Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Surreal, confusing, non-sensical, great actors, plot holes.. Sci-fi? Parody? Pastiche? Comedy? Action? Drama? Romance? It's all and none of these; it's a cluster of the most indescribable nonsense which only occasionally attempts to make any sense, with a group of actors so talented that character development is meaningless, and who are so dedicated to the film's own lunacy that I can't help but revel in every moment of it's loosely structured plot and ambiguous storytelling. I don't know what I just watched, and I hate myself for loving such a complete waste of time! I'm currently unable to either confirm or deny whether this movie is worth watching. Honestly.. It defies explanation. That is all.

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.

Writer Earl Mac Rauch and debuting director W.D. Richter (himself a writer of such things as the 1978 version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers") present to cult movie lovers a rollicking and memorable tribute to and send-up of the Saturday matinée serials of decades past. It has its heart in the right place while maintaining a completely irreverent attitude, a fair amount of invention, and a goofy unpredictability (even while telling what is ultimately a time-honoured tale of alien invasion). The movie features one of the most eclectic casts you'll see in this sort of thing, right down to the small roles. It's got fun alien makeup (by the Burman studio), an appreciable amount of cheese, some choice bits of dialogue, and a colourful bunch of cool characters.Peter Weller stars as the Buckaroo Banzai of the title, a celebrity and jack of all trades: he's a neurosurgeon, physicist, government troubleshooter, jet car test driver, and rock star all in one. He works with a dedicated team of fellow scientists and musicians dubbed The Hong Kong Cavaliers. They find that it's up to them to save the day when extraterrestrial villains called Lectroids start acting up. Among the newest members of Buckaroo's team are the troubled Penny Priddy (an appealing Ellen Barkin) and jovial "New Jersey" (Jeff Goldblum); the nemesis is Lord John Whorfin, who's taken over the body of a scientist named Emilio Lizardo (both roles are played by John Lithgow, who's in peak hammy form).You know you're in for some good times when you peruse the cast list: Christopher Lloyd, Lewis Smith, Rosalind Cash, Robert Ito, Pepe Serna, Ronald Lacey (the Nazi torturer from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" playing the President of the United States here!), Matt Clark, Clancy Brown, Carl Lumbly, Vincent Schiavelli, Dan Hedaya, Bill Henderson, Billy Vera, Jonathan Banks, John Ashton, and none other than Yakov Smirnoff playing the National Security Adviser! Everybody is fun to watch, with Weller thoroughly engaging as the game-for- anything Buckaroo, a man destined from birth to be something special. There's some poignancy here and there, but cast & crew commit to mostly keeping an upbeat spirit while the insanity of this movie plays out.This viewer is glad there is an audience for stuff like this (it *does* have a following); this is the kind of thing that ought to get encouraged more often.The end credits with Buckaroo and buddies marching through an aquaduct is irresistible and ends the proceedings on a true high note.Eight out of 10.

Hate to start a review backward, but I must mention my absolute love of Big Trouble in Little China. Coming from W.D. Richter and hearing of his association with Buck Bonzai, I finally made time to check this one out and see what all the cult fuss was.So if I like BTILC, I can totally understand a rabid fans loyalty to an overlooked classic. Hence, I won't trash on the Buck Bonzai people who adore this, because it had completely the opposite impression on me. A directionless mash-up of chaotic scenes (mostly chase) that involve a multi-faceted nuerosurgeon, a race of reptilian space crusaders, a troubled woman, and a mad scientist. There's lots of action, and pretty pictures to look at, but most of its ambitions lie in intentionally being incoherent. Like, "Hey, this is kind of oddball, maybe the audience will take it for what it is."Now, many have. Buck Bonzai is an eccentric mess of indiscriminate themes and antics involving part space opera and half governmental schtick. But its focus changes too often for the goal to be taken seriously. Though I will agree with the diehards that the end credits sequence is one of the most catchy in film history.