A Very Weird Mess of a Movie

These days, we tend to lament how every film comes pre-designed to be part of a future franchise. Almost every big blockbuster is created with an eye towards sequels (with standalone films like Barbie and Oppenheimer being exceptions, not the standard). Studios always want to hint at what’s next, what further adventures could occur, what audiences have to wait to see with baited breath. No story can truly end, there always has to be a “what’s next” teased at the end so that studios can keep the money train going.

We blame the Marvel Cinematic UniverseWhen it first began in 2008 with a little film called Iron Man no one suspected the empire that would follow. Superhero movies in the past, especially those not featuring either Batman or Superman, were usually terrible. And yet, Iron Man would lead to a long series of successful films, launching the most successful cinema brand in history: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. for this as Marvel has perpetuated the idea of continuous storytelling. You have to wait for the end of the credits to see a bonus scene hinting at what’s next. We know every superhero will return when, at the end of the film, the movie text says, “So and So will Return…” Even when we hit the end of an era, like Avengers: Endgame, the story can’t really end because Marvel makes too much money, so there’s always another phase, another adventure, another story to tell. The franchise keeps moving.

Of course, we can also highlight all the times that this didn’t work out. While Marvel made it happen, DC struggled for years to get their DC Extended UniverseStarted as DC Comics' answer to the MCU, the early films in the franchise stumbled out of the gates, often mired in grim-dark storytelling and the rushed need to get this franchise started. Eventually, though, the films began to even out, becoming better as they went along. Still, this franchise has a long way to go before it's true completion for Marvel's universe. to work and then they put it out to pasture when they effectively rebooted it into the DCU. Valiant comics was supposed to have a sprawling, connected universe of films that never got farther than the boring and awful Bloodshot. Universal expected us to want an interconnected series of movies about their Universal MonstersThis franchise, started off with Dracula and Frankenstein in 1931, was a powerhouse of horror cinema for close to two decades, with many of the creatures continuing on in one-off movies years later., but vaguely as superheroes, and the proposed Dark Universe never got beyond 2017’s The Mummy.

More often than not proposed ideas for cinematic universes fail before they take hold, and that’s not a recent occurrence. Hollywood could have known this if they just looked back a few decades to a prime example of putting the cart before the horse for a cinematic universe. I am, of course, speaking of the 1984 sci-fi action comedy film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, and, yes, that title is quite a mouthful. The film starred Peter Weller as the eponymous character, and it absolutely bombed upon its release, making just $6.3 Mil against its $17 Mil budget. It’s a strange, weird movie that clearly was meant to be the start of a series of adventures for the hero and his team of crack adventurers but, naturally, that all went nowhere.

So what happened? Well, for starters, the film is an absolute mess. I recently rewatched Hackers, and it was interesting comparing that film, which is also a total mess of a movie, and seeing why I enjoy that film while Buckaroo Banzai failed to grab my attention. The 1984 film is silly, and weird, and takes itself way too seriously at times, but the big issue with the film is that it doesn’t ever take the time to slow down or delve into anything. It moves from scene to scene with characters saying, “obviously, this is what happened,” when, no, it wasn’t obvious and nothing you’re doing in this film makes sense. Contrasted with Hackers, which is just as dumb and weird and silly, and you get a film that treats its characters like characters and invests (however goofily) into the story. I want that from Buckaroo Banzai and I don’t ever get it.

The film starts with Dr. Banzai (Weller), the half-Japanese head of the Hong Kong Cavaliers, heading off to test out his new jet car under the watchful eye of the U.S. military. Unbeknownst to the government, though, the test isn’t just to check out the speed on the jet car but also a test of the oscillation overthruster, a device that, when activated, allows the car to travel through matter. Banzai drives right through the side of a mountain, entering into the 8th dimension and riding through its strange reality. When he comes out the other side he’s fine, but the car has collected a weird sample of alien life on its undercarriage.

The test of the jet car is noticed by a strange man, Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow). Years before, Lizardo tested his own version of an overthruster and while that test sort of worked, it also launched Lizardo halfway into the 8th dimension. His body was taken over by the Red Lectroid known as Lord John Whorfin, and since then, Whorfin has been sitting in an asylum, awaiting a chance to travel back home to his dimension. With Banzai’s device, he, and the other Red Lectroids hiding on Earth, could go back home and wage war against the peaceful Black Lectroids living in that dimension. It’s up to Banzai and his team to protect the Lectroids, and his own world, from the war to come.

Like a few other films I’ve reviewed recently, such as Empire Records and Dazed and Confused, Buckaroo Banzai is a large, sprawling film with a huge cast of characters, most of whom I didn’t even mention in the plot summary above. Banzai’s team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, is made up of New Jersey (Jeff Goldblum), Perfect Tommy (Lewis Smith), Reno Nevada (Pepe Serna), Rawhide (Clancy Brown), Pinky (Billy Vera). There’s also all the aliens, including Lithgow's John Whorfin, Christopher Lloyd as John Bigbooté, Carl Lumbly as John Parker, Vincent Schiavelli as John O'Connor, Dan Hedaya as John Gomez. And this doesn’t even get into so many other side characters like the President of the U.S. and his cabinet of random people, or Ellen Barkin as Penny Priddy, who is apparently the unknown, twin sister of Buckaroo’s dead wife. Do any of these characters get any kind of development? Nope, not really. They’re all just in the film to do things and that’s it.

