Big Trouble in Little China
1986  PG-13  ACTION  1h 39min
CAST— Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun, James Hong, Victor Wong, Kate Burton, Suzee Pai
MUSIC— John Carpenter, Alan Howarth  DIRECTOR— John Carpenter

     “Big trouble” is right. Kurt Russell plays Jack Burton, a ruff-‘n’-reddy “Duke” Wayne wannabe who swaggers through San Francisco’s Chinatown lookin’ fer a good time, only to find a war. He meets up with an old friend, Wang Chi, and takes him to the airport to pick up his fiancée, only to see her kidnapped. Jack and Wang are hot on the trail in Jack’s semi, The Pork-Chop Express, and wind up in the middle of a battle between two warring Chinese clans, one of which is holding Wang’s fiancée hostage. They must battle the evil Wing-Kong, and their ruler, Lo Pan, a mysterious man of ancient power, an evil dream (maybe a Chinese Freddy Krueger?) who supposedly needs to kill Wang Chi’s fiancée to become mortal again. It sounds complicated because it is. But it’s fun. But don’t let all of the action fool you. Underneath it all, the film is a comedy, and it is very funny at times, and perhaps that’s what turned people off about it. Maybe they just wanted a straight-up action flick and when they saw all of the goofy little jokes thrown into the scenes (like the one where a guy like a windbag is literally full of hot air) they just gave up on it. All in all, if you like John Carpenter films (Escape From New York [1981], Escape From L.A. [1996], etc.), you know, action, guns, bullets ‘n’ stuff, this may be your cup o’ tea. AKA: John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China.
OUR RATING— ***