Boasting a wacky title and a wackier plot, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension was always tailored for cult success. Naturally, it bombed at the box office and left critics befuddled, but now has an army of loyal fans behind it. The main problem with the film is that it's far too aware of his cult fate, constantly striving to be that more out-there with its kitschy sets, crazy outfits and zippy one-liners. It tells the story of Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller), a neurosurgeon, test pilot, physicist and lead singer of a rock band, who, while testing his new jet car, manages to cross into the 8th dimension with the help of a device called the 'oscillation overthruster'.
Upon learning of Banzai's success, Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow), who was at the helm of a failed experiment using the overthruster in 1938, breaks out of a home for the criminally insane. His experiment left him only half-way through the dimension, during which time an alien named Lord John Whorfin managed to take over his mind. Whorfin is the leader of the reptilian Red Lectroids, who were banished into the 8th dimension by the Black Lectroids, a friendlier alien race who sound like rastafarians. Banzai's exploits alerts them all, and, with the help of the Hong Kong Cavaliers, his gang of ass-kicking musicians/scientists, and a girl who has caught his eye (Ellen Barkin), Banzai is caught up in a race against time to save the planet.
This is quite clearly a movie not to be taken seriously. Lines such as "evil pure and simple by way of the eighth dimension!" are spoken with tongue poking out of cheek, and Lithgow's knowingly ridiculous Italian accent gives Nicolas Cage a run for his money. While certainly fun, it tries to be too many things at once, be it a romance, sci-fi, an action movie, a comedy, a satire or a spoof, it doesn't fully deliver in any of these areas. The heightened self-awareness can often leave you with the feeling that you're being left out of the joke, with the faux-trailer during the closing credits - that may have happened had the film not bombed - reinforcing this idea. Fans will argue that I 'don't get it', and I probably don't, but I certainly enjoyed it's camp aesthetic, amusing one-liners, and enormous cast of talented character actors.
After having to wait a surprising amount of time for the sequel - given the success of its predecessor - Star Trek Into Darkness has a lot to live up to. The 'original' did the remarkable job of bringing a fresh audience to what was thought of (by non-Trekkies) as cheesy sci-fi with bad sets and dodgy haircuts. The franchise had been brought back from the dead, opting for less philosophising and more wallop for your money, which although pissing a few Trekkies off, kept most viewers at least relatively satisfied. So after finding a way to be able to re-tell the story of the Starship Enterprise without having to re-write 'history', returning director J.J. Abrams found himself with an entire universe to explore. Which makes it very strange that Abrams and his frequent collaborators have chosen not to give us something entirely new, and instead chosen to touch the untouchable - "KHAAAAAAANNNNNNNN!".
Having made his natural progression from the academy to the captain's chair, Jim Kirk (Chris Pine) and his conflicted friend Spock (Zachary Quinto) begin the film by saving a planet from destruction. Though this is seen as a valiant act in his own eyes, Kirk is reprimanded by Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) for knowingly disobeying Starfleet orders. Kirk agrees to a demotion and to become Pike's second-in-command, and they are briefed about a terrorist named John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), who has just blown up a Starfleet installation in London. But after the meeting of the Starfleet commanders is also attacked, Kirk is reinstated by Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller), who gives Kirk the Enterprise back and a mission to take out Harrison.
Many of the problems that lay with the first film are back again. Abrams often heaps on too much comedy in a bid to keep the audience entertained, sometimes much to the suffering of some of the film's supporting characters. Much of the supporting crew are reduced to a set-piece here or a funny line there, with Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and Sulu (John Cho) suffering most this time. The story is still focused on the growing relationship between Kirk and Spock, who after many misunderstandings last time around, seem well on their path to the great friendship that will be. Newcomer Carol (Alice Eve) does little more that get her kit off in one pointless and much criticised scene, but, unless you're a die-hard Trekkie, you should be too enthralled to care much about it, as Abrams delivers one breathless set-piece after another, backed by some excellent CGI work.
