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Big Trouble in Little China (Special Edition)

Big Trouble in Little China (Special Edition)

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: CLASSIC!
Review: Check this out, when this originally came out we saw it every weekend at the same theater late night over and over again for like 6 weeks straight, that's how good it is. And it isn't easy to find a movie in this genre/s that is deserving of major recognition. Not terribly successful on first run, semi-underground cult film. Kurt Russell is superb as Jack Burton. Kim Catrell (Sex & The City) is great! The supporting cast is perfect, they cast this well. Thank you John Carpenter for making one of the most enjoyable, interesting, funny and just downright FUN movies of all time. I just wish the film went on for hours and hours, cause when it's done you really miss the characters, they are good friends, like pals you'd love to hang with.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: World's Dumbest Hero!
Review: This is probably the coolest action movie ever to flop at the box office.As John Carpenter said in the audio commentary "They(Fox) just didn't know how to pitch it." Well that's understandable.It's an action movie that basically spoofs Bruce Lee's Kung-Fu movies,Cheesey ghost movies,and Indiana Jones.Kurt Russell is prefectly hilarious as a swaggering wanna-be hero.Just remember one thing:What's Kurt's motivation for taking on these supernatual bad guys?....HE'S LOOKING FOR HIS TRUCK!!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The sequel to Buckaroo Banzai that never was...
Review: Originally written as a sequel to Buckaroo Banzai, Big Trouble in Little China was salvaged when John Carpenter became interested in the project. Banzai director/writer W. D. Richter retooled Gary Goldman's original script for Kurt Russell. The action, humor and plot truck along at a frentic pace.

Russell plays Jack who becomes involved in the rescue attempt of a friend's fiance just over from China. She's a rarity among Asians as she has green eyes. She's immediately kidnapped by the henchmen of Lo Fat an evil spirit who has been imprisoned in a mortal body (but still has most of his supernatural powers). Marrying and sacrificing a girl with green eyes is his only hope of salvation from a crumbling aged body.

The performances are uniformly strong. It's clear that all the performers were having a blast making this film. Kim Cattrell looks lovely as usual although her make up is a bit too over the top. It actually works against her natural beauty. Her performance as a lawyer that becomes involved in helping retrieve the girl with the green eyes is quite good. Clearly her inspiration was the heroines of films like His Girl Friday.

Russell has always been an underrated treasure. He's shown a remarkable versatility in a variety of roles over the years. He incorporates elements of John Wayne's overblown swagger to Jack. Jack considers himself to be a bit bigger than life even though he's just a truck driver. The cast of Chinese Americans give excellent performances as well. Clearly they're having fun with their roles and make the most of their screen time. Given the lack of Asian actors in American films (until recently), Big Trouble is a nice showcase for underappreciated character actors.

There's much kung fu action, sword and gun play in this well paced modern take off of the b-movie and serials of the 40's and 50's. The stunt work is terrific and well choregraphed. It's clear that Carpenter and his stunt co-ordinators were paying attention to Chinese kung fu movies long before anyone else was. This single disc edition has the original film plus a pair of funny, interesting commentaries from star Kurt Russell and director John Carpenter.

I have a couple of minor issues with this DVD edition. While the picture transfers is quite good overall, it appears soft at times. I'm not sure if this happened during the transfer process or was due to the condition of the print used to create the DVD master. I seem to recall that the VHS and laserdisc editions had similar issues although I don't know that they were quite as noticable. The sound is quite good as well and is presented in DTS, stereo and dolby digital. The DTS soundtrack is a bit more compressed and sounds flatter than the other soundtracks. That could be just the mix or even the way I have the sound adjusted on my system. I tend to go with the former.

I'm sure there's additional behind the scenes footage out there that didn't make the two disc edition. While I appreciate the two disc addition, some of the features here could have been transferred over to the single disc edition with no or little loss in picture quality. Since the single disc edition is a dual layered disc, there's a lot more that could have been added. It appears that all Fox DVD did was to transfer all the contents of the first disc to this single disc edition and ignored the rest.

