Posted By
Jim On 02 Feb 2010. Under
1986,
Action-Adventure,
Comedy,
Fantasy,
Horror,
Suspense/Thriller,
Throwback Tuesday Tags: Carter Wong, David Z. Weinstein, Dennis Dun, Donald Li, Gary Goldman, James Pax, James Wong, John Carpenter, Kate Burton, Kim Cattrall, Kurt Russell, Peter Kwong, Suzee Pai, Victor Wong
99 Minutes
Directed By: John Carpenter
Written By: Gary Goldman, David Z. Weinstein
Staring: Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun, Suzee Pai, James Wong, Victor Wong, Kate Burton, Donald Li, Peter Kwong, Carter Wong and James Paxi
Review:
John Carpenter and Kurt Russell make a killer combination when it comes to movies. In 1986 Kurt Russell was at the top of his game and had starred in two prior iconic roles with John Carpenter, Escape from New York and The Thing. My first exposure to John Carpenter was Starman with Jeff Bridges. When I saw Big Trouble In Little China I was not at the stage of my film love where I noticed the names of the directors and remembered what other films that they had made which I loved.
I remember seeing this in the theaters and being blown away by the wonderful mixture of action, comedy, fantasy and horror. I loved this movie especially because of the martial arts involved. I loved to watch Kung Fu Theater on USA each weekend and loved the arial acrobatics of those films. This film has many of the same fun elements I remember from Kung Fu Theater plus it has the swagger of Kurt Russell.
Russell plays Jack Burton, a tough talking trucker who roles into San Francisco to make a deliver and meets up with his long time friend Wang Chi played by Dennis Dun. Wang Chi loses all of his money in an all night card game with Burton. Wang Chi does not have the money on him so Jack and he go go to his restaurant but must make a stop on the way to pick up his fiancee Miao Yin played by Suzee Pai. Miaon Yin has the unfortunate luck of having green eyes which is very rare in Asian culture and because of it she is taken prisoner by a China Town gang immediately after landing from China. The gang is planning on selling her to David Lo Pan, played by the creepy James Wong, so he can reverse an ancient curse. Jack Burton and Wang Chi rush to find Miao Yin and become embroiled in a war that has been waged for ages and an ancient myth that haunts China Town. In their search for Miao Yin Jack and Wang Chi meet up with Gracie Law, a China Town lawyer and her reporter friend Margo who had learned of the gangs search for Chinese girls with green eyes. Will they be able to save the day and fight the three bad ass elements, Rain, Thunder and Lightning played by Peter Kwong, Carter Wong and James Pax respectively? Those guys are truly cool and at the time I first saw this film a little eerie.
I watched this on Blu Ray and was so happy with the look of the film. The last time I had seen it was on television in one of its many annual airings. The color and the sound make the action just fly off of the screen. This is especially cool during some of the action sequences with the acrobatic martial arts scenes. I love the comic book style in which this film was made. Yes it is over the top and yes it is highly unbelievable. What makes this movie a classic in my mind is the cool dialogue and the delivery by Russell. His characters swagger in Jack Burton make me think of a modern day John Wayne who instead of riding a horse drives a truck.
The Bottom Line:
If you have not seen Big Trouble In Little China I recommend you add the Blu Ray version to your Netflix queue immediately. I think you will also be very surprised if you have seen it before to watch it again. This is an all around fun movie that has some wonderful action and fantasy themes. The pacing is perfect too. Clocking in at 99 minutes this film is the perfect length to keep you interested. You will love the costumes for this film even if you don’t like costumes normally.