Truck driver Jack Burton arrives in San Francisco's Chinatown, and soon finds himself helping his friend Wang pick up his green eyed fiancé who's arriving from Beijing. But at the airport a bunch of punks kidnapp the girl before Jack and Wang reaches her, and chasing after the punks, they soon find themselves in the middle of a gang war. When they flee the scene, a Chinese demon appears before them and they manage to escape to later find out that Jack's truck has been stolen. Now Jack wants his truck back and Wang wants his fiancé back, so together they go after the demon named Lo Pan into a world of Chinese myth and magic.
Been watching Big Trouble in Little China every now and then over the years, and considering the movie was made 20 years ago when writing this, it still looks smashing even today. Ok some of the effects might not be that great but they are never really bad, and some of them actually looks quite awesome, even though we're living in the age of too much CGI and all. But first and most, Big Trouble in Little China is a hell of a lot of fun and movies like this aren't made these days. I don't know if it's because it's from the lovely 80's or what it is, but the feeling it brings can't be found in movies today, despite how good they are.
I hate Sex and the City, and I think it's pure braindead shit, but it's actually quite fun to see a much younger Kim Cattrall (Samantha) here in this type of movie. Although she doesn't look as good here though but delivers a really good performance. Kurt Russell does a great job as the very loud mouthed truck driver who gets drawn into a world of Chinese myths and magic in order to help his friend and to get his beloved truck back. Another thing I found when watching this movie now again, was that the guy has really good comical timing, and still manages to be the masculine hero as well. These are two things that are very hard to combine, since if there's too much humour the hero will look silly, but it's just perfectly balanced, and Russell delivers a great performance.
 
Another great performance is delivered from Wang, the guy who Russell's helping out. Thing is that Wang's actually the real hero in the movie, and even if Kurt takes over once in a while, it's still Wang who gives the most heroic performance. Since Wang is Chinese and knows about history and myths, he has some inside knowledge about what's going on, something that Kurt's character does not have. So at times Wang is the leader while Kurt's the follower, but together they make a great team, and at times it feels a bit like a 'buddy-movie'. That is, two characters completely different from one another comes together as an odd team but in the end manages to get the job done.
Even though a lot of people are fans of Carpenter, I still feel that the guy's a bit under appreciated, considering all the cult movies he has done during the 80's, his name should definitely be bigger than it is. And the thing with Carpenter is that he manages to create these wonderfull movies that are similar to nothing else, and Big Trouble in Little China is no exception.
This movie is many things, but one thing especially is that it's really action-packed. A lot of movies has a tendency to drag a little in the beginning to later head into some faster pacing. Big Trouble in Little China kicks off at frame one and does never stop to catch its breath until the credits roll. It's fast-paced as hell and new things happen all the time. If you walk away from the screen for even a minute, chances that you've missed out on something when you get back are great.
Big Trouble in Little China is an 80's cult classic that is fast-paced, super action-packed and has some great comedy in it as well. There are no dull moments in the movie whatsoever, and it is a fast and fun ride from beginning to end. Great story, great acting, a lot of cool action scenes and a good score from Carpenter himself. Highly recommended.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China
MOVIE YEAR: 1986
DIRECTOR: John Carpenter
WRITING CREDITS: Gary Goldman, David Z. Weinstein
GENRE: Action, Adventure, Horror, Comedy, Fantasy
CAST: Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 99 min
RATING: 8/10
Big Trouble in Little China Website/IMDB Click here
Big Trouble in Little China Trailer Click here
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