Underappreciated movies: Big Trouble in Little China

The darkest magic, the biggest trouble: Mark Pickavance talks about a John Carpenter movie that's like no other he's made, or anyone else has either...

Mark Pickavance

Despite some less than stellar outings recently (Escape from LA), John Carpenter has directed some of the movies I've enjoyed most. Halloween, Escape From New York, Assault on Precinct 13 and The Thing makes for a track record some directors would gleefully kill for. But one of his movies never got the acclaim I think it deserves, and I'd like to remind people that it's a classic.

Big Trouble in Little China had a weirdly accurate by-line. It was promoted as a Mystical, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Kung Fu, Monster, Ghost Story! If you've never seen it then that's exactly what you get. And what a curious blending it is...

The story of truck driver Jack Burton, and how he comes to take on the darkest of oriental magic Lo Pan, plays off characters and actors that Carpenter filled his previous movies with. Kurt Russell plays the very antithesis of his Snake Plisskin persona; Jack Burton is a man with all the bravado of Snake but none of his moves or abilities. He's injected into a Hong Kong martial arts movie that has characters from Chinese mythology roaming the streets and subterranean world of San Francisco. Helping his friend Wang after the kidnapping of his hot girlfriend, Jack comes up against the Lo Pan's mythical henchmen, the three storms: Lightning, Thunder and Rain. Meanwhile Lo Pan plans to marry the girl with green eyes, and make himself mortal again.

So what makes it special? There are some superb small character roles, which are brilliantly slick. Victor Wong as Egg Shen, Chao Li Chi as Uncle Chu and Donald Lee as Eddie all play their part in providing a running commentary of the entirely weird nature of events, but the queens of exposition are Kim Cattrall and Kate Burton as the determined but utterly clueless Gracie and Margot respectively. Despite being the love interest Gracie is the foil for many cutting comments, but also a charming counterpoint to the macho posturing of the men and the absurdness of events.

Given that it would have been easy for Carpenter to have found adequate US based actors for some of the martial arts work, it's great that he decided instead to source the 'real deal' from HK. Carter Wong (Thunder), was once a martial arts instructor for the HK police, Peter Kwong (Rain) is an Asian TV veteran and James Pax (Lightning) is a Japanese martial arts expert and performer. The elegance and presence these three bring to the scenes they're in elevates the entire proceedings and give, to an entirely western eye, a more authentic feel to the proceedings. The kata sequence before the burning blade is exactly one of these scenes, where we see what years of practice can get you to those dedicated to these disciplines.

But the glue that makes the entire movie work is the amazing James Hong as David Lo Pan, in both his 'The little old basket case on wheels or the ten foot tall roadblock' forms, as Jack puts it. He plays Lo Pan with such obvious delight that we're drawn to believe this is a cursed man driven possibly insane by waiting thousands of years to find the right girl with green eyes. While Russell was the hook to get people in the cinema, this isn't a one man show like Escape, but an amazing ensemble piece where even the smallest parts contribute something special, and the briefest exchanges use beautifully crafted dialogue. Yes, I'll accept there are some parts and effects that just don't work, but the majority of the film's elements dovetail gloriously in a manner that few other directors can achieve. I think it's a production of which John Carpenter and his writers (Gary Goldman and David Z. Weinstein) should be genuinely proud, and I suspect they are.

But sadly, despite my personal liking for this film, the box office takings were low - a dismal $11.6M - as I'm not entirely sure Fox understood how to market it. And as such, a sequel isn't a commercial possibility, despite Carpenter suggesting in numerous interviews that he'd like to return to these characters one day.

We might never get another Big Trouble, but we're left with some solid advice from Jack Burton. When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favourite head up against the bar room wall, looks you crooked in the eye and asks you if you paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Yessir, the check is in the mail."

