14/07/2012: Big Trouble In Little China [1986]

After watching John Carpenter and Kurt Russell team up for 1982’s The Thing last night, I thought I’d continue with the pairs works with Big Trouble In Little China. Big Trouble in Little China is one of Carpenter’s forays out of horror, like Escape From New York, which also starred Kurt Russell. I was always curious as to why Big Trouble seemed to have such a cult following, however small it was, as it was definitely a strange piece of work. Then again all cult favourites are a little quirky and that is why they are cult favourites.

Big Trouble In Little China, like all cult classics, has only gained popularity overtime. It is John Carpenter’s martial arts comedy films mixed with some hints of western. The movie, is both completely original and yet an homage in many ways to older movies. Like many of the greatest movies, Big Trouble draws from many other great movies and combines the ideas to form some memorable entertainment. It is definitely one of the most original movies I have ever seen, mixing Chinese martial arts and mythology with magic and All-American truckers in San Francisco’s Chinatown. I challenge you to ever find another movie like it. 

I always associate John Carpenter with horror movies, but he has quite a few forays out of that genre. It is just now I am beginning to realize how much I like him and how many of his movies I’ve seen. Big Trouble In Little China is John Carpenter’s last time working with Hollywood, after which he went on to produce all movies independently to avoid studio interference. When it came to Big Trouble, Carpenter was approached to direct, and took it on, after a rewrite to modern times, and with the wish that Kurt Russell star. Kurt Russell hold a similar place to Bruce Campbell in my mind. It would be hard to image this movie with Clint Eastwood or Jack Nicholson, but that was the studios original choice. Luckily we get Kurt Russell who plays Jack Burton are All-American hero. Although, as interestingly pointed out on the DVD commentary, he really is more of a sidekick. It was Kurt Russell’s choice to portray Jack as a man who falls on his ass as often as he is the hero and who is always in over his head but will never admit it. 

I feel like this might have been a grown up Short Round, but that would be a lot of aging in 2 years.

The plot of Big Trouble in Little China is interesting and original to say the least. Trucker Jack Burton arrives in San Francisco and while helping his friend Wang Chi pick up his fiancé at the airport, he is dragged into a supernatural battle in a mysterious underworld beneath Chinatown. There we encounter Lo Pan, an ancient sorcerer who hopes to regain physical form by marrying a green eyed woman. Lo Pan is guarded by three other masterful sorcerers and warriors as well as other magical beasts lurking below Chinatown. Jack and Wang along with the assistance of some friend venture into the otherworld seeking to rescue Wang’s fiancé and so encounter big trouble in little china.

Just in case words can't describe how strange this movie gets.

The rest of the cast aside from Kurt Russell is mostly Asian, and since none of them are Jackie Chan, I didn’t know any of them. There are a few lines of Chinese throughout the movie  and some nice shows of martial arts skill. I’m not sure if there was a significant number of stunt doubles, or if most of the actors did their own flips and kicks and the like. Dennis Dun who plays Wang Chi, could be argued as the hero of the movie, seeing as it is he who does most of the fighting and the like, with Jack backing him up where necessary.  It seems that the casting for Big Trouble was always a battle between which star the studio wanted and who Carpenter wanted to cast. Kim Cattrall as Gracie Law was once again Carpenter’s decision and I think it was a good one. She is both capable of playing the beautiful damsel in distress and yet the strong independent woman and give a great performance as both. Aside from those three, we have almost entirely unknown Asian actors who were game enough to portray some stereotypes and act a little outrageously. 

I can now see how Big Trouble In Little China became such a cult film. Like many cult films, Big Trouble is simply a hard film to market, containing a generally unknown cast, a strange mix of martial arts movie meets supernatural comedy and Chinatown culture. It is not entirely a B-movie, and was a Hollywood funded movie with a known director, and yet like the studio, I myself find this a hard movie to sell or describe. It is something you just have to see, and once you have you will almost certainly be a fan. I mean, it is so entertaining and comedic, yet also so original as to be almost incomparable to anything else I’ve ever watched. It draws elements from all over and mixes them in its own way. 

Don't even ask.

Big Trouble In Little China is a movie I watch every couple of years and always enjoy. Seeing as I have a Lo Pan’s High Cuisine T-Shirt, I’d say I’m a pretty big fan, although I have yet to pick up a poster for the movie. I have to imagine there are some nice ones out there. It is really hard to describe this movie, but it is one I will really recommend, and is guaranteed to give you a good time. I just lent it to a friend tonight actually and hopefully he will enjoy it.

Link:
Big Trouble In Little China IMDb