Stars: Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun
Director: John Carpenter
Remember, this is my site and I decide what fits into the parameters. While not traditionally talked about in horror circles, there are enough horror moments in this film for me.
Brief synopsis:
Bus driver Egg Chen is being deposed by a lawyer regarding an incident in Chinatown and a ton of property damage done during it. Egg is relaxed until the lawyer mentions Jack Burton and he tells the man to leave Jack alone. Egg then explains that there are things that the lawyer doesn’t understand and creates green lightning between his hands before starting his tale.
Spoilers below (you have been warned):
Jack is a divorced truck driver who visits Chinatown on his latest run. He meets up with his old friend Wang Chi for some drinks and gambling. Jack ends up winning a bunch of money and chooses to follow Wang until he receives his money. Jack goes with Wang to the airport to pick up Wang’s fiancée, Miao Yin. Jack runs into and flirts with intrepid and pretty lawyer Gracie Law who is waiting for her contact from China, Tara. Tara is arriving on the same plane as Miao Yin and is meeting with Gracie to help take down crime lord Lo Pan. Lo Pan sends out his gang to kidnap Tara but Jack, in his own inept way, interferes. In the confusion, Miao Yin is kidnapped instead. Wang and Jack take off in his truck to rescue the woman but end up stuck in a fight in an alley in the middle of a Chinatown funeral after a fight breaks out between two rival gangs. Then Jack watches in amazement as three men descend from the sky and begin attacking the gangs. These men are the three storms and work for Lo Pan. Jack tries to escape in his truck by running them over but another man appears, seemingly floating on air. This ghostly figure emits a bright light from his eyes and mouth, blinding Jack. Wang leads the men out of the alley and back to his restaurant on foot but Jack’s truck, the Pork Chop Express, is left behind in the process.
At Wang’s restaurant, Jack recovers his eyesight and attempts to file a claim on his truck. Wang’s friend Eddie enters and lets Jack know that the Lords of Death, Lo Pan’s gang, have taken the truck. Gracie also arrives to help. They surmise that Miao Yin has been taken to a local brothel run by Lo Pan to be sold and that she will receive a high price because she has green eyes, a rarity in Asian women. The group makes a plan to send Jack in as a man looking for a good time and that he will help them find Miao Yin and save her. While Jack acts like a buffoon in the brothel, Gracie meets up with a local reporter named Margo who is doing an expose on David Lo Pan, the human version of the ghost man. Jack asks for a green-eyed woman but is told that Asian women do no have green eyes. Jack ends up in a room with a woman but she is tight lipped about the girls in the brothel. Suddenly, the three storms break into the brothel and escape with Miao Yin.
Jack and Wang decide that the next step is to infiltrate one of Lo Pan’s businesses posing as telephone repair men. The get into the business but are fooling no one and quickly get captured. They meet David Lo Pan, Lo Pan’s human form, who is a weak, old man in a wheelchair. He explains he was cursed and needs a girl with green eyes to break the curse. He must marry the girl with green eyes and then sacrifice her to appease the gods. He plans on using Miao Yin to complete the ritual and return to normal human form. Jack and Wang are locked up but through misadventure, they escape. Meanwhile, Gracie and her team end up at the same business and are also kidnapped. They are held with other women who are being human trafficked. Jack and Wang help them escape. Egg, who has been brought into the fold, is waiting outside with his tour bus as the group escapes. Unfortunately, Gracie’s curiosity gets the best of her and she gets kidnapped by a rogue monster who drags her back to his lair. Lo Pan enters and finds Gracie, who also has green eyes, and cackles with delight. After they both pass the Test of the Burning Blade, Lo Pan decides to marry both women, sacrifice Gracie, and live out his life with Miao Yin.
Wang, Jack, and Egg Chen get a group together to stop Lo Pan. After multiple fights and incidents, including one where Jack knocks himself out, the group finally makes their way out of Lo Pan’s lair into the business they were in before. Lo Pan has already completed the first part of the ritual, which makes him flesh and blood, and is about to sacrifice Miao Yin when Jack and the gang stop him. Jack kills Lo Pan. They are trying to find a way to escape when they stumble upon Jack’s truck and use it to flee the exploding building.
