It took sixteen years for director Francesco Lucente to finally get Starbright out of development hell and onto the screen in early 2026. The result? A massive, 148-minute fantasy experiment that is already dividing anyone brave enough to sit through it. Written by Joseph Bitonti and Olimpia Lucente, the film tries to be a little bit of everything: a cosmic fairytale, a small-town family drama, a sweeping romance, and, bizarrely, a gritty crime thriller. If you are looking for a gentle, nostalgic escape that pushes a pure message of hope, you might actually find some comfort here. But for the rest of us, Starbright quickly turns into an exhausting, incoherent mess. It constantly trips over its own feet, crushed by mismatched tones, way too many subplots, and pacing that makes two and a half hours feel like four.
The core story starts out simply enough. We meet Aisling (Alexandra Dowling), an orphaned young Irish woman stuck on a lonely, weathered farm at the edge of a dying American town. She lives a quiet life with her quirky grandparents, Bud and Teresa—played by veteran character actors Ted Levine and Becky Ann Baker. Aisling is going through a massive internal crisis, feeling trapped by her dull surroundings and desperate for something bigger. Her prayers get answered during a rare celestial eclipse when a spectacular meteor shower hits. A glowing, living piece of starlight crashes right into her backyard. Out of nowhere, an archangel named Raphael (John Rhys-Davies) appears. He locks the fragile cosmic light inside a locket around Aisling’s neck and tells her she has to protect its massive power from the dark forces of the world.
This setup actually sounds like a fun, old-school Spielberg or Amblin-style fable. Unfortunately, the script immediately shatters into a million pieces. Right after the star falls, the movie cuts away from the peaceful farm to a gritty prison break that feels like it belongs in a completely different movie. It gets downright silly: external accomplices use a remote-controlled plastic toy car with a magnet on it to lift a massive iron manhole cover so a prisoner can escape. This convict and his cartoonish thug friends (Peter, Martin, and Nick) eventually cross paths with Aisling and Raphael after they see a magic spark turn a lead pipe into solid gold. Overcome by greed, the thugs spend the rest of the night chasing the girl and her angel. Somewhere along the run, a handsome, mysterious stranger named Joshua (Diego Boneta) rescues them and instantly becomes Aisling's love interest.
The biggest issue with Starbright is that it has no idea what kind of movie it wants to be. Lucente tries to mix delicate fairytale whimsy with low-budget crime tropes and heavy romance, but the genres completely clash. Scenes cut away at random, the timeline jumps without warning, and the movie crams in about seven different plotlines in the first half-hour—most of which go absolutely nowhere by the time the credits roll. The dialogue is incredibly stiff and full of unnatural exposition, which completely kills any romantic chemistry between the leads. In one hilarious, poorly written scene, Joshua asks Aisling if she is Irish, right after she spent multiple scenes talking to him in a glaringly thick Irish accent. This lack of cohesion leaves you sitting there totally confused, wondering what the point of the movie even is.
If there is any reason to watch Starbright, it is the visual style and a few great performances. Cinematographer Francesco Di Giacomo knows how to shoot a movie. He uses a rich visual palette that beautifully contrasts the dusty, everyday reality of the farm with the epic scale of the cosmic events. The special effects team did a great job making the fallen star twinkle with a warm, mesmerizing glow, making the magic feel real. On top of that, the sweeping musical score does a lot of heavy lifting, trying its best to inject a sense of cinematic majesty into scenes that otherwise make no sense. If you are someone who cares more about pure atmosphere and pretty imagery than a solid plot, these artistic choices might be enough to keep you happy.
The veteran cast members also deserve a ton of credit for carrying a broken script on their backs. John Rhys-Davies is easily the best part of the whole movie. He delivers a highly charismatic, lighthearted, and wise-cracking performance as the Archangel Raphael. He balances celestial authority with great comic relief, acting as the anchor that keeps the film from spinning into complete unwatchability. Ted Levine is also a blast to watch as the eccentric, high-strung grandfather, bringing plenty of wacky antics and unexpected laughs. It is just a shame that these great actors are left stranded in a creative vacuum, since their fun characters are stuck inside a narrative nightmare.
When you look at the big picture, Starbright is a massive artistic misfire. It is an earnest fairytale that tries to balance deep seriousness with silly fantasy but fails at both. While it is nice to see filmmakers try to create a wholesome, hopeful story about love instead of another bleak dystopia, the final product is a logistical trainwreck with gaping plot holes and terrible pacing. The visual effects and grand scale hint at a big-budget blockbuster, but the clumsy writing leaves the whole thing feeling half-baked. Clocking in at nearly two and a half hours, it asks for way too much patience for very little reward. If you can completely turn off your brain and just enjoy beautiful cinematography, grand music, and a fun performance by John Rhys-Davies, it might pass the time on a lazy afternoon. For anyone else, this chaotic experiment is a puzzle that just isn't worth solving.
Dropping on July 14, the Blu-ray release features a solid mix of standard marketing reels, like the theatrical trailer, teaser, and promotional spots, alongside deep-dive material like the "Starbright - In The Making" documentary and a deleted pier scene. The disc also uncovers director Francesco Lucente's roots by including his first-ever short film, This Old Man, right next to a standard blooper reel and an incredibly unique, custom poem readout by John Rhys-Davies himself. The audiophiles will appreciate that it comes with a standalone soundtrack CD to highlight the film's sweeping score, and the main feature accommodates global audiences with English closed captions alongside subtitles in Italian, German, Canadian and Parisian French, Castilian and Latin American Spanish, and even Latin. If you want to add this massive fantasy experiment to your shelf, you can score a 30% discount off the list price right now by pre-ordering the set directly from the MVD Shop ahead of its official July 14 street date.
Comments