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nTitle: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8thnDimension (1984)
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nDirector: W.D. Richter
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nCast: Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Jeff Goldblum, EllennBarkin, Christopher Lloyd, Lewis Smith, Robert Ito, Clancy Brown, VincentnSchiavelli
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nReview:
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nSometimes, a films premise can be so outlandish and weird,nso unpredictable, that movie studios just don’t know how to sell it to thenmasses. As a result, these “weird films” usually die a quick death at the boxnoffice. An example is John Carpenter’s Big Trouble In Little China (1986) whichn20th Century Fox simply didn’t know what to do with. How the hell donyou sell a movie about a truck driver who ends up fighting Chinese ghosts in annunderground Chinese temple? Exactly! So Big Trouble in Little China went thenway of the dinosaur and disappeared from theaters. These films aren’t necessarilynbad films, sometimes they are just not what audiences are accustomed to, theyncan’t be explained in a simple way to the masses. And trust me, this is whatnstudios prefer: films that can be explained in a sentence, a caption, antagline. For Hollywood, when it comes to selling a film, simplicity is of thenessence. If your movie is too complicated a sell, it will either get a limitednrelease, or go straight to dvd, either way, your film isn’t going to get muchnexposure. Often time, the films tagline will let you know that you’re in for anweird movie, for example the tagline for Big Trouble in Little China was “AnMystical, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Kung Fu, Monster, Ghost Story!” Thentagline for The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8thnDimension was “Expect the Unexpected. He does.” which I have to admit isnpretty accurate description of the film, and it’s exactly what makes it so damnnwatchable. It is extremely unpredictable.
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nBuckaroo Banzai is a fascinating character in my book. He isnthat kind of character that is a genius and therefore knows how to donpractically everything, which became a funny gag to me. Let’s see BuckaroonBanzai is an excellent brain surgeon, lead singer and lead guitar playernof a rock and roll band called ‘Buckaroo Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers’, innwhich he also plays the trumpet! Buckaroo is also a scientist who experimentsnwith interdimensional travel, and ends up being the first human being to travel through solid matter! If you can believe it, he is also a Samurai. He partntimes as a super hero, and is also one of the founding fathers of the ‘BanzainInstitute for Biomedical Engineering and Strategic Information’ amongst othernthings that I’m sure are not mentioned in the film. With the help of one Dr.nHikita, Buckaroo invents the ‘Oscillation Overthruster’ a device that allowsnhumans to travel through solid matter and into other dimensions! Unfortunately,nit also opens a door for aliens from Planet 10 (called ‘Red Lectroids’) tonescape from the 8th Dimension! Now, these Red Lectroids want to gonback to their home planet so they can rule it with an iron fist and they wantnto use Buckaroo’s Oscillation Overthruster to do it! Will Buckaroo and his HongnKong Cavaliers find a way to stop them before it’s too late?
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nSo yeah, this movie is fascinating to me in many ways. Inlike it because you feel like your falling right smack in the middle of a movienalready in progress; this my friends, is not a film that will stop and explainnevery single little thing for you. This movie might have an outlandish plotlinenand a comic book premise, but it’s a film that expects you to be quick, to paynattention, this is not the kind of film where your brain can just wonder off,nyou have to pay attention to every single bit of dialog, or you’ll be lost onnyour way. Which is what I like about it, it’s a strange thing: a silly movienwritten by intelligent people. Yeah, it’s complicated in some ways, but notnimpossible to decipher as some might have you believe. Actually, if you sticknwith it, the inside jokes can be very rewarding!
