The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension [Blu-ray]

Play 'spot the star' or revel in the absurdity of a convoluted plot involving secret plans by evil forces from the fourth dimension to take over the world by harnessing the power of the overthruster, and rock star/nuclear physicist Buckaroo Banzai's attempts to thwart them in partnership with rastafarian intergalactic do-gooders. It really is that bizarre, it really is that good, and it really does contain so many stars just a little before they were famous. You really must see this. Absolutely classic late night viewing. Makes Dark Star seem sensible.

Many centuries ago, an alien race defeated a genocidal warlord and exiled him and his followers to the Eighth Dimension, which exists in the space between ordinary matter. Forward to Roswell New Mexico on That date and a team of scientists are attempting to penetrate the Eighth Dimension using a new engine they are developing. Unfortunately for the test pilot, Dr. Lizardo (John Lithgow), the engine is defective, only allowing partial entry but enough for the leader of the exiled aliens to posses him.Fast forward another 30 years or so and the team of scientists, with Buckaroo Banzai (Paul Weller) as their test pilot have perfected the engine and the possessed Dr. Lizardo, despite being confined to an Asylum, plans to steal the engine, free his followers and conquer his home world, who, to add even more pressure, have threatened to destroy Earth in 24 hours unless he is prevented from doing so,.That's the story but the actual film is weird, wacky and great fun from start to finish and boasts the kind of cast that couldn't be afforded or gathered on one film-set only a few years later.

Loved this movie for years and now have it on my DVD shelf. I am in no way shape or form going to try and explain the plot, I think people have been trying for almost 30 years. If you get it, you'll love it, if you don't, you'll never understand it. Buy it if you've seen it and loved it, don't bother if you've never heard it.

Wish I could time travel back to before I put this into the player. 90 minutes of my viewing time I'll never get back. Very much a product of the Eighties. Perhaps if I had seen it first back then, I might've appreciated it. Now, not so much...

It's very hard to fault this gem of a movie. An unapologetic updating of Doc Savage without ever stealing from the pulp hero. It is silly, ironic and very funny. A wonderful family friendly film that is woefully underrated.

I thought it was amateurish and self-indulgent film, with very low production values. A waste of the actors' talents.

Probably one of the oddest movies ever made, this 1984 endearingly naff and decidedly wacky SF adventure comedy will not appeal to everybody since its narrative is rather loosely structured (to say the least) and consists of a series of bizarre set pieces peppered by some OTT performances, in particular John Lithgow’s lunatic turn as an unhinged Italian scientist possessed by the spirit of an interdimensional being with fascist tendencies. Opposing him is Peter Weller’s Buckaroo Banzai, the paragon of the human species, a modern-day renaissance man (neurosurgeon, nuclear scientist, and rock 'n' roll star) tasked to save the world with his band of ultra-cool dapper merry men, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, who travel hither and thither in their souped-up scientific tour bus. The movie has a number of other soon-to-be A-Listers such as Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Goldblum and Ellen Barkin who all commit unreservedly to the risible dialogue and anarchical screenplay of this off-the-wall eccentric and screwball cult movie. Definitely not a film to watch with a serious head on. I didn’t and ended up, despite its obvious shortcomings, really liking it,. The end credit walking sequence is just terrific.

This is either the greatest 80's spoof movie ever conceived or the worst movie ever made. (Worse than 'Hobo with a shotgun')You decide, my brain still hurts from trying to squeeze through my ear canal in a desperate escape attempt.On second thought, dont buy it, dont even think about it. Forget that you have even heard of it, I promise you that your life will be better.It is a miracle that anyone involved in making this film ever got work again, in ANY profession!I had to award this 2 stars because it would make a great joke present or a great real present for someone you dont like.Maybe you could watch it while playing this drinking game: Take a shot every time you feel like crying or cutting yourself.You would have more fun playing an actual game of Buckeroo, replacing the plastic objects with rusty nails and attempting to load them on to the donkey with your face.

Ce film est une synthèse du mental des années 80 : ça respire l’optimisme de l’Amérique de Reagan, un optimisme technologique, sociétal, politique, oui j’ose le dire politique avec des américains qui portent fièrement des flingues et qui les utilisent pour défendre une jeune femme agressée, où le président des USA est « gentiment » moqué pour ses limites intellectuelles et physiques , mais qui reste le président - honnête et droit (on n'est pas encore dans le cynisme glorifié des politiques des années 2010) et où, à la fin les extra-terrestres sont boutés hors de la planète.Dédicace spécial à Jeff Goldblum (déguisé en cow-boy scientifique), à John Lithgow, leader des E.T. (déjà à l’époque), à Jonathan Banks (dans un second rôle, celui du gardien de l’hôpital psychiatrique).Quel dommage que ce film n’eut pas de suite ...

Esta es una de esas películas que o se aman, o se odian a muerte. No hay término medio. Es un film de culto dónde los haya. Idolatrado por parte del equipo de diseño y producción de Star Trek. Las Aventuras de Buckaroo Banzai narra las aventuras de dicho héroe, inventor, médico, músico, agente federal... vemos que es un "pluriempleado". :)No desvelaré mucho sobre la historia. Hay que verla por uno mismo. El intérprete principal es Peter Weller(Robocop 1 y 2). Además aparecen Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd, etc.Un film de culto de ci-fi de los 80. A un precio de derribo en Amazon.es.La lástima es que en USA también salió, pero en edición "extendida", con unos minutos más, y el tráiler y una featurette-Making of, ausente en esta edición Británica.¿Para cuando en blu-ray?

