Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Truck driver Jack Burton gets embroiled in a supernatural battle when his best friend Wang Chi's green-eyed fiancée is kidnapped by henchmen of the sorcerer Lo Pan, who must marry a girl with green eyes in order to return to the human realm.
Big Trouble in Little China earns its highest mark for Novelty — John Carpenter's gleeful subversion of the action hero archetype (Jack Burton is essentially a bumbling sidekick who thinks he's the hero) combined with its unique fusion of Cantonese mythology, martial arts fantasy, and American action-comedy gives it a genuinely singular voice. The plot is enjoyably pulpy but fairly thin, relying on escalating supernatural spectacle over tight storytelling. The acting is game and charismatic — Kurt Russell commits brilliantly to the blowhard Burton — but the supporting cast is inconsistent. Cinematography is solid genre work from Dean Cundey with some vivid production design but nothing technically transcendent. The ending deflates somewhat, resolving quickly and without the mythic punch the buildup promises, leaving it feeling a bit abrupt and undercooked.