Now Showing: Starman

 

Starman

Genre: Action/Superhero/Fantasy

Directors: The Duffer Brothers

Writer: Roy Horne

Based on DC Comics characters

Cast: Joe Keery, Richard Gere, John Lithgow, Ashton Kutcher, Ella Purnell, Theo James, Halston Sage, Rob Brydon, Tania Raymonde

Plot: The mid-1990s was a simpler time in the world. The most famous Kardashian was OJ Simpson's lawyer... Dakota Fanning was a baby... Ace of Base topped the music charts... However, things were not quite so simple for Jack Knight...

Jack Knight (Joe Keery) is meeting his girlfriend Sadie Falk (Halston Sage) at a local Opal City coffee shop. She says that she is questioning their relationship. Jack is confused, saying he thought everything was good with them. Sadie says that she thinks he cares more about the old stuff he collects that he does about her. Jack is unable to come up with a rebuttal. Sadie storms off in anger, but not before stating that Jack's new tattoo looks like a flaming chicken. Jack returns to his antiques shop, Knights Past, stunned not only by the break-up, but also the insult toward his tattoo.

Jack closes Knights Past for the night. The neighborhood surrounding the store is not the nicest as Jack waits for the next bus to take him across the city to his father's house for a family dinner. Jack's father, Ted Knight (Richard Gere), opens the door and warmly invites Jack inside. Jack is surprised by the invitation since he and his father are not particularly close. Jack awkwardly sits in the living room where the walls are adorned with framed articles from the Opal City Times detailing Ted Knight's superhero career as Starman as well as pictures of Adele Knight, the late mother of Jack and David. Ted notices a new tattoo on Jack's shoulder. Jack says it is supposed to be a phoenix, but Ted says it looks like a rooster on fire. Jack's older brother David (Ashton Kutcher) arrives and gives Ted a big hug. Ted tells his sons the reason he invited them over. He announces that he has finally decided to retire from being a superhero but would like David to take over the Starman mantle. Ted gives David his Gravity Rod - a device Ted invented decades earlier that allows the wielder to harness the power of the stars and convert it into energy that enables the wielder to defy the very laws of gravity. David and Ted are both worried that Jack is jealous, but Jack congratulates his brother, insisting that David is more the hero type. They go into the basement lair and David tries on a new Starman suit Ted has made for him. Ted encourages David to go take everything for a spin. Ted and Jack watch as David flies off into the skies above Opal City as Starman for the first time. Jack is about to leave for the night, but Ted stops him. Ted says that he is nervous about the crime in the neighborhood around Jack's store. Ted gives Jack one of his old Gravity Rods and asks him to put it in the safe at the store in case he ever needs it. 

The next day, Jack opens up his store. He puts the Gravity Rod in the safe and sits at the front counter. He opens up a box of Cracker Jack and snacks away. The prize in the box is a plastic star-shaped sheriff's badge. Jack puts the badge on much like a child would.

David is patrolling over the city as Starman. He foils a mugging and stops a car theft. David rests, peering down at the city from a high perch. Suddenly David is shot by an unseen assassin. David falls off the building, plummeting to his death down to the street below.

Ted receives a phone call at his observatory in the heart of Opal City. He is heartbroken to be notified of the death of David. Ted readies to leave the observatory to claim David's body at the morgue. As Ted leaves the building, the observatory explodes in a fiery blast. Flying debris and the concussive shock of the explosion send Ted flying, knocking him out. Nash Nimbus (Ella Purnell) watches the explosion from a distance.

Kyle Nimbus Jr. (Theo James) enters Knights Past as Jack is getting ready to close for the evening. He begins questioning Jack about David and Ted. Jack asks how Kyle knows who he is. Kyle reveals that he killed David and Ted should be dead by now as well. Kyle pulls out a gun - the same gun he killed David with - and begins firing at Jack. Jack uses the mess of antiques and collectibles throughout the shop as cover as he makes his way to the safe in the back of the shop. Kyle runs out of bullets, so he sets fire to the building and blocks the exits, trapping Jack inside the burning building. Jack fights through smoke and fire and retrieves the Gravity Rod from the safe and uses it to fly through a skylight to  escape. As he flies away, Jack sees his life's work burning in the distance. 

