Big Trouble in Little China

This movie occupied most my junior high years. Action, suspense, cheesy diaologue, and martial arts galore. What more could you ask for from a b-movie that is clearly a b-movie? Carpenter and the cast and crew must have had a blast on this film because I can't think of a single movie that combines some of my favorite things about movies: Action, comedy, violence, martial arts, and a small tour bus driver named Egg who also knows a little magic. Magic indeed. This is movie magic. Agree or disagree, you can't deny that Carpenter succeeded on all levels when he made this movie. Saturday matineeish? Yes. B-movie cheese? Yes. Pure movie-going fun? Absolutely. Watch and enjoy.

This is one of the wildest stories ever: a cartoon come to life and a mixture of an old-time serial with modern special-effects with bold colors all the way through.

This movie is pure tongue-in-cheek. One just has to take nothing seriously in here and just go along on the wild ride. From the nonsense mystical Chinese sorcery that is taken so reverently, to the American hero "Jack Burton" (Kurt Russell) who displays the fearless macho man, to combatants flying through the air (this was 15 years before Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was filmed), to one exotic character and situation after another - it's all absurd fun.

Russell plays his role to the hilt, playing his favorite kind of role when he was younger: brash, bold and an ignoramus who fears absolutely nothing. His lines are deliberately corny and one can bet he had a lot of fun making this movie. He even gets in a few good comedic lines. His partner, Dennis Dunn, is a likable guy with a devilish grin on his face and Kim Cattrell plays the more modern damsel-in-distress role to the hilt, too.

They could have lightened this up a bit on the action - it gets to be too much at times - but the movie is just slightly over an hour-and-half. It still wore me out the first few times I saw it.

All in all: ludicrous fun, a kind of Indiana Jones in Chinatown adventure flick.

Kurt Russell stars as Jack Burton, a long haul truck driver who ends up getting caught up in this bizarre fight in San Francisco's Chinatown district. As an aside, never once does he have a trailer hooked up to his rig. What exactly is he hauling? I guess I can assume he picked up a trailer from his origin point, dropped the trailer off at his destination, and now is driving through San Francisco enroute to pick up another trailer to bring somewhere else? Who knows.

Russell gets caught up in this crazy conflict in Chinatown involving a Chinese prince/crime lord. It seems that the prince/crime lord have kidnapped Russell's friend's fiancee--a beautiful green-eyed Chinese woman. It seems that the a green-eyed woman is the key to removing an ancient curse that keeps the prince/crimelord immortal and flesh-less. Kim Cattrall appears as a green-eyed American woman who I guess just lives in Chinatown and knows all about the conflict. Cattrall's green eyes end up attracting the interest of the Chinese prince/crime lord who decides to kidnap her as well, thinking that he can offer her up as tribute to the god who placed the ancient curse on him, then the green-eyed Chinese woman will live out her life as his unwilling wife.

This movie was ridiculous and absurd in all the best ways-- lots of extended gymnastics tumbling scenes, overly long airborne sword fights, people jumping much higher than they should be able to, a monster with an eyeball on the end of his tongue, Russell getting his boot knife stuck in a guy's body, blinding lasers coming out of people's mouths, lightning strikes emanating from people's bodies... this movie has everything.

If you`ve ever heard of the director John Carpenter, you`ll be familiar with his works (of art), like Hallowe`en, Escape From New York, Assault On Precient 13, The Thing, They Live, and this movie, a mid 80`s classic starring none other than Carpenter`s favourite front man, Kurt Russell. Set in Chinatown, Los Angeles, its a modern day fable of good versus evil, Chinese black magic, the hero storms the castle type affair. Russell plays Jack Burton, a wise cracking long distance truck triver and all American hero, passing through Chinatown on some business. After a card game with old friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun), Wang (now penniless thanks to Burton`s good fortune) pursuades Jack to drive him to the airport, to pick up his childhood sweetheart, a girl Wang has not seen since they were children. Its here the story begins, as Mao Yin, Wang`s girlfriend, is captured by a mysterious gang. The two form a pact to rescue the girl from the clutches of the evil Lo Pan, former crimelord of Chinatown, a myth who has apparently lived to the age of almost 200, with a little help from some black magic.

Thats it, I`m saying no more, cos I don`t want to spoil it. You`ve probably seen the movie anyway.

Its hard to pick a favourite John Carpenter film, very hard, but this one has it all. Its a great action movie, a great comedy, an original story, great lines, and even a love story, a perfect blend of what big screen entertainment should be. Its strange though, that the ending was left so open, begging for a sequel that was never made.

I EMPHATICALLY recommend Big Trouble in Little China, but I must say that if you didn't grow up with this movie, I can see being very entertained but not in awe of it. I and many others like me repeatedly viewed this film throughout childhood and still love it just as much now as then. Nowadays, a new viewer who is past puberty will regard it with a more skeptical eye, comparing it to things it shouldn't be compared to. Some newcomers might get it right away, but I don't think they get the same thrill out of it as they might have as a child in the eighties. That's why this film needs to be shared with children (especially boys), who hopefully won't be too jaded by flashy nineties schlock to be impressed, which I think is exactly the problem for adults who are new to the movie. Perhaps it can't be taught, the reverence I mean, but the movie isn't any less fun and awesome for new viewers, just less magical. I would rate it with stars or something but that's like trying to grade your own religion. I love you, Mr. Burton.