russ@ganash.UUCP (Russ Wolf) (11/15/84)
Buckaroo Banzai - Revisited
Well, after all the rave reviews, I just had to go see Buckaroo Banzai's
adventures across the eight dimension. I thought that I had all the right
credentials:
1) love sci-fi (generally, I will even swallow bad sci-fi)
2) love pulps
3) love the assorted actors and actresses appearing in the movie.
However, I walked. (Stop that. You look silly when you gasp.)
I found the major problems of this film to lie in the the editing and
the performances.
I really didn't mind the lack of expostion in the script. I understood why
there was little or no characters developement. These aspects of the film
were part and parcel of the pulp effect that the director and/or writer and/or
producer (whose names escape me) were trying to acheive.
Well, given those requirements, this picture could only work if
1) The central character projects enough screen persona to
grab and hold the viewer.
or
2) The film moves with such deftness and velocity that the viewer
is draw into the plot.
The Central Character
---------------------
Peter Weller plays underplays Buckaroo to the hilt. Unfortunately,
Weller is not Gary Cooper. Weller alternates between a look of mild
confusion and one of some determination throughout the film.
The supporting characters are little help in filling the void since
they all, with the notable exceptions of Jeff Goldblum and John Lithgow,
seem to mimic this trait. I guess that the director gets his share of
the blame here.
Weller also suffers from being unable to project any kind of film presence.
All the reviewers mention Lithgow because he is practically the only actor
who seems to come alive in his role. With everyone else underplaying
by saying their lines into their respective armpits, Lithgow is practically
the only one you can hear. Goldblum is the exception to this in that
his distinctive delivery seems to carry him out of the armpit class.
Velocity
--------
Given the performances and script, this film cries out for fast-paced,
cohesive editing. The editing is certainly fast paced. However there is
little or no cohesion. Events occur and the continual jump cuts succeed
admirably in ruining whatever connections there are between them. I sincerely
believe that better editing would have at least kept me in my seat until the
picture ended. (Anyone who doesn't think that editing can have that big
an effect should try to remember why they liked Star Wars - It wasn't the
great acting or fabulous script - it was the SPFX and the editing.)
---------
Well, I am running out of steam now and I will end by saying that the real
reason that I wrote this review was out of a deep sense of dissapointment in
both the film and the net reviewers. I generally take all my reviews with
several salt grains but this time I actually got my hopes up.
Shot down again.
Hoping it wasn't too disjointed or boring,
--
Thanx muchly,
Russ Wolf
{floyd, hjuxa}!ganash!russ
Periphonics Corp., 4000 Veterans Memorial Highway, Bohemia, NY 11716
(516) 467-0500