After leaving the burning Knights Past, Kyle meets up with his sister Nash. Together they go to their father, Kyle Nimbus Sr., better known as The Mist (John Lithgow) - the arch-nemesis of Ted Knight's Starman. The Mist has slowly begun to succumb to dementia and can no longer control his powers as parts of his body periodically dissolve into a mist of gas. Kyle and Nash inform their father that they have succeeded in killing the entire Starman family, finishing Mist's life's work. They are disappointed that he doesn't seem happier with their work though. Nash thinks their father simply isn't lucid enough to understand what they've done at that moment, but Kyle thinks that they haven't done enough damage for him to be proud of them yet. 

Kyle, taking credit as the killer of Starman, rallies the various gangs of Opal City to go on a rampage through Opal City. They loot and destroy everything in sight. News footage of the carnage refers to it as the "Night of Fire". Jack wants to step in and help settle things down, but he feels he must find his father. Nash and Mist see the news footage, which also mentions that local scientist Ted Knight was the only survivor of an explosion at the Opal City Observatory. This snaps Mist out of his stupor. Lucid, Mist expresses pride in what Kyle is accomplishing with Starman out of the way, but is disappointed that the original Starman still lives. Nash is excited that her father is aware and wants to talk to him. Mist isn't interested in talking to his daughter though and demands she bring him a telephone.

Jack manages to locate his father at the hospital, relieved that Ted is still alive. Ted, though, is angry and grief-stricken over David's death. Ted orders Jack out of his room. Jack is met by police officers in the hallway who ask him to come down to the morgue to identify his brother's body. Jack reluctantly agrees. Ted receives a phone call in his hospital room from the Mist, who taunts Ted, taking credit for the death of his sons. Ted notices that Mist thinks Jack is dead, but doesn't mention anything. Mist proclaims that the next thing he intends to have taken away from Ted is his dead wife's memory. Mist then hangs up the phone. He cackles maniacally, but it soon becomes an uncontrollable cough. Nash puts an oxygen mask over her father's face. 

Jack goes down into the morgue, breaking down crying at the sight of his brother David's body. He signs the paperwork identifying the body as that of David Knight. Ted gets out of his hospital bed and finds Jack in a waiting room. Ted tells Jack what the Mist said and demands that he get far away from Opal City. Jack leaves the hospital, intending to follow his father's wishes. However, Jack realizes what the Mist meant about killing her memory - the Adele Knight memorial wing at the Opal City Museum.  When Jack arrives he finds Kyle's goons trashing the place. Jack uses the Gravity Rod to fight off several of the masked thugs. Kyle soon arrives and opens fire on Jack with a machine gun. Jack flees into the river, losing the Gravity Rod in the process. Kyle wades into the waters of the river, finding the Gravity Rod in the shallows. Kyle smiles as he wields it.

Meanwhile, Richard Swift (Rob Brydon), an immortal from Victorian England who has made his home in Opal City also known as the Shade, takes issue with the rampage going on through the city. Dressed in his top hat and carrying his walking stick, Shade arrives at the museum to find Kyle's thugs looting the place of valuables. Shade manifests a creature of pure darkness from the shadows. The creature swallows the thugs whole, trapping them in a shadowy dimension. The remaining thugs run away. Shade calmly re-hangs some of the torn down paintings on the wall so that he can appreciate the art.

Jack returns to his apartment, but Kyle's thugs have beat him there and are waiting for him. Jack runs away,  fleeing down the fire escape with the thugs not far behind. Jack manages to lose them by ducking into a shop. Jack catches his breath as he realizes he has stumbled upon the storefront of a fortune teller named Charity (Tania Raymonde). She offers him a free fortune telling session because she thinks he's cute. Jack, not especially eager to go back outside where Kyle's thugs could be waiting, agrees. Charity tells Jack that his future will be focused on "fighting the bad". Jack asks her to elaborate, but she instead tells him that she sees images of a cup of coffee, a burial, outer space, a circus, shadowy figures and a large explosion. She then asks if any of that means anything to him, but Jack is too befuddled to really respond.

Once he feels the coast is clear, Jack goes back outside and heads across the street to the local bar, The Alley. Jack orders a beer and sits down at the bar, exhausted. Nash sits down next to him and begins seducing Jack. She pretends to be interested in his career as an antiques dealer and suggests they go back to his place. Jack says that last time he was at his place it was overrun with villainous henchmen. Nash says she's willing to take the risk. They head back to Jack's apartment. There is no sign of any of the thugs from earlier. Jack begins kissing Nash and they end up in bed. In the morning, Jack wakes up to find Nash shakily aiming a gun at his head. Jack asks what she's doing. Nash reveals that she knows who Jack and his brother and father are, and also reveals that she is the daughter of the Mist. Jack tells her that the adversarial relationship their fathers have does not dictate their generation. Jack manages to talk her down, after convincing her that she has no personal reason to kill him. Nash runs out of the apartment.