If you can still find the two disc edition, it also includes footage cut from the film (much of it recorded on betamax. Sadly, the deleted scenes and outtakes have pretty much disappeared. Carptener's early use of video to him "pre-edit" a film allows the DVD viewers to see what was cut and the original continuity of the film with these scenes restored. While the picture quality on the second disc isn't as sharp as the DVD transfer of the film, they're a unique look into the creative process and essential for hardcore fans of the film. There's also an interview with optical effects supervisor Richard Edlund on disc two as well as a stills gallery and much, much more.

If all you're interested in having is the original theatrical version of the film in its original aspect ratio (widescreen), then this single disc edition will certainly do.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very Nice!
Review: Less than a handful of days I received my dvd packed in a way so well it would be a task to become damaged. It was in perfect condition. I couldn't ask for anything more. Keep doing what you're doing....you're business is guaranteed to grow!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The epitome of goofy fun
Review: I think a lot of the reviewers who weren't as thrilled about this one pegged it right even though I personally love this movie. If you first saw this as a little kid OR as an adult knowing what to expect going in (and thus getting yourself in the proper mood and mind frame) then this movie is thoroughly fun and enjoyable.

It's so over-the-top goofy that it BEGS you not to take it too seriously. The one-liners are so cheesy and sometimes delivered at the most bizarre times that only the most cynical viewer (who's still making the mistake of trying to take the movie seriously) would not enjoy themselves.

As most everyone else has said, Kurt Russell MAKES this movie. I have a hard time imagining any other actors delivering his lines with the same goofy machismo. The supporting actors do well in their roles, but they all just seem to fade into the background thanks to Russell's perfect delivery of his Duke Nukem-like character. In fact, my only knock against the film is that there seems to be rather lengthy back-stories to several of the supporting characters (given some of the dialog in the scenes) that would provide them with better depth. But it looks like a lot of these stories were either cut in the editing room or were simply left out of the filming all together. Either way, it's not that critical to enjoying the film given the nature of this movie. We're not exactly looking for Oscar-level character development in a film like this.

A lot of the credit for this film's also has to go to the production team for creating sets that perfectly match the overall feel and light-hearted spirit of the movie: the stormy weather throughout the film, the Chinatown sets, the various warehouse antechambers which had an almost video game-like feel to them (since they mainly served as fight scene grounds), and my personal favorite, the neon trim and escalator in the temple. The special effects are also pretty strong considering the time at which this movie was made.

The DVD itself has great picture quality - one of the better ones I've seen from a picture from this time, which is a little surprising considering it wasn't a big box-office hit and they'll sometimes save the best digital remastering treatment for the big name movies. The audio sounds very good as well with the constant rain and the thunder in the beginning providing some nice ambience if you've got a good home theater setup.

Overall, it's a great, quirky 80s action/comedy to just kick back on the couch with some popcorn and enjoy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Fun and Wacky Ride! Its All in the reflexes!
Review: John Carpenter and Kurt Russell have combined to make several of my favorite movies. This is one of my families favorite movies of all time. We must watch it a couple times a year, and only fast forward through the Brothel house part.

It is just a lot of fun!. Only problem is what Jack Burton always says: "You know what Jack burton also says: 'What the ...". I think he says the F word 3 times, so bear this in mind.

Famous last words: LoPan to Jack and his reply: "Good Knife!.. Its all in the reflexes!"

I used to have this rated as 5 stars WOW! but because of the language, I changed it to 4 stars.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Hilarious, but sometimes a bit too wacky
Review: All I know is that this Lo Pan character comes out of thin air in the middle of an alley while his buddies are flying around on wires cutting everybody to shreds while he just STANDS there waiting for me to drive my truck straight through him with LIGHT coming out of his mouth!
- Jack Burton (played by Kurt Russell)

*PLOT* - By reading the above I'm sure by now you've guessed what kind of a movie "Big Trouble in Little China" is: strange, wacky, silly, but INCREDIBLY funny! Kurt Russell is Jack Burton, a guy who has an ego even bigger than the truck he drives. While stopping by Chinatown to see his buddy Wang Chi (Dennis Dun), Jack gets entangled into a supernatural war involving the 'supposedly dead' David Lo Pan (James Hong), two beautiful green eyed ladies Gracie Law and Miao Yin (Kim Cattrall & Suzee Pai), the Chinese tour guide Egg Shen (Victor Wong), and three spirit warriors Thunder (Carter Wong), Rain (Peter Kwong), and Lightning (James Pax). I know, the movie sounds pretty far out, but this is the type of movie where it doesn't matter if the plot is believable. This is the type of movie where you can kick back in your sofa with a bowl of popcorn and prepare yourself for some mindless fun.

