Big Trouble in Little China
Jack Burton is a very knowing protagonist. Of course, that goes part and parcel with the film, as well. Whatever I thought “Big Trouble in Little China” was going to be going in to my first-ever viewing of it, I feel like I got more than that out of John Carpenter’s action adventure movie. There are other movies of Carpenter’s I haven’t seen yet, but it felt like this was the biggest blind spot for me, because it’s one of his collaborations with Kurt Russell. It was very worth the wait.
All he wants to do is get his truck back. That is Burton’s modus operandi throughout most of “Big Trouble in Little China.” Chinatown is not making it easy for Burton to do that. I love that our introduction to the character is him talking on his big rig’s CB radio; he does so at the end, as well. It feels like the character is narrating his life for an audience of one, which makes sense, because driving a rig like that is an isolating life. Is this Carpenter’s take on a modern day ronin, a warrior who never stays in one location, and is an outcast of society? The original screenplay by Gary Goldman and Davis Z. Weinstein was set in turn-of-the-century San Francisco, so you can also see the cowboy motif in Burton’s isolated demeanor, as he blows in and out of town, with an adventure happening in between. Nobody but the writers seemed happy with the Old West setting, so finally, writer W.D. Richter overhauled it to the modern day. As soon as the warring martial artists and mystic powers become introduced, you can see immediately why the setting needed changed; can you imagine how crazy the world building would have had to be in the Old West?
Jack Burton comes to Chinatown on a delivery, as well as winning some bets for some extra money from his friend, Wang Chi (Dennis Dun). After Wang isn’t completely able to pay up, Burton accompanies him to the airport, where Wang is picking up his fiancee, Miao Yin (Suzee Pai) at the airport. Another woman catches Jack’s eye in Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall), but that causes the Lords of Death, a Chinese street gang there to kidnap another Chinese girl, to kidnap Miao Yin, instead. Jack and Wang give chase, but come across warring clans in the back alleys of Chinatown that will include the mystical warriors known as “The Three Storms” (whom each have weather-themed powers) and David Lo Pan (James Hong), whom Jack seemingly runs over, only to see him, unscathed. Jack and Wang escape through alleys, but Jack’s truck is stolen. The Lords of Death took Miao Yin because she has green eyes- rare for Chinese women; they took her for Lo Pan, whom hopes to marry her to become flesh again.
I actually recently watched Walter Hill’s “Streets of Fire” for the first time recently, and you can see how Hill and Carpenter are aiming for similar things in their films. Whereas “Streets of Fire” leans more into a comic book aesthetic stylistically, “Big Trouble in Little China” is more grounded in a reality, although they both look to establish their main characters as modern pulp icons. The difference is, “Streets of Fire” has an emotionless Michael Pare, and Carpenter has Kurt Russell. Russell is one of those actors whom is naturally charismatic, and is capable of being funny or serious on a dime. One thing I didn’t expect from “Big Trouble in Little China” is how funny and self-aware it is, and that starts with Jack Burton. If you want to get an idea of what Russell might have been like had he gotten the role of Han Solo, this is a great movie to watch. He’s got the same swagger as Solo, but he’s not quite as bright. I wouldn’t necessarily call him dumb, though- he just doesn’t necessarily think things through first. The entire film basically takes on its hero’s personality, resulting in a sense of humor that had me laughing my ass off several times.
One thing I’m excited by in starting to get into John Carpenter more, or revisit his films, is seeing how he creates the worlds of his movies. This certainly isn’t the same time of world we got in “Halloween” or “The Thing,” and it’s a very different type of universe from the “Escape from” movies he and Kurt Russell did. This feels like the real world, but with Oriental mysticism ladled on top of it, and the first part is why the second part is believable. Carpenter and cinematographer Dean Cundey bring a great sense of authenticity to this world, and even if the visual effects have dated, they still fit in to what Carpenter (who wrote the film’s entertaining score, as well) and Cundey have built in their Chinatown.
It all comes back to Jack Burton, though. I can’t get the image of him talking through that radio out of my head. Same with him almost falling down a pit in a wheelchair. Or him being asked, “How are you going to save her?,” and he replies with, “I don’t know.” I’m not quite sure if he and Cattrall’s Law have the same quick-witted banter of a “Bringing Up Baby” or “His Girl Friday,” but that Law is his equal, or better, throughout the film- and Russell and Cattrall work well together- makes them a charming team for this film. The final image of them plays true to both characters, rather than making for a standard Hollywood ending. After all, Burton seems destined to go through the world alone…well, almost alone. My life as a moviewatcher is now better for having Jack Burton in it, even if it was just this one movie we got him for.