The Shade pays a visit to the Mist's residence to discuss the mayhem his son Kyle is causing around the city, stating that it is making Opal City less hospitable and that's where he starts having a problem with the crime. The Mist, through his oxygen mask, says that the chaos will end when the Starman lineage is at an end. The Shade agrees to help with the Mist's vendetta by suggesting that he can abduct Ted Knight from the hospital to further his goals if he has Kyle ease up on the mindless mayhem. The Shade and the Mist shake hands on the deal.

Jack visits his father in the hospital and nervously tells Ted that he lost the Gravity Rod in the river. Jack is surprised that his father isn't angry at him for losing it. Ted instead gives him directions to a warehouse containing a prototype Cosmic Staff. Jack asks his father what the difference between a Gravity Rod and a Cosmic Staff is. Ted explains that it is like the Gravity Rod on Jose Canseco levels of steroids - it does everything the Gravity Rod does but better, and can also create force-fields, levitate objects, and fire incredibly powerful blasts of energy. He was planning on giving it to David so he could be an even better Starman than he ever was, but never got the chance. Jack leaves the hospital and follows the directions, finding the Cosmic Staff. Jack is pleased with the appearance of the staff as it seems more practical and functional than the smaller Gravity Rod. He flies above the city with the staff emitting a bright light. Jack is bothered by the light, so he puts on a pair of World War II anti-flare goggles that he happens to have in boxes of antique accessories in his apartment.

The Shade infiltrates the hospital by blending into various shadows throughout the building, finally making his way into Ted's room. Without revealing himself, the Shade whisks Ted off into the shadows. They re-emerge in the Mist’s old criminal hideout. The Shade leaves and goes to see about brokering peace in Opal City with Jack. The Shade tells Jack that the Mist has his father Ted and he only intends on releasing him if Jack challenges Mist's son Kyle in a fight to death to end the long-standing feud once and for all. Jack slowly processes the information that the Shade has given him. He asks how he knows all that. The Shade reveals that he is the one who handed Ted over to the Mist because it was the only way to bring peace back to the streets of Opal City. Jack asks the Shade where the fight will begin. The Shade tells Jack to visit his brother David. Jack puts headphones on, loads his Discman into his pocket and flies out of his apartment window toward David's grave at the cemetery.

Nash returns home and learns of the latest developments. She is upset with herself now since she had Jack Knight in her sights but she let him live. Kyle says that she needn't worry as Jack is a loser and won't be a challenge for him to demolish. The Mist tells Kyle that the time has come. Kyle wields the Gravity Rod and flies toward the cemetery as well. Meanwhile, The Shade goes to the Opal City Police Department and tells them where they can find the man responsible for the murder of David Knight and the explosion at the observatory.

Jack arrives at David's grave. He can hear Kyle approaching. He gives the headstone a fist bump before flying up into the sky. Jack uses the staff to blast blinding energy at Kyle. Jack then flies in for a kick, hitting Kyle in the face. Jack quips that he got all the way up to Purple Belt in karate after being inspired by seeing The Karate Kid in theaters with his father and brother as a kid. Kyle utilizes the Gravity Rod to shoot energy at Jack, who counters it with a blast from his Cosmic Staff. The two bursts of energy collide, creating an explosion that sends Jack and Kyle both falling back toward the ground. Jack and Kyle both struggle back to their feet. Jack begins to take out all of his anger and grief over David's murder on Kyle, beating him repeatedly with a charged up Cosmic Staff. The staff becomes so loaded with energy that it completely incinerates Kyle, turning him into ash.

Police arrive and arrest The Mist, who has become so confused that he doesn't understand when the police inform him that Kyle Jr. is dead. Nash becomes furious when she sees the police handcuff her father to his wheelchair and wheel him away. She goes down into her father's lair and finds his chemical formula that gave him his ability to turn into mist. She vows to herself that Starman will pay for what he has done to her family.

Jack goes to see his father Ted, who has finally been released from the hospital. Jack doesn't find Ted at home, so he goes to his father's favorite place - an observatory outside of the city where Ted met his late-wife Adele. Ted tells Jack that he intends to work from there until his observatory in the city is rebuilt. Jack asks his father if he wants him to be Starman now. Ted tells Jack that he believes that he was destined to take over the Starman lineage. Sensing how much his father wants this, Jack agrees to be the new Starman, but insists that Ted stop wasting his scientific genius on creating superhero gadgets and instead uses it to help people.