6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 4.3 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Adventurer/surgeon/rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his band of men, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, take on evil alien invaders from the 8th dimension.
Starring: Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher LloydSci-Fi | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Unlike the titular character he portrays in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Peter Weller may not be a musician, pilot, surgeon and scientist, but I wouldn't put it past him. Weller is certainly one of the more accomplished folks to have called “acting” at least part of his career during his life, and the fact that acting is in fact only part of Weller's life speaks volumes about his range of interests. Weller is probably remembered largely today for his turn as RoboCop , but in the film and television industries he has a rather impressive list of credits, including performance turns in such notable outings as Naked Lunch and Sons of Anarchy. Weller has also moved into directing, including helming several episodes of Sons of Anarchy. But one of the more unusual and fascinating aspects of Weller’s life has nothing to do with traditional show business — Weller has both a Masters and Doctorate in Art History, and is a recognized expert in certain niches of Renaissance art. That intellectual acuity has tended to inform Weller’s work as an actor, and his seemingly inherent intelligence helps to ground The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, a film which often rambles pretty haphazardly across a swath of content that doesn’t always hang together in an overly convincing way.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Select, a new imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. A sticker affixed to the shrinkwrap on this release states "the cleverly crazed cult classic is on Blu-ray for the first time", which may come as a surprise to owners of the UK The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension release from just a little over a year ago, which was reviewed here by Svet Atanasov. I couldn't find any authoritative information online detailing the provenance of the master Shout used, but it looks similar if not outright identical to the Arrow release, at least when judging by the completely unscientific method of screenshot comparison. I've tried to recreate several of Svet's screenshots for his review, and a cursory comparison will show that detail levels, grain structure and overall color temperature are nearly identical (screenshot 1's apparent brightness difference is simply one of different frames being captured as the "blue apparation" in that scene gains power, resulting in a different look for Weller from second to second). As Svet noted, there are some minimal issues with flecks and the like, but elements are in generally excellent condition, and there are no issues with image instability. The film is rife with opticals and "old school" visual effects, and an understandable uptick in dirt, grain and softness attends these many sequences. I'm not quite at the 4.5 score that Svet afforded the Arrow release (I'd probably grant a 4.25 if I were able to), but this is a solid effort and one which should please the film's devoted fan base.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 options, which I assume more or less recreate the original 6 track presentation for the 70mm blow up theatrical showings and the standard stereo presentation for 35mm showings. Michael Boddicker's synth heavy score spills quite effectively in the surround track, and there are also good moments of LFE and some nice panning effects in the surround track as well. The 2.0 mix sounds slightly less dispersed at times, as should probably be expected, and in some noisy effects sequences, I actually preferred the prioritization of the stereo track. Again, I'm not quite at the 4.5 level that Svet was in his review, but these are problem free tracks that should please audiophile fans of the film.
Disc One (Blu-ray)
I'm not sure The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension ever had a "real" first run showing in Portland, because I remember seeing this film shortly after it was released at the Baghdad, a "little" neighborhood theater in Portland's Hawthorne neighborhood. I was literally the only one in the audience that night, and I had a hard time figuring out why, because (perhaps due to my already obviously skewed sense of humor), I found the film incredibly ingratiating despite its manifest weirdnesses and narrative hiccups. The film is often rather hilariously sly (a ton of humor just flits by in odd little referents like scrawls written on the walls or passing references to irrelevant tangents), but it's also undeniable that it probably tries too hard to do too much. This new Shout Select release has both new and previously released supplements, but those with Region B players are encouraged to look over Svet's list of the supplements on that release to see if they prefer them to the ones on this release. Technical merits are strong, and at least for those with a skewed sense of humor, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension comes Highly recommended.
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