Big Trouble in Little China

The stupidest of the stupid, which I think is most damaging in how stubbornly it tries to be funny. I admit that in the original version with subtitles, it's probably a bit more fun, but if John Carpenter wanted to make something like Flash Gordon, but unlike Flash Gordon it wouldn't take itself at all seriously, and that is what made it good, then the result wasn't great. It's not that Big Trouble in Little China doesn't have the right trashy charm - it certainly does, but it just left me cold. I guess it's also because I only saw it for the first time today and not in my childhood. (09/11/2015)

This John Carpenter's non-stop action and entertaining crazy comedy features a witty Kurt Russell, who sneaks into the underground of San Francisco’s Chinatown in order to save his buddy’s fiancée and get his stolen truck back. Nothing’s missing – the magic, the kung fu, the constant shooting and the exploding heads. One shouldn’t take Big Trouble in Little China seriously for even a second; it’s basically a fantastic series of gags best enjoyed as a midnight screening. I’m glad I was able to see it on the big screen. [KVIFF 2018] (08/07/2018)

A timeless reminder of the era when blockbusters were spectacular in a carnivalesque kind of way and didn’t conceal their essence behind an attempt to be multi-faceted. Furthermore, Carpenter’s classic is a fascinating project that attempted to bring into the American mainstream the genre of Hong Kong fantasy flicks, which was revitalised there by Tsui Hark in the 1980s. Carpenter superbly captured those films’ carnivalesque exuberance and identically packed his film with practical special effects, physical action, horror elements and slapstick humour. In doing so, he concurrently subverts and boisterously comments on the classic image of the macho American cinematic hero by presenting Jack Burton, with all his pomposity and coolness, as a purely chaotic element that complicates rather than saves any situation. (14/03/2021)

Had I read the synopsis beforehand, I would have passed on this B-movie. Carpenter couldn’t have deviated further from his dark and horror beginnings, and here he delivers insane straightforward fantasy with a concept reminiscent of the Ninja Turtle comics and a protagonist that casually drops one-liners and complements his heroic acts with self-parody stumbles. But Kurt Russell is really enjoying that role and you can’t deny the guilty pleasure quality, thanks to which the story manages to surprise and never gets boring. But I liked Escape from New York a lot more. 55% (22/01/2020)

I knew why I was letting this film sit and wait. John Carpenter completely got me with his approach to it. Kurt Russell is just a real badass in his movies, and it suits him perfectly in this film. He was just right for this, and maybe he still is. But the best thing about the film is its form, its concept. This is a great example of action imagination. (08/10/2016)