bigtroublechina

Director John Carpenter and actor Kurt Russell have had a great collaborative friendship over the
years. Together, they recreated the life of Elvis Presley on television, created the cult anti-hero
Snake Plissken in “Escape From New York,” and battled the most evil of aliens in the high-octane
suspense filled “The Thing.”

The trend though is that these Carpenter-Russell films are only appreciated by niche audiences
long after leaving the theatre. One film however has become familiar to a wide audience, and
continues to enjoy newfound interest by moviegoers due to the recent trend in Asian cinema.
Prepare to experience “Big Trouble In Little China.”

Kurt Russell plays Jack Burton, a tractor-trailer driver who comes into San Francisco on a drop off
in Chinatown. His best friend in the area, Wang, is anxiously awaiting his beautiful green-eyed
bride to arrive from China. While waiting at the airport, a Chinese street gang kidnaps her out from
under them. Jack and Wang head deep into the underworld of Chinatown to look for her, but
before they can rescue her, she is taken by Lo Pan, an ancient evil Chinese wizard who hopes to
use her to become a living being again.

This film is a wild, fun spectacle with plenty of zany humor from Russell’s Jack Burton. Carpenter
and Russell don’t take this film too seriously, and it makes it all the more entertaining. Sure,
Russell plays his character straight, but infuses said persona with a glib and “aw shucks”
ignorance. Burton is a fish out of water in Wang’s Chinatown, but he’s a tough guy, or so he says,
and he can face anything, or can he?

The evil Lo Pan is deliciously over the top, while the supporting cast includes a young Kim Cattrall
("Mannequin") as a social worker trying to save Chinese girls from being kidnapped and sold into
prostitution. The rest of the cast is populated with a number of familiar Asian faces from American
cinema, but don’t ask me to name them all. You martial arts cinema enthusiasts can figure it out on
your own.

Full of action and special effects, “Big Trouble In Little China” was one of the first American films to
be inspired by the wirework of Hong Kong kung fu movies. Forget “Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon” and “The Matrix.” This one is the real McCoy, and on top of that it isn’t pretentious and is
at times, outright hilarious. This flick provides gun fights, kung fu fights, sword fights, chases, a
duel between sorcerers and even a massive sewer beastie!

Who doesn’t want to watch Kurt Russell throw knives at evil sorcerers, go buck wild with a Tech 9
machinegun, and run around for half the movie with lipstick on his face because he doesn’t know it’
s there? This film is freaking sweet. It’s real entertainment from beginning to end, with a great
story, real tension, honest laughs, and memorable quotes and performances. “Big Trouble In Little
China” shakes the pillars of heaven.