Kurt Russell

Kim Cattrall

Dennis Dun

James Hong

Victor Wong

Kate Burton

Donald Li

Carter Wong

Peter Kwong

James Pax

Suzee Pai

Chao Li Chi

Jeff Imada

Rummel Mor

Craig Ng

June Kyoto Lu

Noel Toy

Jade Go

Jerry Hardin

James Lew

Jim Lau

Kenny Endoso

Stuart Quan

Gary Toy

George Cheung

Jimmy Jue

Noble Craig

Danny Kwan

Min Luong

Paul J.Q. Lee

Al Leong

Gerald Okamura

William S. Wong

Eric Lee

Yukio G. Collins

Bill M. Ryusaki

Brian Imada

Nathan Jung

Dan Inosanto

Vernon Rieta

Daniel Wong

Daniel Lee

Lia Chang

Diana Tanaka

Donna L. Noguchi

Shinko Isobe

John Carpenter

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

Conan Lee

Leo Lee

Bill Saito

Phil Jordan

Dawna Lee Heising

David Z. Weinstein

Larry Franco

Alan Howarth

Joanna Merlin

John J. Lloyd

Les Gobruegge

W.D. Richter

Keith Barish

Paul Monash

Steve Mirkovich

Mark Warner

Edward A. Warschilka

David Williams

Janet Brady

April Ferry

James Herbert

Matt Earl Beesley

George R. Nelson

Thomas Causey

Ken Chase

Susan V. Kalinowski

Craig Edgar

Steven Schwartz

William Hartman

Anthony Milch

David M. Ice

Eric Lindemann

Lenny Jennings

Peter Hubbard

Hal Sanders

Martin Dreffke

David A. Fechtor

Monika Dorfman-Lightstone

Laja Holland

Robert Renga

Don J. Bassman

Richard Overton

Kevin F. Cleary

Tommy Lee Wallace

Simone Boisseree

Dean Cundey

Dick Warlock

Dennis Scott

Hayward Soo Hoo

Beth Nufer

Leland Sun

Joe Tornatore

Mike Washlake

Sherri Nickerson

Dean Wein

Jack West

Tommy J. Huff

Eddie Wong

Harry Wong

Ken Fritz

Bobby Itaya

Chuck Clarke

Phil Chong

Bob K. Cummings

David Cadiente

Tom Bergman

T.K. Anthony

Gary Goldman

Gary McLarty

Jimmy Nickerson

George Endoso

Eddy Donno

Debbi A. Davison

Denise Kellogg

Mark Giardino

Kent Hays

Richard Edlund

Action

Comedy

Fantasy

Big Trouble in Little China

TAFT Entertainment Pictures

20th Century Fox

SLM Production Group

United States of America

广州话 / 廣州話

English

martial arts

kung fu

magic

san francisco, california

kidnapping

chinatown

mercenary

mythology

truck driver

adventurer

1980s

fantasy

Per Gunnar Jonsson

I think this movie was marketed as an adventure movie when it came out. I can imagine that some people were disappointed if they were indeed expecting a real adventure movie. I remember being one of those people when I first saw this movie.

However, if you approach it seeing what it is, that is a comedy or at least an action-comedy, then it is actually a quite enjoyable movie. The entire movie is utterly ridiculous. The screaming, posturing Asian martial art champion parodies especially so.

Everything in this movie makes you laugh as long as you do not try to take the movie seriously. The action scenes are often absolutely hilarious. They are also quite well done and choreographed actually. The special effects are of course utterly outdated but they are good enough for this movie.

There is a story as well but it doesn’t really matter much. It is just there to tie the funny scenes together, especially the action scenes. Acting? Well, let’s just say that it matches the comic nature of the movie.

I actually just picked this movie as a trial experience in using Netflix (which finally came to France last Monday) on my PS3 for the first time and I did not want to start something were I would be pissed off if it turned out that it stopped working halfway through. I have to say that I had much more fun watching this movie this time than the first time I was watching it…and Netflix worked perfectly on my PS3.

Gimly

_Big Trouble in Little China_ is not the movie it is marketed to be. But it is good. You wait the ten minutes it takes for the absurdity to kick in and then you ride the ridiculous ride until the closing credits.

_Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go._

Ol' Jack always says... what the hell?

Out of 20th Century Fox, Big Trouble in Little China is directed by John Carpenter and stars Kurt Russell, Kim Catrall, Dennis Dun, James Hong & Victor Wong. The adaptation is by W.D. Richter with the screenplay from Gary Goldman & David Z. Weinstein. Dean Cundey photographs and Alan Howarth doubles up with Carpenter for the musical score.

Truck driver Jack Burton (Russell) agrees to take his friend Wang Chi (Dun) to pick up his fiancée at the airport. Little does he know that he is about to get involved in a supernatural battle between good and evil beneath San Francisco's Chinatown district.

