The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
What are the defining characteristics of a hero? Many would say bravery, but what about intelligence and aptitude? Or charisma and even--dare I say--popularity? The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (whew) is a sci-fi adventure movie about the eponymous Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller): a gifted neurosurgeon, experimental physicist, rock star, martial artist, comic book hero, test pilot, and all around swell guy. What could be more heroic than that?
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Buckaroo Banzai (for short) begins with a title card for background about the iconic hero of this yarn. He was born to a mixed parentage, and was pulled in many directions at once. But rather than buckle under the weight of these experiences, Buckaroo Banzai appears to have thrived instead. This is no origin story; rather, it is framed to be a kind of "episodic" tale, reminiscent of the serial adventure movies or comic books of yesteryear. Buckaroo is a man who can do anything, and is beloved by fans across the globe, and is kind to others--like the crestfallen Penny Priddy (Ellen Barkin), who he meets while performing a rock concert at a bar one night. One of the first scenes in Buckaroo Banzai has him racing an experimental jet car and breaking the sound barrier like Chuck Yeager. It is designed to pass through solid matter and into the quantum realm in-between, which they refer to as the "8th dimension", for some reason. This technological breakthrough is made possible by the mysterious "oscillation overthruster" that bears an eerie resemblance to the flux capacitor from Back to the Future; note that Buckaroo Banzai was released a year earlier. The oscillation overthruster was developed in part by Buckaroo's colleague, a scientist named Dr. Tohichi Hikita (Robert Ito), who almost fifty years earlier developed a primitive version alongside an Italian inventor named Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow). However--as told via an electronically self-induced flashback by the now criminally insane Lizardo--the experiment was a failure, resulting in only Lizardo's top half being thrust into the 8th dimension, and subsequently having his mind taken over by an alien entity calling itself "Lord John Whorfin". Buckaroo's travel into the 8th dimension--by way of passing through a mountain--depicts a realm reminiscent of the famous "stargate sequence" of 2001: A Space Odyssey, as he guides his jet car through an unnatural landscape and is also attacked by vaguely human lifeforms. These creatures are later revealed to be aliens imprisoned in this dimension, known as Red Lectroids, following an interstellar civil war with their enemies, the Black Lectroids. Because of this experiment, Buckaroo inadvertently compels Lizardo/Whorfin to break out of his asylum, awakens an army of sleeper agents--aliens who walk among us, in a fashion very much like in They Live--and begins his plan to liberate his reptilian brethren. Adding to this problem is that an alien spacecraft belonging to the jailors of the Red Lectroids warns Buckaroo that if he doesn't stop Lizardo/Whorfin, they will provoke the Soviet Union into initiating World War III. It looks like Buckaroo Banzai will have to rely on all his talents--alongside his team and rock band, The Hong Kong Cavaliers--to thwart this menace of intergalactic and cataclysmic proportions.
Believe it or not, what I've described about the plot of Buckaroo Banzai so far makes the movie sound like standard sci-fi fare. But Buckaroo Banzai is a really weird movie, like in the way that its hero seems to be an expert at everything and never truly falters, and how strange events just seem to "happen", yet somehow seem like just a normal part of life in this world. It all has a kind of "comic book" vibe to it, which is deliberate; Buckaroo even has his own line of comic books, which his fans read enthusiastically. In one scene, Buckaroo calls out to his junior squad of fans, and one lucky kid helps him out and gets invited to come back and visit his hideout--just like any young kid would love to experience from his favorite comic book hero. Buckaroo's support clan includes a colorful cast of personalities: the cooler-than-thou "Perfect Tommy" (Lewis Smith), the tough Rawhide (Clancy Brown), and many more. A neurosurgeon colleague of Buckaroo's named Dr. Sidney Zweibel (Jeff Goldblum)--oddly credited as "New Jersey"--is invited to join his team, and inexplicably shows up dressed like Roy Rogers...and he seems oblivious to his own choice in costume! (Coincidentally, Jeff Goldblum was previously in the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, also about an alien conspiracy of shapeshifters.) Buckaroo Banzai has echoes of the kind of mad sci-fi, "anything goes" attitude of the popular Doctor Who series. Even the comically named Penny Priddy essentially becomes the "doctor's companion" after he frees her from jail. This is owing to his infatuation with her after discovering that she is the long-lost twin of his late wife, Anne. Strange and absurd moments like that come rapid fire, emphasizing that Buckaroo Banzai is fundamentally a comedy, akin to something by Mel Brooks or even Little Shop of Horrors. Lizardo/Whorfin is a maniac, and is played for laughs, owing not least of which to his outlandish hair--bright red and standing straight up. Similarly, all of the Red Lectroids have human aliases beginning with the first name of "John", and additionally also often have absurd last names, like Lizardo/Whorfin's second-in-command, John Bigbooté (Christopher Lloyd). Buckaroo Banzai even goes so far as to suggest that Orson Welles was hypnotized by the Red Lectroids to cover up Lizardo/Whorfin inadvertently releasing aliens into Grover's Mill, New Jersey in 1938, instead playing off his famous radio play, "The War of the Worlds", as a hoax. But what makes Buckaroo Banzai so delightfully funny is the way in which all of this absurdity is played with a straight face. Like how the representative of the Black Lectroids is depicted as a Rastafarian, and when United States President Widmark (Ronald Lacey)--upside-down in a complicated hospital bed, owing to back trouble--is informed of the imminent danger, he daftly concludes that it's the result of some kind of "intergalactic race war". Buckaroo Banzai moves with expeditious speed and isn't terribly concerned with explaining everything to its audience--although it does a phenomenal job of giving them a crash course in quantum physics. The charm in this movie comes from the pure, simple joy of an adventure that is recognizable on a fundamental level as good versus evil, and makes its protagonist into a hero that everyone can aspire to becoming...even if his name is ridiculous.
