THE REVIST – BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA
John Carpenter could do no wrong in the 80’s, while his movies might not have all been major blockbusters, they were classics in their own right. The one that always stuck with me was Big Trouble in Little China, everything you could ask for in an 80’s movie was here – Tough/funny/one-liner providing leading man, bad ass sidekick, ridiculous violence, huge body count, and last but not least – the damsel in distress. But this is Carpenter I’m talking about, so there is that horror element mixed in flawlessly. Whenever I watch something from him, there is a certain vibe that is impossible to ignore, I can’t really put my finger on it, but a fan of his work knows what I’m talking about. When I was younger, I always thought this took place in China, and I wondered why is this American guy driving a semi-truck around? But after some years, the naivety faded, and I learned of “China Town”, but my own ignorance doesn’t have anything to do with this articl.
Big Trouble in Little China might be a perfect movie for it’s genre – whatever that may be, there isn’t anything that leave you wanting more, or anything that drags on for too long. I guess if I HAD to find something wrong, I’d wish for an ending that wasn’t open ended, but that’s such a minor complaint. Oh, more of Kim Cattrall would have also been welcomed by many, I’m sure.
I guess I should actually talk about the movie, I’m sure there are some people for some God-awful reason who haven’t seen this. Basically some Chinese sorcery shit is going down in San Francisco’s China Town, Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) and Wang are enlisted to save the day with the guidance of Egg Shen (Victor Wong). The goal is to stop Lo Pan (James Wong) from sacrificing Gracie (Kim Cattrall) and Miao Yin. There is also a character who must have STRONGLY influenced Mortal Kombat’s Raiden character, but I’m only assuming, just take a look for yourself.
I’ve seen this multiple times, I honestly don’t know how many. It’s one of those if I see it on TV I’m gonna finish it type of movies. Without fail, every time it ends, I start to wonder what happened to action movies? This was the time when a theatrical release didn’t have to be some huge budget-action packed-extravaganza, they were allowed to be somewhat silly and not take themselves so completely serious. Since Carpenter has been one of my favorite directors for a long time, I’ll be revisiting some of this other 80’s classics, primarily the ones involving his man-love for Kurt Russell.
Big Trouble In Little China really is like nothing else, I can’t put it in any certain genre because the comedy is so strong, then again the violence and horror elements are there also. You can find this streaming on Netflix, and if you haven’t seen it please check it out.