Some films become cult classic films by accident, and some films that clearly try to become a cult classic. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984, directed by W.D. Richter) is one of those films.
The film is wholly original and isn’t based on or a sequel to another film, despite the title naturally leading many to to think otherwise.
The film is about Buckaroo Banzai (played by Peter Weller, most well known as Robocop), brain surgeon, rock star, and adventurer.
After testing a device created by his father, Professor Hikita (Robert Ito), which allows him to go through objects by temporarily entering the 8th dimension, a world that exists separate from ours that exists in all objects.
An alien, called a red lectroid, has possessed the body of a scientist named Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow). Early in the film, he breaks out of an asylum and begins work on his sinister plan to break into the 8th dimension to release his imprisoned, evil army of fellow red lectroids.
It’s up to Buckaroo and his crew of adventurers to defeat Dr. Lizardo and his evil lackies before it’s too late and their planet is destroyed by the black lectroids to prevent Lizardo from releasing his troops.
The movie reminds me a lot of pulp serials like Flash Gordan, The Rocketeer, or Zorro. More specifically, what it might feel like first watching that type of series in the middle of a season, where there’s already a history to these characters and the writing making references to past adventures that the audience doesn’t know about.
But that’s kind of the point of the point of the film, to be needlessly confusing and make the viewer question what exactly they’re watching.
Many insane plot points and character moments make this film such a unique watch. One example is a red lectroid (played by Christopher Lloyd) goes by the alias John BigBootè. Another example is a new member to Buckaroo’s band, nicknamed New Jersey (Jeff Goldbloom), who wears the tackiest and most stereotypical cowboy costume ever put to film.
The insanity never stops, and the characters treat it like it’s another Tuesday, which helps with giving the film a more comedic tone.
The acting all around is strong, no one gives a weak performance or feels like they’re phoning it in.
The big highlight is definitely John Lithgow. The actor is having the time of his life, and it shows in his performance. He’s so over the top in every scene that he makes blatant exposition entertaining.
But despite the fun nature of the film it does have its flaws.
How the black lectroids plan to destroy the earth if Lizzardo manages to release his men is to make the Soviet Union think the U.S. is firing nukes at them causing them to fire nukes in response. But this plan could easily be circumvented if the U.S. or Buckaroo simply call the Kremlin and tell them what’s going on.
There are a few moments in the film where it feels like an entire scene was cut, and characters suddenly know things or are in a different area than last we saw them with little to no explanation of what happened.
There are also moments where the film tries to be semi serious when they kill off a character or go into Buckaroo’s tragic past. It just doesn’t work, mainly because we barely know the characters as people.
Something that also might rub some people the wrong way is having a white actor play the mixed race white/asian character of Buckaroo Banzai. Peter Weller does a good job in the role but some people might still find it weird or disconcerting.
Buckaroo Banzai can be a fun ride full of astonishment and confusion if you allow yourself to go along with the ride.
Patrick will soon be appearing in the cult classic, The Pied Piper Picks a Peck of Pickled Panthers (the Hot Pot remix).