A large, sprawling cast is only needed when they actually have a function in the story. Buckaroo has a ton of named associates but hardly any of them contribute in any meaningful way. New Jersey is a doctor who dresses like a cowboy, a detail that is never explained, and he’s only there to do doctor things after he is first introduced. His role could have been handled by a nameless “doctor extra” and it wouldn’t have mattered. Perfect Tommy and Rawhide are both functionally Buckaroo’s right hand, and if their characters were combined not only would it have given a single character more to do but it also would have meant more time for the characters to develop as a real person. Penny is brought in so she can act as a love interest for Buckaroo but her introduction is a matter of sheer happenstance, and all of her plot details are glossed over in a matter of seconds. Time and again characters are brought in for the function they play and not to actually, you know, be characters.

The same can really be said about the story, too. There isn’t really a plot to this movie, just a series of “yes, and,” moments that send the characters to the next set. Buckaroo drives the jet car and there’s a weird alien egg on the bottom. The egg means nothing after it’s introduced, but Buckaroo goes to a press conference to discuss the discovery. Then he goes to a club to perform a set with his band. Then he saves Penny and brings her back to his compound. Then he gets a message from aliens that he has to fight the Red Lectroids. Then he gets into a chase. Then he fights some Red Lectroids. Then he tracks them to their headquarters. And then… and then… and then…

If the film developed any of these ideas at all then it would feel propulsive, constant movement towards the next thing. The problem is that there isn’t actually any development. Things just happen, people go, “sure, let’s go do this,” and then the next thing on the list occurs. We don’t really understand any of the reasons for it, though. Like, what is going on in the war between the Red and Black Lectroids? How are they on Earth if they’re also stuck in the 8th Dimension? Are the Black Lectroids actually good guys? What do the Red Lectroids want with Earth after they’re done with the Black Lectroids? Why do they even need the overthruster? None of it makes any logical sense the second you pause to think about it. I’m sure the “yes, and” structure of the film was meant to keep you from thinking, but the film isn’t energetic or interesting enough to pull off that feat. It is, to use the comparison from before, no Hackers.

This, of course, doesn’t even get to the fact that Buckaroo is a horrible character. Not only is he half-Japanese but played by the very White, very American Weller, but he’s also the ultimate Marty Stu. He’s great at everything, with no flaws, being an accomplished neurosurgeon, quantum physicist, and multi-instrument prodigy, among other things he can do with ease. There is never any worry about what his character can do, or how he will get away with things because, well, he’s great at everything. The perfect human. He is, in short, boring. He should have flaws and, yes, he should have been played by someone of Japanese descent.

Thing is that the cast clearly were having fun during the filming of the movie. The performances are all great, even as limited as they are, with no one phoning it in. I like the look of the movie, which has a very goofy 1980s vibe. And the soundtrack is really great, composed by Michael Boddicker and featuring just some absolutely killer synthwave vibes. If we judge the film just on mood, on how it feels in the moment, it works. But that has to ignore all the things that are required for a movie to work, like story, and structure, and characters, which this film lacks in every conceivable way.

Going back and watching the film again, it’s clear why The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension flopped: it’s not very good. It’s weird and fun at times, yet, but it’s also incredibly boring and stupid and struggles to function at all. It promises a lot and delivers very little before, weirdly, ending on a celebrational music video of all the characters walking through the L.A. River canal. At this moment my wife turned to me and said, “what the hell is even going on in this film?” I really didn’t have an answer.

And yet, the producers obviously thought this film was going to be a success. The credits tease that “Buckaroo Bonzai will be back” with a taste that he would take on the World Crime League next. There was a video game tied to the movie, a novelization and a comic book adaptation as well, and it was clear there were plans for so much more. More comics, more movies, more of everything. None of that came to pass once the film bombed, though. It would take years for a second novel (adapting the ideas for the planned movie sequel) to come out, and then a series of prequel and sequel comics happened as well, but that was all in and around 2006. No official sequels ever came out, and Buckaroo Banzai largely faded into history.

It’s a film that’s fondly remembered by many. The kids that saw this in theaters or on cable probably didn’t mind the lack of story or characters because its “yes, and” structure could keep their attention. The film presents a lot of goofy stuff and just keeps going, and if all you want is more, more, more, feeding that little lizard brain, it works. Rose colored glasses make this film seem special, and I don’t want to discount that. But if you come at this film fresh, and look at it for what it is, it’s hard not to admit that Buckaroo Banzai is an abject failure of a film.