Overall Rating
 Awesome: 52.94%
Worth A Look: 15.69%
Average: 19.61%
Pretty Bad: 5.88%
Total Crap: 5.88%
2 reviews, 39 user ratings
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| Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, The |
by Brian McKay
"Don't ask me to explain why people like it. I don't even know why I do!!"
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Okay, I'll be the first to admit that this is one of the crappiest-made films of all time. Yet somehow, inexplicably, it's also one of the coolest films of all time - cool in that 80's sort of way (yeah, I know. Not too cool, but hey, they did their best).Perhaps part of the appeal is that this film features a bunch of popular actors who weren't really popular back in the day. In fact, they were pretty much nobodies when this film was made. We're talking about John Lithgow, Peter Weller, Ellen Barkin, and Jeff Goldblum, as well as several other recognizable character actors.
Or maybe the appeal lies in the fact that it's just so fucking bizarre. It defies any kind of coherent detailed plot synopsis, or even genre classification. I guess Sci-Fi/Comedy would be close, but not in any conventional sense.
The title character, played by Peter Weller, is a nuerosurgeon/rock star/particle physicist (I know, just keep reading). With his band, who double as some kind of secret agent team, he is out to stop aliens who are invading from the eighth dimension, led by John Lithgow. Ellen Barkin plays Penny Pretty, Buckaroo's love interest who must later be saved from the menacing aliens (who all have the first name of John, coincidentally.)
That's about all I can tell you. Any attempt to give a more detailed plot synopsis would simply make my brain (and yours) hurt too much. This film has the stink of rancid 1980's cheese all over it - from the costumes, to the music, to the production values. It was obviously made on the cheap, and watching it is kind of like reading a really bad Japanese comic book on acid. Yet it has something indefinable about it that keeps you watching - even if much of the time it feels like watching a train wreck.
Apparently a sequel had been planned at one point, since the closing credits boldly proclaimed "Coming Soon: Buckaroo Banzai vs. the World Crime League". However, the film bombed and the principal cast went on to bigger and better careers. Here's a bit of hollywood trivia for ya: The script for the sequel was later adapted into John Carpenter's "Big Trouble in Little China" - which, stylistically, bears a number of resemblances to it's predecessor.Although I like this film for the sheer novelty of it, I can in no way recommend it as a great film. It had lots of untapped potential, and the cast is fun to watch. Maybe with a budget and a better script this could have been great (though a bigger budget might have defeated the purpose), but as it is stands, it's a mediocre piece of 80's kitsch
link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=3237&reviewer=258
originally posted: 05/30/01 18:17:31
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OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2006 Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival For more in the 2006 Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival series, click here.
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USA
23-Nov-1984 (PG)
UK
N/A
Australia
02-Feb-1985
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