Recommended for: Fans of a wild and strange journey into a comic book reality of sci-fi adventure of the kind that has lined pulp paperback bookshelves and midnight movie screenings for ages. Buckaroo Banzai rarely has anything resembling objectionable content--even the violence is largely bloodless--and is appropriate for almost all ages, although much of the humor will be lost on younger audiences.
Believe it or not, what I've described about the plot of Buckaroo Banzai so far makes the movie sound like standard sci-fi fare. But Buckaroo Banzai is a really weird movie, like in the way that its hero seems to be an expert at everything and never truly falters, and how strange events just seem to "happen", yet somehow seem like just a normal part of life in this world. It all has a kind of "comic book" vibe to it, which is deliberate; Buckaroo even has his own line of comic books, which his fans read enthusiastically. In one scene, Buckaroo calls out to his junior squad of fans, and one lucky kid helps him out and gets invited to come back and visit his hideout--just like any young kid would love to experience from his favorite comic book hero. Buckaroo's support clan includes a colorful cast of personalities: the cooler-than-thou "Perfect Tommy" (Lewis Smith), the tough Rawhide (Clancy Brown), and many more. A neurosurgeon colleague of Buckaroo's named Dr. Sidney Zweibel (Jeff Goldblum)--oddly credited as "New Jersey"--is invited to join his team, and inexplicably shows up dressed like Roy Rogers...and he seems oblivious to his own choice in costume! (Coincidentally, Jeff Goldblum was previously in the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, also about an alien conspiracy of shapeshifters.) Buckaroo Banzai has echoes of the kind of mad sci-fi, "anything goes" attitude of the popular Doctor Who series. Even the comically named Penny Priddy essentially becomes the "doctor's companion" after he frees her from jail. This is owing to his infatuation with her after discovering that she is the long-lost twin of his late wife, Anne. Strange and absurd moments like that come rapid fire, emphasizing that Buckaroo Banzai is fundamentally a comedy, akin to something by Mel Brooks or even Little Shop of Horrors. Lizardo/Whorfin is a maniac, and is played for laughs, owing not least of which to his outlandish hair--bright red and standing straight up. Similarly, all of the Red Lectroids have human aliases beginning with the first name of "John", and additionally also often have absurd last names, like Lizardo/Whorfin's second-in-command, John Bigbooté (Christopher Lloyd). Buckaroo Banzai even goes so far as to suggest that Orson Welles was hypnotized by the Red Lectroids to cover up Lizardo/Whorfin inadvertently releasing aliens into Grover's Mill, New Jersey in 1938, instead playing off his famous radio play, "The War of the Worlds", as a hoax. But what makes Buckaroo Banzai so delightfully funny is the way in which all of this absurdity is played with a straight face. Like how the representative of the Black Lectroids is depicted as a Rastafarian, and when United States President Widmark (Ronald Lacey)--upside-down in a complicated hospital bed, owing to back trouble--is informed of the imminent danger, he daftly concludes that it's the result of some kind of "intergalactic race war". Buckaroo Banzai moves with expeditious speed and isn't terribly concerned with explaining everything to its audience--although it does a phenomenal job of giving them a crash course in quantum physics. The charm in this movie comes from the pure, simple joy of an adventure that is recognizable on a fundamental level as good versus evil, and makes its protagonist into a hero that everyone can aspire to becoming...even if his name is ridiculous.
Recommended for: Fans of a wild and strange journey into a comic book reality of sci-fi adventure of the kind that has lined pulp paperback bookshelves and midnight movie screenings for ages. Buckaroo Banzai rarely has anything resembling objectionable content--even the violence is largely bloodless--and is appropriate for almost all ages, although much of the humor will be lost on younger audiences.