Remember, no matter where you go - there you are. No doubt about it, Banzai Buckaroo is a cool character and some of the members of his team work well for days. The problem is you have these interesting characters in a film that sort of, kind of su&ks. But that is all thanks to the villains of the film whom more than wear out their welcome which means the director is probably the one to blame but let me just confirm that via IMDB really quick. Yup, the director was to blame. I could tell it was the director because the source material seemed good enough and the cast used for the film is freaking phenomenal in terms of star power. Whatever, long story short this is a cult classic because fans of the source material are willing to over look all the film's shortcomings.

I heard this was a cool 80s movie, and I was curious because I like a lot of 80s movies and had never heard of this one. It was directed by the same guy that did Big Trouble in Little China, which was great, and I also like Peter Weller and John Lithgow, so I decided to give this one a shot. I also read some positive reviews of the film on this site, and after seeing the movie I had to leave my own review so people wouldn't be mislead by all the positive reviews.Man, was this terrible. The plot was goofy, the effects were bad, and the so many things in it made no sense. It's like they set out to make the silliest movie they could and didn't care if it would be good or not. I grew up in the 80s and have a fond memory of many of that decade's movies, but this is definitely not one of the good ones from that era.

What is a cult film? Is it a movie that failed at the box office yet found an audience on home video such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or Office Space? Is it a film that's so bad it's good such as Troll 2 or The Room? Or is a cult film just a movie with a rabid fan base that will throw out dialogue after dialogue and adorn rooms with odd memorabilia?Really a cult film can be all these things; the phenomenon of cult cinema has been around since the 50's with the infamously bad films of Ed Wood and it doesn't seem to be stopping any time soon. The purpose of these reviews is to bring the weird, wonderful and downright insanity of cult cinema to you. The reviews will be broken up into the main review itself as well as quotable lines and oddest moments. Many will choose The Rocky Horror Picture Show as the ultimate piece of cult cinema, but really it's become so mainstream it defies cult films. The real king of cult cinema is the 1984 film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.Film: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension Director: W.D Richter Cast: Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd.The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension is possibly the most nonsensical film ever to be put on celluloid. The majority of it doesn't make a lick of sense, the plot flies by without letting the audience really understand it, and we're just thrown into this world full of myth and science fiction and we just have to accept it. This is the beauty of the film, it just forces you to accept everything and enjoy it. Banzai is a melting pot of genres, a weird high-bred of action adventure, science fiction, comedy, satire, and romance and none of it makes sense yet it's a brilliantly original and enjoyable film.The plot follows the adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (Robocop himself, Peter Weller) a physicist, neurosurgeon, test pilot, and rock star who, along with his rock band/assistants, The Hong Kong Cavaliers must stop a group of inter dimensional aliens, lead by John Lithgow's alien leader, Lord John Whorfin trapped inside the body of an Italian scientist, in order to save the world. The film just drops you into all of this, creating an incredible myth surrounding Buckaroo and his band and intrigue among the audience about what exactly is going on.The beauty of the film (much like many cult classic) is that its flaws are also its greatest strength. The dialogue can be incredibly heavy on the techno babble at times attempting to explain the science of the film, and it can confuse the audience, but within two seconds there's some great joke or dead pan delivery made and we're sucked right back in. The cinematography isn't really all that spectacular, its flat and very colourful and really isn't great, but in Buckaroo Banzai it works because it makes the whole film look like a comic book come to life. That's the best way to describe Buckaroo Banzai; it's an old 80's comic book that somehow jumped onto the silver screen.The performances are all very solid in that great cult cinema way. Peter Weller is believably charismatic as Banzai, who delivers his lines with a deadpan that would make Bill Murray jealous. Banzai's Hong Kong Cavaliers include great eccentric performances by such actors as Jeff Goldblum playing a New Jersey cowboy, and Clancy Brown as Banzai's own personal narrator, Rawhide. The crown jewel of the film in terms of performances however, goes to John Lithgow playing the villainous role of Lord John Whorfin in the most over the top, insane way possible throwing out lines with an Italian accent that makes Super-Mario seem legitimate. It's a performance that will be forever remembered as one of the most brilliantly funny portrayals in cult cinema history.If the film has any legitimate flaws it's that we don't get to see enough of Banzai working with his team as they all seem like brilliant characters that just don't get enough screen time. The love story between Banzai and Penny Pretty (Ellen Barkin) isn't given all that much time to develop and could have been more interesting, especially with her being the long lost twin sister of Banzai's murdered wife.The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension really is the ultimate cult classic, it bombed at the box office, at times it's so bad it's good and it has a rabid fan base that are still clamouring for a sequel. It's a must see film if you're a fan of cult cinema a truly brilliant piece of pop cinema that is so insane it works. Buckaroo Banzai is by far the weirdest film around and it's brilliant.

I get it. I really do. I get the creativity. I get the whole snappy dialog and outfits. I get the big 80's style hair. I get the bizarre story about an adventurer who is also a neurosurgeon/martial arts expert/physicist who can break the speed of light and travel into a dimension hitherto unbeknownst to mankind. See. I get it. I even get why this film has attained some sort of cult status. What I don't get it why? I watched, I sighed, I yawned, I looked at my watch, I looked at my watch again, I sighed - then I went to bed after the first 45 minutes and watched the remainder the next day with basically the same regimen. Look, this is a thick slice of 80's cheese to be sure, and I do respect the producers and director for trying something totally new. But, for much of this film, it is just silly. Peter Weller is a wooden hero surrounded by men with weird names and outfits who are going to help him save the world from aliens. There are two alien factions and I really do not want to investigate that any further as I stifle a yawn about to erupt. Weller and crew are lackluster with the exception of a very young Jeff Goldblum as "New Jersey" and a rather appealing Ellen Barkin as Buckaroo's former love's twin sister(?). Yeah, a lot was done with that storyline too! (NOT!) Saying "bigboote" fifteen times does not a good film or even great film make. This one is borderline for me. I admire the moxie it took to make it. The attempt to do something that had not been done before. The chutzpah(?) the writers had to make their hero all of those things without any former knowledge by the audience OR an attempt to look into the background with any depth whatsoever. The set pieces, the costumes, and that hair are wonders even for the 80's!. John Lithgow chews up scenery better than almost anyone even though he wildly over-does it in this even by Lithgow standards. But with all that said, the end result ultimately was unsatisfactory. The inane dialog, the cheesy special effects, the wooden, low-key performances, that ludicrous end credits with people bobbing their heads up and down, and a convoluted story. This movie flopped and clearly it should have. By no means is it horrible, but rather very, very, very pedestrian.