They head back to the restaurant. After a joyful reunion with Miao Yin, Wang pays Jack the money he owes him. Margo and Eddie are now together and Egg is taking a vacation. Gracie watches Jack leave with the hope that he will come back for her someday. Jack gets on his CB and starts talking with his fellow truckers on his CB radio, telling them to “Just remember what ol' Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big ol' storm right square in the eye and he says, "Give me your best shot, pal. I can take it." Hopefully Jack means it as the creature that kidnapped Gracie is seen climbing up from behind the cab, having hitched a ride on the old Pork Chop Express.
My thoughts (with spoilers):
There are certain films that defy genre classification and Big Trouble in Little China is definitely one of them. This film has elements of multiple genres, including horror, action, sci-fi, and comedy. This is a difficult job to pull off but Carpenter handles it all beautifully. Underappreciated in its day and, much like The Thing, it ended up becoming a cult classic. It is also the reason John Carpenter stepped away from mainstream studios as they marketed the film poorly during a very busy summer season. Carpenter’s idea was to have the sidekick be the actual hero of the film. This conceit only works if the lead is charismatic with a sense of humor about themselves. Carpenter smartly reteamed with Kurt Russell who plays Jack Burton perfectly. He is a buffoon, always getting in his own way, and not nearly as charming as he thinks he is. Yet all of these things endear him to the audience. Despite his blustering, he has a heart of gold and wants to help Wang rescue Maio Yin. He likes Gracie but is wise enough to know that they cannot be together in the end. Russell plays each note perfectly. There is a wink and a smile in his performance – he knows he is actually Wang’s sidekick and he is fine with it.
Carpenter’s script is smart and cohesive. He starts the film off with Egg and his magical abilities. This allows the audience to accept the insanity of the next 90 minutes because it is established early on that this is a magical world. We can accept flying men and ghostly figures because we are told in the first five minutes that this is in the film’s world. Another fun little set-up is Jack bragging about his reflexes. We see Jack stop a bottle from hitting him and grab it in midair. This pays off in the end as, after numerous and embarrassing encounters including knocking himself out, Jack throws his knife at Lo Pan. He misses horribly and Lo Pan throws the knife back at him. This is where the reflexes come in to play as Jack grabs the knife in the air and throws it right back into Lo Pan’s head. This might have seem out of character for the man we have been watching if not for the scene with the bottle.
Russell is ably supported by his castmates. Dennis Dun, who would appear next year in Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness, is a gem as Wang. Funny and with great athletic ability, it is a shame he was not better utilized in the film community. Victor Wong is a classic character actor who brings humor to the character of Egg Chen. James Hong, who played Lo Pan, is still working today and for good reason. His Lo Pan is a creepy little villain whether in old man makeup or as the ghostly presence. Hong understands the film he is in and knows just how to tweak his lines for the best effective. Unfortunately, the female characters in the film get the short shrift. Cattrall is fine as Gracie but we never really understand what she is hoping to accomplish. She comes off as more of a reporter than lawyer honestly. Margo is fun but ultimately unnecessary. And poor Miao Yin is just a plot device and nothing more.
Still, this film is a fun thrill ride that never leaves you bored or looking at your watch. The monsters are inventive, fun, and creepy. The villain is devious and scary. The violence is cartoonish in a Looney Tunes kind of way – think silly explosions and people flying through the air but very little in actual blood and guts. And the humor is perfect, especially every jab thrown Jack’s way. If you are looking for a fun time, you can’t go wrong with this film.
More films from 1986 to check out:
The Hitcher – Great little thriller starring the late Rutger Hauer and the titular Hitcher. This is why we don’t pick up hitchhikers kiddies.
SpaceCamp – Bad timing killed this film as it came out after the Challenger exploded and no one wanted to watch a film about a doomed space shuttle flight after that, especially with kids in danger. This is a great cast and the premise is fun. Hard to find but worth the watch once you get your hands on it.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – 80’s classic about a kid who just wants to have some fun with his friends but school keeps getting in the way. Honestly, this film is much more fun if you are a teenager because as an adult, I find Ferris a little annoying. Alan Ruck steals the film as Ferris’s wingman Cameron.