The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension, MGM Studios

The 80’s was the quintessential decade for what I can best describe as “experimental” protagonists in movies. A con man and his friends going into business as paranormal exterminators (Ghostbusters), a teenager and his eccentric scientist mentor creating a time machine (Back to the Future), and even a trigger happy android used for a private police force (Robocop) are all easily recognizable examples. But nothing, absolutely nothing that I have seen from this decade compares in sheer 80’s zaniness than Buckaroo Banzai. Why choose between a character who’s a scientist/ brain surgeon, a rock star, an intergalactic correspondent, or a gun wielding action hero, when you combine them all into one? Sprinkle in a shallow love plot, a cast of quirky sidekicks, an entire civilization full of aliens with the first name “John”, and then add Jeff Goldblum dressed as a cowboy to boot; congratulations, you’ve just made The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension. I kid you not, I’ve watched this movie twice in the span of a week prior to this review, because I have never before had a cinematic experience so full of pure joy as when watching this. So what does this zany masterpiece have to offer, the answer is actually quite difficult to summarize.

Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller), with the help of his brilliant family and his bandmates “The Hong Kong Cavaliers,” becomes the first man ever to travel into the Eighth Dimension and come out unharmed. But, when Banzai’s insane enemy and archrival, Dr. Lizardo (John Lithgow) hears word of his success, Lizardo springs into action and steals the device which made the whole operation possible, the Oscillation Overthruster. We later find out that Dr. Lizardo’s brain is hardly his own, with his body having been overtaken by an alien in a tragic accident while attempting to break into the Eighth Dimension himself. With the Oscillation Overthruster in hand and an army of loyal alien followers (all with the first name John) at his command, Lizardo plans on returning to his home planet, Planet 10, to once again continue his reign of terror. It’s then up to Buckaroo Banzai and his ragtag band of oddly named misfits (Perfect Tommy, Penny Priddy, and New Jersey being only a few examples) to face the alien threat and save the world from certain destruction.

At its core, Buckaroo Banzai is a sci-fi comedy that never apologizes for being entirely ridiculous and never compromises fun and imagination for seeming profound or otherwise uptight. The characters aren’t dynamic or complex, in fact they’re quite flat and one dimensional, but the film benefits all the more from that fact. In essence, this film is aided significantly from being outrageous and imperfect in ways that would have been to the detriment to other films which would have taken themselves too seriously. A modern example of this sort of zaniness is Marvel Studios’ Thor: Ragnarok, where the otherwise cartoonishly unbelievable characters thrive in their cartoonishly unbelievable situations. To put it simply, the movie had fun, so I had fun.

There’s something to be said about movies and other artistic media that aren’t high concept and don’t ever try to be high concept. The sunday funnies in newspapers, books like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and even tv shows like The Tick (2001-2002) all are examples which come to mind. That’s why I developed the rating system I did for these reviews. A movie doesn’t have to be Citizen Kane in order to have the ability to inspire and provoke emotion. So long as it is earnest and a pleasant experience to view, isn’t that all that really matters? I can’t describe how exhausted I am in today’s market for cinema seeing some over bloated attempt at dystopian futures filled with some sort of political agenda and overstated, unoriginal messages (The Darkest Minds, The 5th Wave), or comedies which hold no substance and instead resort to the lowest common denominators (Madea Family Funeral, The Spy Who Dumped Me). It’s refreshing to see a film that is so comfortable with itself. Buckaroo Banzai is a fantastic piece of science fiction that delivers in almost every way, even if every way is eccentric to say the least. Give it a watch, and then watch it again and again!

Overall Rating: Most Triumphant

Entertainment Value: Edge of My Seat