*ACTING* - Kurt Russell steals every single scene as the egomaniac Jack Burton. He is so extremely funny you can't help but love him! Dennis Dun as Wang is also a very likable character. Jack and Wang are a great duo.

*ACTION* - The kung fu is surprisingly good for what some people might call a 'B grade movie'. Dennis Dun's fight between him and one of the spirit warriors is very cool. The kung fu is also not like the stylized fighting we see in more recent films, much more realistic though some 'deaths' are a bit fake.

*FAVORITE LINES* - My favorite lines are:

Jack: So you're going to go off and rule the universe from beyond the grave...
Lo Pan: Indeed.
Jack: or check into a psycho ward, which ever comes first huh?

*PG-13 RATING* - The movie is rated PG-13 for some strong language. The action and fight scenes are sometimes a bit violent though on the most part nothing too graphic. Some innuendos, too but nothing too bad.

*OVERALL & RECOMMENDATIONS* - The movie is highly entertaining though not something I would rate 5 stars. A bit too silly but just being able to see Kurt Russell as Jack Burton makes this movie a 3 star movie. Rent it out, a must-see for Kurt Russell fans. Other movie recommendations are:

"GHOSTBUSTERS" (1984) - A movie also dealing with the supernatural though this has a bit more class than "Big Trouble in Little China". Uproaringly funny, a must-see for all fans of laugh-out-loud comedies! Director Ivan Reitman and starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Sigourney Weaver. Rated PG.
"GHOSTBUSTERS II" (1989) - Sequel to "Ghostbusters", the humor is a bit subdued but still a hilarious treat. Director Ivan Reitman and starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Sigourney Weaver. Rated PG.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fun and action packed
Review: This is one of the funniest and best action movie ever made, It is incredibly original and colorfull

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Way Ahead of Its Time
Review: "Big Trouble in Little China" is one of those movies that makes you wonder why it wasn't more popular at the box office. It's got comedy, action, and romance, sort of along the lines of "The Mummy" movies. Then you realize that it came out in the mid-80s, when a movie like this was considered to be a little too weird.

The plot centers around Jack, a trucker who gets caught in the middle of an ancient battle between good and evil. Jack and friends need to find two green-eyed girls before the villain, David Lo Pan, marries them and becomes mortal. Jack has to fight through Lo Pan's fortress, trying to get through the three guardians, who look like Mortal Kombat characters.

The acting is good, with Kurt Russell playing the macho action hero to a stereotypical, "I fear nothing" level. The action is also really cool, with special effects that look unbelievably good, considering when it was made. Most of the writing is very good, with a lot of very weird lines at very weird times. The ending is definitely not your typical one, but it somehow fits this movie.

This definitely is a very unique movie. But if you're looking for something along the lines of "The Mummy", this is as good a place to start as any.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful action comedy
Review: This is the best action-movie send up ever produced. Every element - the hero, the sidekick, the villain, the fight scenes, the plot - is carefully chosen to mock Hollywood action movies, without ever becoming just a parody. Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) is a study in heroic mediocrity, and deadpans some of the funniest lines ever spoken by an action hero. The special effects and forces of evil are cheesy and over-the-top, which plays extremely well against the amazing averageness of the forces of good.

This is a classic gem for fans of action B-movies, but the humor may be missing for those unfamiliar with the genre. Director John Carpenter keep tongue planted firmly in cheek, never letting on that the movie is "supposed to be funny" while continually adding outrageous elements throughout the film.


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