A box office failure upon its release, and known to be the moment when John Carpenter gave up on Hollywood, Big Trouble in Little China has gathered "cult" momentum over the years and shows up rather well these days. Blending Chinese mysticism with chop-schlocky adventure, Carpenter's movie is at once daft but also a ball of energetic fun - propelled by a handsome, but inept action hero. Carpenter had always wanted to tackle a martial arts movie, and here he gets to do it whilst laying on the comedy and playing with effects work as his movie mostly comes alive in a magical underworld of monsters, magicians and sexy green eyed women.

It's evident now that the film was ahead of its time, not from a technical viewpoint, but from the point it tried to Americanise chopsocky. This is some time before Chinese style wire-work and mythology became common to Hollywood, one has to believe that Tarantino was nodding approvingly around about this time. It's also worth noting that although this "American" movie has an American beefcake as its main protagonist, it's the Asian Americans who actually are the heroes of the piece, with Dun's sidekick the stand out hero as Russell's Burton bumbles his way from one sequence to the next. It was a bold move by Carpenter to structure the narrative this way, something that annoyed the executives at Fox and kept the paying public bemused. It's easy to see why the film failed, contrast it with the similarly themed Eddie Murphy movie, The Golden Child, from the same year, which was a box office success. There the public got what they wanted (or what they were used too), the standard American hero fluff where Murphy saves the day and gets the girl. 

Carpenter dared to be different and clearly had a lot of fun along the way, as evidently did his cast. It may have taken a decade of VHS and DVD releases to prove he was right, but right he was, Big Trouble in Little China is a damn fine popcorn movie. Russell plays it meat head style, with swagger in tow and tongue stuck in cheek, nicely toned physique for the girls to enjoy, and making vest wearing cool two years before Willis did in Die Hard. Cattrall is wonderfully alluring, red lips and green eyes shimmering bright in a world of colour; and boys do look out for her wet scene, it's wolf whistle time! Dun is likable and athletic, while Hong as Lo Pan gives the action/adventure genre a truly memorable villain. The film is briskly paced and not found wanting in the set piece department either. Not all the effects are high grade stuff, but in a film with such zestful comic book traditions at heart, it hardly matters one jot. With a great home format package doing it justice, Carpenter's movie is now, at long last, getting the appreciative audience it fully deserves. Amen to that. 8/10

Enjoyable enough adventure flick with another charismatic performance from Kurt Russell. The plot certainly felt disjointed at times (and one sequence didn't really advance the plot all that much) but still had a lot of fun. Not one of Carpenter's best nor a standout amongst 1980s movies, however still liked it well enough. **3.5/5**

<em>'Big Trouble in Little China'</em> didn't entertain me.

There isn't anything about it that I really like, to be honest. It isn't a truly terrible movie by any means, but the story didn't take hold of me and the characters and their actors weren't all that watchable. I wasn't sold on the plot's set-up and then when it goes crackers it was too goofy for me to enjoy too.

It's one of the weakest Kurt Russell performances that I've seen, and I'm someone who rates that guy fairly highly as an actor. Elsewhere, Kim Cattrall is kinda forgettable, while James Hong (unique voice aside) doesn't get given enough to stand out. The make-up/special effects, particularly for the latter, didn't do it for me either, likewise with the humour.

A quick glance at Wikipedia suggests this had competition with <em>'The Golden Child'</em>. Well, if we're comparing, then that one did it better, albeit only by a relatively small distance because I don't recall much about that Eddie Murphy movie; it has been over four years since I watched it for the one and only time, admittedly.

Scott

This is a fun, almost campy movie; don't try to think about it too hard.  Rather, enjoy it for what it is.

It has an almost folklore-ish feel to it, as if what's being presented is more of a tongue-in-cheek tale (which it is fully aware of) and as such some aspects _maaay_ have been exaggerated.  And if you watch it in this vein, I think you will enjoy it quite a bit.  But the second you start to take it seriously, it will crumble to pieces.

It's entertaining to watch.  The characters are very large (and sometimes goofy/campy) and the plot heads in the correct direction most of the time.

This movie flew under the radar during its original release (not helped at all by being released 16 days before Aliens...) but had found extremely solid footing in home rentals/home video.

I remember my first viewing of this movie -- I knew nothing about it going in, I just sat there and watched it...and I loved it.  It was funny, it was exciting, and in some few scenes even thrilling.  It's not perfect, it has its flaws and blemishes certainly, but boy is it fun! :)

Big Trouble in Little China( 1986)

Jack Burton's in for some serious trouble and you're in for some serious fun.

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A review by Per Gunnar Jonsson

Written by Per Gunnar Jonsson on Wed Sep 17 2014

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