Big Trouble in Little China
1986
Director: John Carpenter
Stars: Kurt Russell, Kim Catrall, Dennis Dun, James Hong, Carter Wong, Victor Wong, Suzee Pai
Before it was cool to have guys in trenchcoats shooting dual guns at each other or flying around as they do kung fu, John Carpenter crafted this bizarre low-budget affair that still remains one of the most true combonations of US and HK cinema -- if only because Carpenter seems to use Wong Jing's "kitchen sink" approach to film-making, with both an appreciation of the past, but a total disregard for the rules.
The fairly silly story is about a truck driver named Jack (Kurt Russell) who gets sucked into the strange underworld of Chinatown while trying to help his buddy rescue his girlfriend from an evil sorceror. But don't worry too much about the plot. The film has its' tongue planted firmly in cheek at all times, spurred on by Russell's wonderfully dry, yet hammy, delivery of the dialogue. Actionwise, Big Trouble also does a good job. Granted, it's no Crouching Tiger or anything like that, but Carpenter did the best (I think) with what he had to work with, and like most low-budget directors, he subsitutes creativity for pyrotechnics, such as a group of three elemental warriors, one of whom (played by Cater Wong) would become the basis for Raiden in the Mortal Kombat games and movies.
Big Trouble in Little China is one of those great "midnight movies" that you catch on TV at 3 am, and stay up all night watching. It's not really good, but it's not really bad, either -- it's one of those rare movies that are so over the top that you can't help being sucked in, unless you're some kind of film snob. I won't try to defend the plot or the script or the acting -- this is just a fun no-brainer popcorn movie, plain and simple, and a damn good one at that. Sure, there's a lot of cheese in here, but you occasionally have to have a cheeseburger to appreciate filet mignon.
RATING: 7