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nPart of what makes this one so enjoyable is the amazingnensemble cast! We get Peter Weller playing Buckaroo, the main character in thenfilm. He comes off as totally likable, like he’s this guy who knows everythingnabout everything, the kind of guy you wish you could be, if you had the brainnof a genius. I wish we could have seen more of his Samurai side. Then we havenhis gang of sidekicks, The Hong Kong Cavaliers, all geniuses themselves. One ofnthem is played by Jeff Goldblum, who for some reason dresses up as a cowboy fornthe whole freaking film! Then we get the beautiful Ellen Arkin playing the rolenof Penny Priddy, boy does she look hot on this one! She pops up in the film asnthis depressed girl who wants to commit suicide, but is saved by Buckaroo, whondetects her sadness in the middle of one of his rock and roll shows. Then wenget a trio of Red Lectroids played by Christopher Lloyd, Dan Hedaya and VincentnSchiavelli. I mean, what’s not to like about this awesome cast? Everybody seemsnto be having a blast here; everybody got the spirit and tone of the film justnright.
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nThere are politicalnsymbolisms to be found in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai and I think that innorder to completely understand it, we have to be conscious of the politicalnclimate of the 80’s, the fear of nuclear meltdown and the cold war. This is yet another film that reflects society’snfears and concerns of the time. Like many of the films of the 80’s (War Games (1983) and The Manhattan Project (1985) for example) the fear of nuclear meltdown atnthe hands of the Russians is felt. The “Red Lectroids from Planet 10” are anclear allusion to the Russians, who were enemies to the Americans at the time. Russiansnhave always been described as “Reds” by the Americans, same as the villains innthe film are the “Red Lectroids”. The fear of nuclear meltdown is felt in onenscene in which an alien race threatens to destroy Russia, and Perfect Tommy, onenof Buckaroo’s right hand men says “The Russians might misinterpret the attacknas an American strike; they’re already a little trigger happy!” and yet anothernallusion to how conscious people where of this nuclear tension can be seen in anmoment in which an alien being tells Buckaroo and his team: “If you fail, we will be forced to help youndestroy yourselves” In this way, the filmmakers point at humanities tendency tonthreaten our own existence with nuclear weapons.
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nThe villain of the film is played by the great John Lithgow,nwho is running on all cylinders on this one, playing the over the top villain ‘LordnJohn Whorfin’ a.k.a. Dr. Lizardo. He is the leader of the Red Lectroids thatnare scattered on earth. Lord John Whorfin is portrayed as a crazy fascistndictator “not unlike your Hitler”. He runs a company called ‘YoyodinenPropulsion Systems’; which is really a front for the Red Lectroidsnheadquarters. The Red Lectroid’s headquarters has speakers blaring systematicnbrain washing messages like “The only joy is the joy of duty! Work, work, work!”n So this is a film that though funny andntotally zany, is also heavy on political themes. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai might seemnlike a crazy movie to some, but at heart, it plays with a lot of importantnissues; the filmmakers where just having fun (and lots of it) as they saidntheir piece with this film.
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nBut I don’t want to make it sound like this is a film with anboring political agenda or what have you, nope; this movie is tons of zany fun. It is a completely offbeat film, right down to it’s closing credits. It has so many ideas going for it that you feel like it is a set up for futurenfilms, as if a whole universe had been created and we were just seeing the tipnof the iceberg. In actuality, more Buckaroo Banzai films were planned, proof ofnthis is the promised sequel mentioned during the closing credits: BuckaroonBanzai vs. The World Crime League. They even hint at this planned sequel when they talk about a villain called ‘HanoinXan’, the leader of the World Crime League. Sadly, this sequel never came to benbecause the first and only film failed horribly at the box office. Its failurencan be attributed to its convoluted nature, but it also faced tough completion atnthe box office! Buckaroo Banzai went up against such smash hits as IndiananJones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)nand Ghostbusters (1984), so it didn’t exactly get it easy at the box office; plusnit was released in only a limited amount of theaters. But as it often happensnwith good films, Buckaroo Banzai has found its audience in home video, and itsncult following grows. There’s been various Buckaroo Banzai novels and comicnbooks released throughout the years, so you might want to look into those of ifnyou can’t get enough of Buckaroo Banzai. Here’s hoping some day it gets thenreboot treatment, because if you ask me, this things got potential!
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nRating: 4 out of 5
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