The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension Movie Review

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

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Written by: Earl Mac Rauch
Directed by: W.D. Richter
Starring: Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd, Clancy Brown
Rated: PG
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Plot
Adventurer, brain surgeon, rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his crime-fighting team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, must stop evil alien invaders from the eighth dimension who are planning to conquer Earth.

Verdict
This movie is a lot. It embraces the 80s excess while also parodying it. This is a B-movie in almost all regards. I don't think this is making a joke about the genre, this movie is the joke, from the Renaissance man that is Buckaroo and his band/posse to an over the top villain and second rate aliens. I constantly wondered what is this movie and what did it want to be. It's silly, absolutely silly.
Skip it.

Review
This is more than ridiculous. Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller) is a brain surgeon, rock star, race car driver, and scientist. This has all the trappings of a B-movie, but it's also so earnest and tries to do all of it. Buckaroo has a posse of rock stars that are also surgeons. He does everything. I'd imagine he'd have to be the most famous person in the world with this various abilities.

Buckaroo develops a way to transverse dimensions which brings a group of aliens after him to get the technology. All of the aliens are named John as they've been hiding in plain sight for years. My favorite alien name has to be John Bigbooté (Christopher Lloyd). Another group of aliens arrive to help Buckaroo. Only Buckaroo can spot who are aliens because what can't this man do?

Peter Weller, Clancy Brown, Jeff Goldblum play Dr. Buckaroo Banzai, Rawhide, Dr. "New Jersey" ZweibelPeter Weller, Clancy Brown, Jeff Goldblum play

This movie is so cheesy. While the plot remains busy, it's all so mindless. Buckaroo encounters a woman that he later discovers is his late wife's long lost identical twin. Why didn't he realize that the first time he met her? It's not as big of a deal as you might expect. This is very 80s from the concept and action to the effects and style. 

Buckaroo is the epitome of action heroes, but in the end he gets help from several civilian recruits. He bests the aliens and even manages to resurrect someone because he's Buckaroo and of course he can.