Continuing with the month of #Johnuary we now reach one of John Carpenter’s best known films. Big Trouble in Little China. This film is a bit of a cult classic from the 80s, if not a mainstream classic. But again for some reason I had never seen it until just a year or two ago. Bizarre but true. And I of course rematched it for the Johnuary exercise.

My concern when I did watch it a year or two ago was that it wouldn’t live up to the hype because it might be a product of its time. It might have been awesome to me if I’d seen it back in the 80s but it might not be as great today. But not at all. I absolutely loved it! Some of the wackiness and special effects are very 80s but that’s fine and they pull it all off extremely successfully and with a whole ton of charm.

Here are my random thoughts about this movie:

• I really like how the story starts after the events, with someone being asked about the events of the movie. I always like that sort of retrospective approach. Not sure why, but I do
• Then, what an intro to Jack Burton with the truck driving over the horizon in the Pork Chop Express, doing his whole banter on the CB radio. This was Kurt Russell as I’d never seen him before. Cocky, arrogant, brash. Worked perfectly
• Great to see Kim Catrall again. Fell in love with her a little bit in Police Academy
• Once again, I like Carpenter’s style, how he always puts ‘John Carpenter’s’ at the start of his movies
• Jack Burton is such a great character. Kurt Russell at his 80s best. Charming, arrogant, doesn’t hesitate to get involved in a challenge. I love how he’s always out of his depth but never worried. He always just complains or asks what’s happening but he’s never worried or scared. Great swagger when he walks too. Kurt Russell’s not a particularly big guy but he comes across as larger than life in this movie. He’s only 5’9” but with his boots, big hair and his t-shirt that makes him look barrels-chested he looks like the biggest guy on screen.
• I wonder how Puma felt when a Puma-emblazoned truck cuts up Jack and pisses him off
• I would hate to drive that big truck down such small alleyways
• I really liked the 80s synth soundtrack. One of John Carpenter’s best
• Of course Al Leong, from Lethal Weapon, Die Hard and Bill & Ted, is in this. He’s a bit of an 80s legend himself
• What an amazing entrance of the 3 storms and Lo Pan. Their hats aren’t very practical, but they are so stylish and cool. These characters are so over the top they’re fantastic
• I love Burton’s alter ego with the slicked back hair and glasses. Hilarious. I bet Kurt Russell loved playing that. I really don’t know if this film is meant to be a comedy at some times or not. I would peg it under ‘Comedy/Action’
• I loved the scene where they are underwater with all the skeletons hanging down. Very cool
• There are some genuinely funny moments, like Russell and Catrall’s moment in the sewer and the bit where Jack tells them all his escape plan only to open the door up to find a wall of baddies on the other side
• There are what I would call typical John Carpenter visual effects and creature make-up. Pretty goofy on one hand (perhaps by modern day standards) but also still very impressive technically. The floating creature with the eyeballs is again hilarious yet impressive
• I was curious why for most of the film there are only two storms that were getting involved in the action. The third one appeared much less for some reason
• I love the wedding set
• How slapstick is the bit when Jack shoots the ceiling and it lands on his head and knocks him out. Slightly too slapstick
• I love Lo Pan giggling like a schoolgirl during his wedding
• Some of the fighting during the wedding is genuinely great
• It’s great when Egg Shen and Lo Pan fight with the gem stone avatar things in green and purple. It almost looks like Lo Pan is playing a video game
• The lipstick on Kurt Russell. My goodness, the lipstick. That’s hilarious that they made that decision to put that into the script. Or perhaps it was improvised
• Drinking and driving again at the end. Classic 80s
• Interesting ending having the creature on the back of the truck. I wonder if people expected a sequel, or perhaps it just Carpenter never being able to have a happy ending
• I couldn’t work out who was singing the title track at the end of the movie. It almost sounded like it might be Kurt Russell. In the sense that it sounded like it wasn’t a professional! After a bit of quick research I found out it was ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ by John Carpenter’s band the Coup De Villes. Written by John Carpenter and including vocals from Nick Castle (Last Starfighter director and who played Michael Myers in Halloween). How have I never heard that track before? It’s actually pretty good to be fair. Check out the YouTube video below

So in summary, I absolutely love every single thing about this movie. Kurt Russell, the actors, the plot, the fighting, the effects. This could well be no.1 on my Top Ten John Carpenter Movie list at the end of the week.

Images from Blu-Ray.com

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