Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun

Somewhere in the 80s, trucker Jack Burton arrives in a small town to deliver his cargo and win a few bucks playing cards with the locals down at the Chinese market. Practically bankrupting nearly all ...( read more  read more... )of his opponents, his friend Wang bets him a game of "double or nothing" to try and regain his cash and loses. Jack wants his well earned money, but Wang explains he doesn't have the cash on him and that'll he pay later because he's due to pick up a long, lost girlfriend from the airport. Convinced Wang's pulling something sly, Jack insists he drive Wang to the airport so they can stick together. However, at the airport Wang's girlfriend is captured by the Lords of Death, a streetwise Chinatown gang. She is essential for an upcoming plan to revive a thousand year old Chinese sorcerer and bring him back to the world as a mortal again. So begins a daring adventure to rescue Wang's girl and stop the ruthless operation that's going on down in Little China. Teaming up with a cast of very different individuals, Jack and Wang delve deep into an uncovering conspiracy in which everything's not exactly as it seems. Here comes big trouble...

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79% liked it

113,879 ratings

Critics

84% liked it

31 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 39 min.

Directed by: John Carpenter

Release Date: July 1, 1986

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DVD Release Date: May 22, 2001

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Flixster Reviews (6,193)


  • October 22, 2009
    "They told Jack Burton to go to hell...and that's exactly where he's going!"

    An All-American trucker gets dragged into a centuries-old mystical battle in Chinatown.

    REVIEW

    Okay. The title shoul...( read more)d identify that this is not a serious movie. And believe you me, it isn't (I mean that positively). Kurt Russell plays Jack Burton, a truck driver who sounds like he spends all day watching reruns of sitcoms and Sylvester Stallone movies. Then, when Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall) is captured, Jack and several other people have to go underground in San Francisco's Chinatown to try and rescue her. Down there, they find evil sorcerer Lo Pan and his empire. From there, the movie is basically a litany of various forms of ass-kicking. My favorite scene was the fight scene where everyone is just flying at each other.

    "Big Trouble in Little China" is completely silly - and rather ridiculous - from beginning to end, but the good kind of silly and ridiculous. If nothing else, the whole thing is worth seeing just to hear Kurt Russell's hilariously sarcastic comments.
  • September 8, 2009
    A fun, if not a little silly, action comedy with lots of Chinese mythology.
  • August 4, 2009
    "Ol' Jack always says... what the hell?"


    An outlandish, uncategorisable blend of John Ford (and, by extension, John Wayne) and cornball Chinese mysticism, John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China is a hokey martial arts adventure flick with limitless appea

    ...( read more)l. The characters are both endearing and witty, with the actors hamming it up to extremes. Meanwhile Carpenter provides directorial genius, suspenseful set-ups, edge-of-your-seat action and a signature musical score. Big Trouble in Little China is simply a delightfully absurd action movie that never takes itself too seriously, although it isn't for all tastes.


    In his fourth collaboration with director Carpenter (after Elvis, Escape From New York and The Thing), Kurt Russell plays an imitable, good-natured truck driver named Jack Burton. During one of his trips to San Francisco, Jack's truck is hijacked and he's unwittingly swept up in a universe-bounding plot to kidnap the fiancée of his friend Wang (Dun). The whole situation concerns warring gangs that dwell in the Chinatown underground, and an ancient supernatural spirit named Lo Pan (Hong). But Jack couldn't care less about any of this...he just wants his truck back.


    This is not your ordinary kung fu flick, to say the least. The slender plot is virtually indecipherable; merely providing a reason to showcase lots of things happening in colorful settings for no reason other than to have lots of things happening in colorful settings.


    Alas, character development is slim and an audience isn't given much of a chance to become acquainted with the characters before they're sent into action. However the dialogue never fails to sparkle and the endearing characters will win you over anyway. Big Trouble in Little China mainly works so well due to Carpenter's stylised direction and the breathless pacing. We're taken from one chase to another; Carpenter continually removing his characters from the frying pan and throwing them into the fire. This ever-escalating chain of events always keeps things moving forward, and never allows the movie to bog down (even the few expository scenes necessary to fully outline Lo Pan's dastardly scheme are brilliantly terse). Carpenter's willingness to let ridiculous, unexplained things fly in out of left field is another masterstroke. The character of Margo (Burton) at one stage likens this peculiar adventure to Alice in Wonderland.


    The subterranean lairs which accommodate most of the action are great - hokey enough to emphasise the film's camp appeal, but not so hokey that they look like sets. Big Trouble in Little China features plenty of special effects too - and the somewhat dated effects add to the enchanting flavour. Carpenter always respects his influences. He maintains the B-Grade spirit of Hong Kong cinema while also fusing it with his own style and satirising it with a unique campness. From the score's synthesis of Eastern music and Carpenter's trademark synth to the arcade-style battle between two characters and the villain being defeated with a simple bowie knife to the head instead of a grand duel, Carpenter nails the tongue-in-cheek kung fu comedy genre. One definitely needs to be in the right mindset for this movie.