The plot often gets unnecessarily convoluted given the relatively basic plot, and there are plot holes a-plenty if you enjoy picking at them. Yet Cumberbatch's excellent performance as the refreshingly multi-dimensional bad guy is the much-needed 'darkness' from the title, and Abrams really pushes the boundaries of the 12A certificate (if you're from the UK). It's been called the worst Star Trek movie ever made by Trekkies, which seems utterly ridiculous to me. It treads much of the same ground as the beloved Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), but I believe this was an attempt to bond with the hardcore fans, although I feel The Wrath of Khan is grossly overrated. The re-boot doesn't subvert Star Trek, it simply takes it in another direction, which was the whole point of the exercise. Personally, I'll still be tracking this franchise with wide-eyed curiosity, as Abrams boldly takes us where... well, you get the point.
In theory, and from it's ridiculous title, Robocop is an incredibly silly film. The crime ridden streets of Detroit in the not-too-distant future, get a futuristic superhero, a knight in shining armour, from an omnipotent corporation OPC, to protect them from the criminals. However, what we actually get is a very emotional human story, along with some incredibly sharp satire.
Murphy (Peter Weller), a police officer, is killed whilst on a mission with his new partner, Lewis (Nancy Allen). OCP (after a failed attempt at a robot-police programme) commissioned the Robocop program, and Murphy becomes the candidate. His memory is supposed to have been erased by the corporation however, he is reminded by Lewis of his identity. He pieces together the criminals that gunned him down after an incident with Emil (Paul McCrane), and uncovers the criminal machinations of corrupt, corporate business.
As all good science fiction should, Robocop is partially allegorical of the times it was made in. In business, greed, power and wealth dominated (as highlighted in more explicit terms in another film of the same year, Oliver Stones Wall Street, where "greed is good"). Here, violence and deceit are the tactics used to make it in the cut-throat business world. Miguel Ferrer's young, ambitious Bob Morton, and the older rival, Ronny Cox's Dick Jones, battle with each other to get their individual police-robot project's into production. Corruption was also an all pervading element of '80's business (something that was not new of course, we can go back in American history and find many corrupt governments and institutions, Tammany in New York is one example), and we see here the corporate elite working with the criminal underworld.
The excesses of the 1980's greed is permeated within the excesses on screen. Violence is strong, yet comical at times. but it is always over the top. In an early scene, Dick Jones presents his product robot police officer, ED-209, a hulking, malevolent monster. In demonstration, ED-209 malfunctions and shoots an executive hundreds of times, to the point of joke. When Murphy is gunned down, we see his hand explode. Of course this reveals a corporate paranoia underneath some of the movies of the 80's. Each decades science fiction needs paranoia: In the 1950's and 60's it was communism and the nuclear bomb: in the 1970's and 80's it was political and corporate.
The film is injected with some spot-on satirical humour. Adverts are seen throughout, further exacerbating the excesses of American culture at the time. We see commercials selling over-sized, gas guzzling automobiles (6000 SUX), replacement hearts (this clearly to alleviate the excesses on the body caused in the 80's), and a board game of the Battleship-kind (Nuke-Em). These along with the narrative create an almost perfect package. Directed by European Paul Verhoeven who epitomises the concept that the best way for America to hold a mirror up to itself, is to get outsiders to produce something that reflects the madness that was 1980's, Reagan-era, excess and greed. Not only does it offer a commentary, the humanistic, philosophical nature of the soul, is a strong (if often used) theme.
Quite horrifically however, the film manifested into something terrible. I'm not talking about the sequels. The film was to be marketed for children, in the form of a cartoon series, and the inevitable action figures et al. So, like Gremlins (1984), this more "adult" fantasy, marketeers still had the moral sense (sic) to market violence to children - how lovely!
Upon learning of Banzai's success, Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow), who was at the helm of a failed experiment using the overthruster in 1938, breaks out of a home for the criminally insane. His experiment left him only half-way through the dimension, during which time an alien named Lord John Whorfin managed to take over his mind. Whorfin is the leader of the reptilian Red Lectroids, who were banished into the 8th dimension by the Black Lectroids, a friendlier alien race who sound like rastafarians. Banzai's exploits alerts them all, and, with the help of the Hong Kong Cavaliers, his gang of ass-kicking musicians/scientists, and a girl who has caught his eye (Ellen Barkin), Banzai is caught up in a race against time to save the planet.
