Review: Big Trouble In Little China Is The Right Kind Of Weird
- May 6, 2018
- 2 min read
John Carpenter, one of the masters of horror and director of such excellent films as The Thing and Halloween, did at one point create one of the strangest, most enjoyable films ever made.
Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) witnesses a kidnapping as a vicious Chinese street gang steals away his friend Wang’s (Dennis Dun) bride to be. As he goes to try and find the girl, he instead finds himself tangled up in a centuries old plot involving an ancient sorcerer, Lo Pan (James Hong), storm gods, horrible creatures and part time tour bus drivers.
Big Trouble is something of an anti-action film. The story is told from the perspective of a sidekick who is mostly incompetent, to the point that he knocks himself unconscious for much of one of the fight scenes, he doesn’t get the girl, in fact he turns her away, and is almost entirely along for the ride, surrounded by more capable individuals who the the majority of the heavy lifting. Jack Burton is no Stallone or Schwarzenegger hero. He’ll never gun down an entire army or match his enemy strength for strength. Indeed, the only thing Russell’s hero shares with those larger than life individuals is his steady stream of quips, an almost unending barrage of quick-witted insults and perfectly timed one-liners. Jack Burton is the best worst hero there has ever been.
Best and worst can describe the film as a whole. It teeters on the edge of absurdity, riding a fine line between poorly made B-Movie and genuinely enjoyable B-Movie. Fortunately it finds itself firmly on the latter side of said line. Big Trouble is a strange film. Its content slowly grows more ridiculous as the setpieces become larger and the villain becomes more over-the-top. Yet, somehow, it has an endearing quality about it, an undeniable enjoyment that belies first impressions
Big Trouble In Little China is almost impossible to explain without sounding like a madman. Between creatures with eyes for tongues and the black blood of the Earth, there’s enough outright bizarre content to bamboozle anyone. And that’s why it’s so good. Big Trouble is a thoroughly enjoyable film that, despite some strange goings-on, is absolutely worth watching.
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