Out of all the films I saw as a kid, Buckaroo Banzai is one of the ones that has this aspect to it. When I first saw it I didn't love it, probably because of this. There was more there than I could process as an 8 year-old, but as the years went on and I revisited the film I got more and more out of it. It's actually very similar to the Big Lebowski in that on the one hand it's a simple action movie, one of a million in the 80s, that deals with the threat of an alien invasion thwarted by a small band of unlikely humans at the last possible moment. Yet the cast of characters is amazingly rich and the plot is, like Lebowski, unnecessarily complex and weird to a point where it all becomes much more than the sum of its parts.I want to say that I first saw this film on HBO during the day on either a summer vacation or a weekend sometime in the mid-eighties, and like I said sort of dismissed it. Later on I would keep coming back to it because of the actors, a lot of which went on to star in other movies I loved (Peter Weller in Robocop, John Lithgow in Harry and the Hendersons, Jeff Goldbum in The Fly, Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future). I also love the unexplained "I just started reading in the middle of this comic book" feel the film has. All the unanswered questions. Who is this infamous World Crime League? Why is Perfect Tommy (Lewis Smith) so perfect? Who is Peggy Priddy, twin sister of Penny Priddy, and Buckaroo's first wife who was murdered? Why does New Jersey (Goldblum) have such an affinity for woolly chaps and 50s era cowboy clothing? Etc., etc., etc. In fact, in the film itself Buckaroo and his team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, are stars of their own Marvel comic book, which was also released in real life by Marvel.Add to this the dry delivery by Peter Weller of some really obtuse yet hilarious lines such as: "Hey, hey, hey. Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are."There are also a lot of little touches everywhere that make the film really fun to watch. How they manage to tie in the original invasion of the Lectroids to the 1938 Orson Welles broadcast of War of the Worlds is genius. I also love that the character names are silly and funny, breaking the unspoken rule of comedy of no funny names and still managing to pull it off. I mean Buckaroo Banzai? Penny Priddy? All the Lectroids being named John something or other (Christopher Lloyd's Bigboote is a standout.) Tie this together with insanely esoteric concepts like an 8th dimension that allows solid matter to travel through other solid matter, yet also serves as a gateway to either a parallel universe or as a worm hole to another galaxy, and you have a very rich and fun film that manages to mix action, comedy, and pulp nostalgia into one giant roller coaster ride.I really do love this film, right down to its dated special effects (some much more effective than today's CGI nightmares leaking off the big screen) and corny dialogue. I love this film because it's intentional and crafted to be exactly what it is. I think the scene that sums this up the best is the end sequence, a wacky dance/walking montage set to some awesome 80s synth music that finds all of the characters in the film (except the bad guys I think, but including those who have died) dynamically joining up at a concrete drainage area to just, well, walk dynamically. It really is a beautifully shot scene with plenty of fun zooms, twists and turns that is so upbeat, yet so serious it's almost mind numbing. Wes Anderson made an homage to this sequence in The Life Aquatic at the end when all the crew members and characters meet up and walk to the ship.

For some reason, three of my favourite science fiction "B movies" are interlinked on Amazon.ca, at least on the day of writing this review.I hadn't planned to write a review for Buckaroo Banzai, but after having just entered reviews for two other classics (Night of the Comet and Cherry 2000), Buckaroo Banzai seemed to round out the trilogy.Existing reviewers have covered this movie well enough for the most part, though the word "tedious" does not come to the tip of my tongue based on my personal sensibilities.Certainly Buckaroo Banzai is probably the most "80's" of the three productions I have just named. At what other time in history could the "good aliens" have been Rastafarians (a deft touch on the part of the writers for sure)?Who then are the bad guys? Well, here's a hint: What if, like the guy on the sample cheque at your bank, they were all named "John?" At the time of the production, besides wearing blister pack glasses (it was new then), my friends and I were mastering all the Johns of this movie, and I can still recall John Smallberries from memory over 20 years later.What a cast - Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum - and all at the peak of their powers.In my view, there was not one thing wrong with this movie. It was flawless, startling, quirky, crazy, brilliant, scene by scene, start to finish. Every scene worked, and each built on previous scenes to create a cinematic leaning tower of pisa that may never be equaled. (OK, only here would a simile of that kind be defensible!?!?)The sad part, a sequel was clearly intended - but didn't materialize - when the subtle humour and deft touches flew far over the heads of the mainstream American audience (who rewarded The Terminator of the same year with two sequels).I am a fan of The Terminator as well, and I think Schwarzenegger is under-rated both as an actor and as a governor - he is in fact a brilliant man - but this movie is much, much better than The Terminator - which does NOT need my review.Plain and simple: This is one of the best science fiction/satirical allegories ever produced. Ever. A masterpiece.And that's probably all I need to say here.

Bien conditionné..