss practical effects like this!! Please, John Carpenter, save us!!!
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C
Not an ideal scenario for grieving your dead husband I imagine. Top moment: Loved how it all ended! Carpenter’s score, the lighting, Allen and Bridges doing their thing; and narratively it was very satisfying!
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F
película sorpresa en el malba, en 35mm, y mí novia y yo ganamos dos sorteos distintos antes de la función capaz tengo bias pero la pasamos bien 😀
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P
Starman is a Grade-A creep. “I gave you a baby,” had us SCREAMING. The only two women in the film are a widow and a diner waitress. The score makes no sense. What happened here, and why is this uncannily similar to The Terminator?
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L
Me dormí un cacho jajajajaj , pero muy bonita
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B
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D
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M
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L
La vi en el malba con un vino encima y me dormi
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GGene Morrissey 8 月 16, 2026
Carpenter dares to ask the question “what if E.T. but you wanted to fuck to alien?”
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G
In my top5 sci-fi films. Very Spielberg, simple dialogues, romance. The very best of Jeff Bridges in this one.
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M
te amo ciclo de películas sorpresa del malba
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P
Beautifully tender
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F
Mest 80-taliga 80-talsfilmen jag sett Jeff Bridges är väldigt bra på att vara en weird alienmänniska
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S
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H
3.75
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J
Literalmente viene un ser del espacio y a los yankees lo primero que se le ocurre es cagarlo a tiro! Pero hermano lo invitaste vos a la tierra!! Esta muy buena la analogía del buen salvaje de Rousseau: en su momento, para los victorianos quienes se consideraban el “pinaculo” de a lo que debería llegar toda civilización humana avanzada, los pueblos y sociedades que no estaban a ese estandar, eran vistos como “salvajes” o “primitivos”. Pero ahora se me ocurrió…
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U
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K
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N
I get why Jeff Bridges was nominated for an Academy Award but man, Karen Allen was the glue and deserved an Oscar. What could have been a silly film with a silly premise was really, really heartfelt. As mentioned, Karen Allen is stellar as a grieving wife given a second chance. It’s just a beautiful film.
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Y
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K
You know it’s good when tears penetrate the Lexapro force field. This really is a perfect movie.
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B
Just solid and well made, with leads that have good chemistry and a story that feels very mid 80’s, nicely done Carpenter and company.
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P
The scene where Karen’s character goes “he broke his nose, your’s isn’t broken”(paraphrase), just feels like the perfect example of her love for her husband and sets the alien apart from him.
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L
I remember being a bit disappointed when I saw this when I was younger. Not enough action. It is more for adults. But for a film with little action it sure has some epic explosions. They really knew how to explode stuff in the eighties. A lost art. It’s a fairly fun and gentle time watching. A road trip across America is always enticing. The two leads are quite captivating and have a nice chemistry. And the A-Team style chase…
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S
Nice to see that Carpenter got a chance to try his hand at a romantic road movie (although with sci-fi elements). Fantastic performance by Jeff Bridges in a role that could have very easily been ridiculous but he handles both the comedic and the more serious moments effortlessly. Ending is quite stunning and it might be Carpenter’s best looking film.
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V
A simple chase movie, but one that remains entertaining thanks to John Carpenter’s dramatic score, slightly idiosyncratic visual style, and humor that makes good use of the alien premise. Above all, Jeff Bridges’ remarkably skillful performance alone is worth watching.
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I
Seen with my dad a good handful of times, it’s very dear to me Hashtag peace and stuff Its only crime is that the song Starman by David Bowie is nowhere in the movie
- Synopsis
- When an alien takes the form of a young widow's husband and asks her to drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona, the government tries to stop them.
- Director
- John Carpenter
- Writer
- Bruce A. Evans, Raynold Gideon
- Studio
- Columbia Pictures, Michael Douglas-Jarry J. Franco Productions, Delphi II Productions
- Country
- USA
- Language
- English
- Year
- 1984
- Runtime
- 115 mins
- USSR11 Jul 1985
- Brazil13 Dec 1984
- USA14 Dec 1984
- Argentina10 Jan 1985
- Hong Kong19 Apr 1985
- Japan20 Apr 1985
- UK10 May 1985
- Netherlands30 May 1985
- Mexico31 May 1985
- Norway01 Jun 1985
- France22 Jun 1985
- Portugal28 Jun 1985
- Uruguay04 Jul 1985
- Denmark12 Jul 1985
- Switzerland17 Jul 1985
- Spain09 Aug 1985
- Greece23 Aug 1985
- Germany05 Sep 1985
- Ireland15 Nov 1985
- India11 Feb 1986
- Slovakia01 Feb 1989
- Hungary09 Mar 1989
- South Korea15 May 2022
- Netherlands05 Mar 2002
- Netherlands16 Sep 2009
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