Movie Review: Big Trouble in Little China (1986) directed by John Carpenter.
Wang Chi (Dennis Dun), owner of a small restaurant in San Francisco, probably shouldn’t have stayed up all night gambling with his recently arrived trucker friend Jack Burton (Kurt Russell). After all, he’s supposed to pick up his fiancee Miao Lin from the airport this morning. But now, he owes Jack money, so the trucker decides to tag along to the airport. This turns out to be a good thing in the long run, as Miao Lin is kidnapped at the arrival station, setting off a chain of events that will eventually lead to a city block exploding in green fire.
This affectionate parody of both American action movies and Hong Kong wu xia martial arts films is a pretty nifty movie. I remember that there was a certain amount of trepidation from Asian-Americans when it was coming out. “Sure, John Carpenter says he loves Chinese people and respects their culture, but he said the same thing about New York City before Escape from New York.” In the end, while not the best representation, it’s not all that bad by American standards.
As our intrepid heroes pursue the kidnappers, who are basically a modern street gang, they run into more traditional tong gangsters with hatchets (and guns, lots of guns), then superpowered martial artists, and finally an actual immortal sorcerer, Lo Pan (James Hong)! Jack’s truck is stolen, so now he’s really ticked off. Wang Chi recruits his maitre’d Eddie and tour bus operator/good wizard Egg Shen, while social activist Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall, who’s supposed to be playing a mixed race character) and her reporter friend Margo force themselves in on the rescue. Gracie’s involvement backfires on her, as Lo Pan needs a Chinese woman with green eyes, a rare trait that she and Miao Lin share.
Jack’s actor may have the most prominent place on the movie poster, and the film does follow him, but he’s actually the sidekick here to Wang Chi’s hero. This allows Kurt Russell to play to his strong comedy talents with pratfalls and a John Wayne swagger undercut by the fact that he really doesn’t understand what’s going on.
The special effects are excellent for 1986, and really show off what a decent budget can do for a film.
One misstep is the opening sequence of Egg Shen talking to a lawyer after the events of the story, which is never returned to and doesn’t match where Egg Shen is at the end at all. Apparently, this was an executive mandate added after the film had otherwise been completed. Also, Miao Lin is a passive damsel in distress for most of the movie, and could easily have been replaced by a sexy table lamp. Gracie at least gets to be “feisty.” (Other captured women are just caged, Gracie has to be hogtied and gagged to slow her down.)
A good choice if you want to see a light-hearted action movie, or if you’ve heard of wu xia but aren’t ready to commit to a fully Chinese film.
