![]() In watching it, there were times I felt like I needed a handbook to figure out what the hell the characters were talking about. I can appreciate what the movie is attempting to do, but it’s an approach which has its drawbacks. Chasing an alien through the institute, the team’s new recruit asks, “Why is there a watermellon there?” His colleague replies, “I’ll tell you later.” We are never told later. There are all sorts of crazy references to things that are never explained. Similarly, the film crafts a rich fictional history, as character talk about the past adventures of Banzai and allude to a history of the eighth dimension that stretches back to 1938 (the year that Orson Welles broadcast The War of the Worlds). We just presume Ellen Barkin appeared as this character’s twin in a previous film we never saw nor heard of. We never meet Peggy, but we meet her identical twin, which is a wonderfully hackneyed way of introducing the same actor in a different role – clever because it’s not needed here. For example, we find out that the girl here, Penny, is the identical, long-lost twin sister of Buckaroo’s dead wife Peggy. The movie attempts to evoke the feeling that we’re just watching one adventure in a whole pantheon of Buckaroo Banzai serials by a constant series of internal references. Even ignoring the corny production values (which I found endearing, but others may find irritating), there was the issue of back story. The simple fact is that not a lot happens, and there’s boatloads of exposition present – even once we get past the halfway mark. That said, the movie does have some significant pacing problems. As Buckaroo set about saving the world with his red glasses, professor outfit (complete with bow tie, because bow ties are cool), and sidekicks (including members of the “Blue Blaisers”, his personal fan-club), I couldn’t help but feel that sense of cheeky nostalgia the movie seemed to be aiming for. In fact, I found myself wearing a smile for most of the film, I must confess. It’s camp and cheesy – after all, Christopher Lloyd plays Lithgow’s sidekick, the alien Big Booty Boo-Tay – but, if you can go with it, it’s decently entertaining. ![]() I love Lithgow, but there’s no denying that the man seems to have an unbearable craving for scenario – he doesn’t just chew it, he devours it. The film casts the always superb John Lithgow as the evil alien dictator, which gives you an idea of the tone the film is trying to set. Which, to be honest, is part of the charm – though I imagine it scaring off quite a few viewers. If he can’t stop this menace, the world will be destroyed, as other aliens trigger nuclear war between Russia and the United States.Īll of this is done on a remarkably low budget. The movie essentially follows Banzai as his latest adventure (a trip into the eponymous eighth dimension) provokes an alien menace who is “as evil as your Hitler.” With the world facing the prospect of annihilation if our doctor/scientist/rockstar hero can’t step into the breach, it’s a race against time to stop an evil alien warlord from escaping captivity in the eighth dimension. All the time, the movie has an endearing smile on its face, so we known not to take the dodgy special effects or nonsensical plot all too seriously. It seems a curious blend between an affectionate homage to those old-time pulp serial adventures (the credits even promising a follow-up that never materialised “Buckaroo Bonzai Against the World Crime Syndicate”), an overblown parody of soft science-fiction and a bizarre stream of consciousness. ![]() The movie actually quite resembles its lead, as it proves quite tough to define. ![]() You know you’re an expert in your given field when you get radio signals asking, “Buckaroo, the White House wants to know is everything OK with the alien space craft from Planet 10 or should we just go ahead and destroy Russia?” Clearly a rather conscious tip of the hat to iconic pulp heroes like Doc Savage, Banzai seems to have done everything and anything. I honestly don’t know where he gets time to sleep. He’s a kung-fu neurosurgeon with a fascination for quantum science, who runs his own institute, travels on a tour bus, and plays in his own rock band in his spare time. The titular Buckaroo Banzai is one of the most hilariously over-the-top renaissance men I think I’ve ever encountered. ![]()
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