Passage of time and tendency to view past through rose-tinted glasses can do interesting things to reputation of certain films. When Big Trouble in Little China, fantasy action comedy directed by John Carpenter, originally appeared in cinema, it turned out to be box office and critical failure. Yet, today it is widely considered to be among the most beloved films of its era.
Protagonist, played by Kurt Russell, is Jack Burton, truck driver who arrives to San Francisco to visit his best friend Wang Chi (played by Dennis Dun). He accompanies him to the airport where Wang Chi is to greet his fiancée, green-eyed Miao Yin (played by Suzee Pai). There she gets kidnapped by members of Chinatown street gang and Jack decides to help his friend bring her back. In Chinatown Jack and Wang Chi witness spectacular street battle between two gangs, which is joined by three men with apparently supernatural powers. Person behind that is Joseph Lo Pan (played by James Hong), Chinatown businessman who is actually ancient Chinese wizard suffering from millennia-old curse. Jack and Wang Chi, with the help of lawyer Gracie Law (played by Kim Cattral) and sorcerer Egg Shen (played by Victor Wong), go to the Chinatown underground to locate Miao Yin and there they would encounter many dangers.
By mid 1980s John Carpenter has already built reputation of a master of horror and science fiction genres. He was also known to dabble into different genres and he had dreamed of making a martial arts film. Big Trouble in Little China was one such opportunity, as well as way to show that he could handle comedy. He again showed great directorial skills, putting unusually high budget to good use. But his greatest asset was old associate Kurt Russell who played rather unusual main character. On surface, he looks like typical 1980s action hero, with lot of machismo, which Russell emphasises by basing his character’s speech and mannerisms on John Wayne. However, it soon becomes obvious that Jack Burton is not only unusual action hero, but he is actually not action hero at all. He proves to be very inept and actually source of more comedy than action. The real hero is Wang Chi, who proves to efficient protagonist, very much thanks to Dennis Dun who has good chemistry with Russell. Film also benefits from special effects by Richard Edlund which, for the most part, look impressive even when today’s standards are taken into account. Even the regular action, based on Asian martial arts films, looks very good.
Film’s main problem is the script. Originally written as combination of western and martial arts film by Gary Goldman and David Z. Weinsten (and later script-doctored into contemporary setting by W. D. Richter), it has too many characters, sometimes putting too much exposition and demanding too much from the cast. Good example is Kim Cattrall in the role of Jack’s obligatory love interest; while attractive, she lacks chemistry with Russell. Dependable character actor James Hong is great in the role of arch-villain, just as Victor Wong is good as his rival. Another flaw is music by John Carpenter; while his soundtracks worked wonderfully in previous films, here use of synthesisers makes Big Trouble in Little China sound cheaper than it actually is, and the theme song, like in many 1980s action films, is better. Although far from reputation created by fans that had created cult status in subsequent decades, this film is very entertaining and could be recommended even to the audience that cares little about 1980s nostalgia.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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