Review of Big Trouble in Little China (1986) by Kai82 — 19 Jan 2020

The other underrated masterpiece by John Carpenter. It is a fine mixture of martial arts, comedy, action and fantasy elements with small portions of horror. It does also a fine job of subverting cliches and tropes often in latent ways for you to discover.

Then there are the actors / characters. Lets start with the villains: David Lo Pan (James Hong) became so beloved / popular that he was used in other media even video games. His lieutenants the three storms, Thunder (Carter Wong), Rain (Peter Kwong) and Ligthning (James Pax) are still fan favourites.

Lightning was the inspiration for the character Raiden from Mortal Combat. All of them are great villains, deliver an intense performance and strike fear in the hearts of their enemies. Then you have the heroes: There is Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) who is a truck driver that got dragged into the adventure by circumstance.

He does a fine performances as main character that got into stuff that he doesn't understand or better said that blows his wildest imaginations. Then there is Wang (Dennis Dun) who is the hero of the story.

Its done in a clever subversive way as he is not the main character who is also modest and calm. You have Egg Shen (Victor Wong) who is a wizard who works as bus driver for sightseers. He is hilarious enjoyable to watch.

You have Gracie Law (Kim Catrall) who works as lawyer that is a strong character and no damsel in distress in a classic way (Could defend herself without the supernatural elements). Then there is the story: It is a masterpiece.

You've got a lot of Chinese mythology (Don't know how accurate this really is) mixed with fantasy elements, an ancient curse and of cause the battle between good and evil. It is hard to explain without spoilers how good all elements fit together.

The humour is also enjoyable. Again they often use dry humour or subversions to deliver great jokes. I want to talk about the martial arts / battles. This movie delivers everything. You got awesomeness, gravity defying and good sword play.

What impresses me are also the special effects. They still look good and are fitting. Some far more modern movies have worse effects. Like John Carpenters other masterpiece “The Thing” this movie was not loved by critics and fans at release.

It became over time an insider tip and later a cult classic. Overall this is a movie made with so much love and care that it deserves 10/10. Bonus: There is an episode of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Lo Pan and the three storms as villains.