Cult Classics: Big Trouble In Little China

12:02am Friday 12th March 2010

By Owain Paciuszko - Seat 13

Some films form an indelible part of my childhood, and most of them are certificated beyond my years. For example, should I really have watched 'The Shining' in my bedroom, late at night on BBC2 when I couldn't even get into a '12' at the cinema? Should family viewings of 'Die Hard' been on the menu from a rather early age? And should our local video shop let me rent out 'Beetlejuice' knowing full well I wasn't legally allowed to do so?! Yet, for all their BBFC recommendations, I feel like my formative years was the perfect time to be consuming these grown up movies and one film that really struck a chord was John Carpenter's 'Big Trouble in Little China'.

I remember going to my friend Matthew's house after school and sitting down to watch this VHS his Dad had rented the night before, I was amazed by the cultural mish-mash of American and Chinese iconography (though most of those words weren't in my pre-teen vocabulary), I was dazzled by the almost surreal inclusion of magic and mysticism in amongst gun fights and truck drivers, I was enthralled by Kurt Russell's, quite frankly, pathetic, wise-ass hero; Jack Burton and to this day if anyone asks me if I'm ready, I respond, in homage; "I was born ready."

For a child who loved the likes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles it was almost baffling to think of 'Big Trouble in Little China' as a film made for grown ups, as it seemed to have a certain off-beat, cartoon sensibility to it. This film was wasted on adults! Indeed, it was a huge flop at the box office, but fortunately it found an audience on the home video market and now, when I mention it to people often of my generation, it's met with affectionate nostalgia and giggles at its peculair and unique logic.

The film was originally conceived as a straight-forward Western, with Russell's character riding into town and finding a kidnapping and Chinese magic in the American Frontier. But, W.D. Richter - director of previous Cult Classic entry 'The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The Eight Dimension' - gave the script a re-draft and twisted it into an archly humourous, contemporary affair which allowed Carpenter to indulge his love of Hong Kong action movies with some pre-The Matrix mid-air wire-work fight scenes. Meanwhile, the film eschewed convetions by having the film's hero be the sidekick and vice-versa, in so much as, Russell (the star) is the one who keeps screwing up, getting in trouble, making mistakes and pratfalls, whilst his partner Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) does everything the hero character should do. The rest of the cast is beautifully put together with Sex & The City's Kim Cattrall channeling the fast-talking gals of 1950 newsroom flicks, the magnificent James Hong chewing scenery as the almost-immortal villain David Lo Pan (going through a variety of age make-ups) and Victor Wong supplying the magical exposition and warmth as tour guide turned Yoda; Egg Shen. Most memorably though, especially to my childish eyes, were the three Storms; Thunder, Rain and Lightning, each meeting spectacular demises, culminating in one's remorse causing him to balloon up to improbable proportions before exploding.

It's a film so jam-packed with ideas and running by its own rules and logic that it undoubtedly left many viewers cold, it was bold enough not to really give you a window to the world it created - much like 'Buckaroo Banzai' - and instead just threw you into the action and expected you to keep up. This is it's strength, when too many films these days spoonfeed you their storylines, or keep having to deal with 'origin stories', this was a great adventure that - whilst open-ended - doesn't need a sequel. Just the prospect that this universe continues to exist in some bizarre alternative reality is pleasing enough!

Thankfully 20th Century Fox saw fit to grace 'Big Trouble...' with one of DVD's finest special editions and the commentary by John Carpenter and Kurt Russell is as enjoyable as the film itself, as they laugh and joke their way through a host of anecdotes, self-deprecatingly laughing at the reaction to the film, whilst sharing a genuine affection for it, and, at one point, becoming side-tracked as the two good friends begin talking about one another's kids!