Big Trouble in Little China
May. 30,1986 PG-13Jack Burton, a tough-talking truck driver, goes into a supernatural tailspin when his best friend's fiancée is kidnapped.
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Reviews
Memorable, crazy movie
Let's be realistic.
The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
Big Trouble in Little China is a great achievement. I've always loved this movie and shared it with those that haven't seen it. It is the perfect blend of action and humor. The movie seems to know itself so well that it walks a difficult line between parody and true action-adventure very skillfully. Kudos to John Carpenter, the tone of this movie shows an incredibly well honed sense of humor and timing.I laugh every time I see the show, I haven't found a friend yet who doesn't add it to their list of favorites after seeing it.I think those that don't like it shouldn't leave reviews, unless they like putting in writing that they don't have a sense of humor. I swear it is like the Meyers-Briggs type indicator test, just instead it tests for the sense of humor required to understand and love this movie. If you don't love it, you don't have that type of a sense of humor.
Someone I know who hadn't seen any good films said this was his favourite ever movie. Unsurpisingly it was not very good. He should have watched Star Wars when he was a kid instead of this incoherent nonsense. Here are some reasons its not very good.1. The plot is dumb. 2. The action is forgettable. 3. The dialogue was all over the place.Some positives;1. Kurt Russell is always entertaining.That's about it.Overall I'd say of all the John Carpenter films I've seen, this was the worst. Halloween and The Thing are a lot, lot better.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith is to Alfred Hitchcock what Big Trouble in Little China is to John Carpenter. I was flabbergasted to learn that the director I thought of strictly as a horror director actually had an action/adventure comedy under his belt. John Carpenter directed Kurt Russell and Kim Cattrall Big Trouble in Little China in 1986. Big Trouble in Little China tells the story of an American truck driver who gets roped into a mythical Chinese battle. John Carpenter directing an action film was enough to bring a film to my attention, even if I was not especially fond of the genre.Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) accompanies a friend to the airport when he arrives in SanFransisco. Jack's friend is smitten by this woman and the only thing he knows about her is that she is Chinese and has green eyes. Upon her arrival to the airport, the two men see that she is kidnapped by a Chinese street gang. When they chase after the girl, they realize that a Chinese sorcerer is responsible for her kidnapping. This sorcerer has existed for more than 2000 years and does not require a body to occupy space. In order to retrieve his physical being, the sorcerer must marry a Chinese woman with green eyes. Jack teams up with a lawyer he meets, Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall) who agrees to assist him during his quest through the underground portion of Chinatown. Encountering new mythic hurdles at every turn, Jack has his work cut out for him in Little China.As noted, a curiosity of John Carpenter making a non-horror film is the only thing that brought me to Big Trouble in Little China. I haven't seen much of Kurt Russell's work, and there's nothing in this film to endear him to me any further. Granted there is enough comedy in this film to make sense, but Kurt Russell's over-the-top comedic performance was hammy, to say the least. One bright spot was the sound in this film. It could be only because it was an 80's film, but Big Trouble in Little China sounded very much like a John Carpenter film. There's not too much to take away from Big Trouble in Little China, unless you're a massive John Carpenter fan and commit to see everything he's ever made. I wish I could remember who told me I wouldn't like this, I'd like to let them know they were right.
Big Trouble In Little China casts Kurt Russell as your average working man truck driver who stops to help a damsel in distress Suzee Pai who is the fiancé of Denis Dun, Russell's friend. She's kidnapped and he loses his truck. Later on investigative reporter Kim Cattrall is kidnapped as well. Both of these women happen to have green eyes, in Asian women that's like finding the proverbial four leaf clover.Some very ancient, like 2000 year old ancient spirit needs a green eyed girl to make him mortal with a body so he can taste human pleasure again. Dun wants his girl back and Russell wants his truck back so it's into the mysteries of the inscrutable east searching for both women.John Carpenter reunites with Kurt Russell who starred in his Escape From New York. This time without eye patch and in a much lighter vein Russell looks like he's having a great old time as the ostensible hero of this piece. He has very little patience with all the rituals and rigmarole the Chinese martial artists are going through. But the other worldly creatures are a bit much for him.It looks like John Carpenter was in many spots doing special effects for the sake of same. That's all right as this a comedy. Poor Kurt he's trying so hard to learn the players in Chinatown. Someone should have handed the poor man a scorecard.Big Trouble In Little China is fast paced and easy to take and a lot of fun for the viewer.