    Kurt Russell as Jack Burton is priceless - he's a witty, tough-talking everyman hero in the mould of John Wayne. Unlike John Wayne, however, Jack is not immune from screwing up. Jack has a knack for getting into extreme situations, he believes he has everything figured out, he constantly messes up, and he makes a lot of grand pronouncements and wisecracks (he even talks about himself in the third person a lot). Russell's Jack Burton will definitely win you over with his cheesy bravado. Interestingly, he ain't the real driver of the plot - he's Wan's sidekick and he's just there to find his truck. Jack is, however, the true star of the show


    Just like John Carpenter's The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China performed poorly at the box office upon its initial release but has grown vindicated in the years to follow; earning a legion of fans who understand what Carpenter was trying to do. Ancient Chinese mysticism and kung fu is expertly blended with good old-fashioned American gunplay to produce this high-energy mélange of action sequences. You know what ol' Jack Burton would say at a time like this? Jack Burton would say "see this movie!"

  • May 22, 2009
    Best Carpenter flick by miles haha so cool, love Russell in it and love the look..LOVE IT. This film has everything you could want, its totally awesome in everyway and hits all the targets, faultless, inspired.
    'have you payed your dues Jack?'....'yes sir the cheque is in the mai...( read more)l'
    'everybody relax..Im here'
  • April 2, 2009
    This for sure is an odd movie but does not miss from being in my collection at all.
  • November 16, 2009
    Another one of those unbeatable match ups between Kurt Russell and John Carpenter. It's just such a goofy story, you can't help but fall in love with it. Kurt Russell knows how to be witty and an action star all at once. The thing that's great about his character is that he's abl...( read more)e to screw up and still bounce back. The music and tone of the movie are so 80's, but so perfectly fitting for the movie. The action sequences are fun and really well done at the same time. This is easily the big inspiration for games like Mortal Combat, there's a character who is almost inseparable to Raiden. It's just a great movie that doesn't take itself to seriously and allows you to have fun with the amazing landscape and characters.
  • November 12, 2009
    love this movie Kurt at his cheesy best and Kim at her hotness peak
  • November 10, 2009
    Strangely enjoyable. Somewhat like watching a train wreck. You keep going no.....there not going to go there.....and then they do.
  • November 2, 2009
    Anybody catch Raiden's cousin iin this one? lol
  • October 26, 2009
    I do not like Big Trouble In Little China as much as others. Like with a lot of the John Carpenter movies I see, he's got a lot of ideas and weird special effects but I'm often at loss why half these things are happening in the movie as there's never a strong or tight enough scri...( read more)pt to back it all up! For every genuinely funny movie (and there's a fair amount of it), there's an equal amount of duds. There's a lot of action and some special effects that are also a hodgepodge mix of good and bad. This is still better than many other action films from the 1980s (read: anything that starts with Cannon Films), it's not quite as memorable as I wish it was and it feels a lot longer then it's 99 minute running time.

Critic Reviews


January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Special effects don't mean much unless we care about the characters who are surrounded by them, and in this movie the characters often seem to exist only to fill up the foregrounds. full review

View more Big Trouble in Little China reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • tene79
    July 24, 2007
    'This lopan comes out of thin air in the middle of a damn alley, and his buddies are flying around on wires cuttin everybody to shreds and he (wayne) just stands there waiting for me to drive my truck straight through him with light coming out of his mouth!!' - a confused Jack Burton after the alley scene, classic stuff.
  • jackass001
    July 13, 2007
    son of a bitch must pay! -Kurt Russell
  • borndolo
    July 10, 2007
    Lo Pan was so hard with his long fingernails and his pinky always pointed out... like a pimp!
  • DaBu2112
    March 23, 2007
    My girlfriend and I both adore this movie. We know almost every line in it, LOL. We watch it all the time.
  • spiderfightclub
    February 5, 2007
    amasing film, buy some chineese, sit down and enjoy.
  • LaggiexArexThexy
    January 6, 2007
    this movie is so funny. i just saw it for the first time and i love it. i love how he makes out with that girl so for like 5 minutes of the movie he has red lipstick on.
  • smokedcamel
    November 21, 2006
    This is my favorite movie of all time. I loved it when I first seen it as a kid and I still love it.
  • marcvandamme
    August 4, 2006
    How come no one has commented this film!.... its a frickin' classic!!!!

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Big Trouble in Little China Trivia


  • Kurt Russell as Jack Burton battles an ethereal sorceror in Chinatown?  Answer »
  • In which movie does Kurt Russell play Jack Burton?  Answer »
  • SAME NAME: Harrison Ford in Patriot Games Kurt Russell in Big Trouble in Little China Russell Crowe in Master and Commander Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic George Clooney in Out of Sight Chris Sarandon in The Nightmare Before Christmas  Answer »
  • Which word can make up the three following movies when entered in the blanks? 1. _______ 2. _______ Daddy 3. _______ Trouble in Little China   Answer »

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