13/09/07

Re: Underappreciated movies: Big Trouble in Little China

Posted by Robmac on Sep 14, 2007

A lot of people agree that John Carpenter heyday as a director was the 1980s and there is much debate as to his finest piece of work. Some say that ‘The Thing’, a master class of survival horror is his best piece while others suggest that Snake Piskins escapades in Escape from New York is the directors opus. However, much as I love both of those films I would have to disagree with both trains of thought as I, as a fan of all things magic-y, fun, and kung-fu based put to you, the good reader that the finest piece of film work that Mr Carpenter has ever put to celluloid is none other that the hidden gem – Big Trouble in Little China. Way back in 1986 as an innocent (and slightly spotty faced) teen I was asked by a group of friend to go to the local cinema one evening to catch this new film. Not knowing anything about the movie the only reason I really to go at the time to see the cinema was that I was 14 and I wanted to see if I could pass as 15 (sad I know) so bravely I said yes and with my fellow wispy moustachioed friends tried our luck by buying a ticket for a 15 film underage. In the long run it wasn’t worth all the trepidation as the archaic old lady behind the ticket booth didn’t bat an eyelid and let us all in no problem. – Oh well. But anyway back to the film – as I mentioned I knew nothing about Big Trouble, but after just over an hour and a half when the film was over I was changed forever. Grinning from ear to ear I had just found a whole new world filled with sorcerers, monsters, lightening throwing basket wearing bad guys and Kim Catrell! Once the film came out on VHS it was hardly ever in the shop as I put the video shops owner kids through college with my weekly £1.50s all spent on hiring out Big Trouble. I knew it and the trailers (Star Chaser – Legend of Orin, The Eliminators, and a preview of the Running Man) by heart. From the beginning when Egg Chen is talking about saving the universe while showing off his magic to the rip roaring highway eating introduction of The Pork Chop Express truck to the pumping synth (written, produced and recorded by John Carpenter himself) theme tune to the introduction of Jack Burton and the seedy streets of San Francisco I knew that this was one of those films that I could go back to again and again and never get bored with. For those who don’t know the film the premise is far from simple and includes Chinese gangsters abducting women, warring underground societies, elemental storms gaining human form and the resurrection of a 1000 year old sorcerer that needs a girl with green eyes to regain his human form, as Jack would put it ‘What the hell’s going on!’. I admit that it took me at least ten watches to fully understand what was going on, but that doesn’t matter as the film is a non-stop ride into insanity mixed with Chinese myth, monsters and great big truck, all hanging off one of the coolest lead characters ever – the enigmatic Jack Burton, played to dumb perfection by Kurt Russell. Spending most of the film five steps behind everyone else and having absolutely no clue at all about what is going on around him Russell’s Jack Burton bumbles on throughout the film with only a vague understanding of his surroundings or the plots and schemes he is caught up in. From a superbly choreographed street fight through running over the sorcerer Lo Pan to trying to defeat one of the Storms - immortal personifications of Wind, Thunder and lightening, to the huge showdown in a neon light underground lair complete with evil skull shaped stage and erm.. An escalator! in which he spends the majority collapsed under a tonnes worth of armour plated guardian the character is more fall guy than action hero. And that’s what’s so great about the entire film; it’s played mostly for laughs. From Dennis Duns cocky eyebrow wiggling to James Hong hamming up as the evil sorcerer Lo Pan the film is not nearly as serious as it should be and all the better because of it. (Did I also mention that Kim Cattrell was also in it – I am sure I did but it’s worth mentioning again)? Added to all the comedy was one of my first tasters of kung-fu wirework. Of course I had seen Kung Fu films before this but nothing like this. People were sword fighting in mid-air and running up walls, not to mention a guy who could throw lightening. Added to this was an evil Chewbacca and a Dungeons and Dragons style Beholder and a bad guy who spouted not only mythical based Chinese mythology but also blinding lasers from his eyes and mouth Whether it was imprinted in me because of my age or the fact that Big Trouble was so packed with new innovative ideas the film truly is a masterpiece in B-movie film making with all the trappings of a cult hit that deserves a lot more recognition than it does.

Re: Underappreciated movies: Big Trouble in Little China

Posted by Robmac on Sep 14, 2007

Best John Carpenter film ever! - INDEED!

Re: Underappreciated movies: Big Trouble in Little China

Posted by RonHogan on Sep 13, 2007

This is a brilliant, brilliant movie.