"This is like a radical Alice in Wonderland"; a surprisingly apt description of John Carpenter's 1986 cult classic, Big Trouble in Little China. Of all the cult films to come from the 1980's, Big Trouble has become one of the most celebrated. But to someone who has never seen the film until just now, is it deserving of such esteem? Or is Big Trouble's enduring popularity simply due to an overuse of nostalgia goggles?
At first glance, one would assume that the plot centers around Jack Burton (Kurt Russell), since he's clearly the focus of the immaculate Drew Struzan poster. In reality, the story is more about Jack's pal Wang Chi (Dennis Dun); after his fiance, Miao Yin (Suzee Pai) is kidnapped by a local street gang, it's up to Wang, Jack, and company to get her back. We later find out that this is all part of a master plan by the ancient sorcerer and crime boss, David Lo Pan (James Hong); cursed centuries ago by the first emperor of China, Lo Pan must marry a woman with green eyes in order to regain his human form. Miao Yin happens to fit the bill, leading our heroes under San Francisco's China Town on a mystical rescue mission packed to the brim with monsters, sorcery, and kung-fu action.
Right away, it's immediately evident both why this film bombed at the box office and went on to become a celebrated cult classic years later. This is a strange, strange movie. Exposition is spat out left and right, characters get little introduction, and the whole thing feels like a sequel rather than a new beginning. That said, this is precisely why I feel that the movie is so brilliant. Once we are introduced to Jack Burton, we immediately latch onto him; his worldly monologue over the CB radio of his truck, The Porkchop Express, paints him as a seminal 80's action protagonist. He's a blue-collar badass who fancies himself something of a wandering hero as he hauls freight from place to place; it's something everyone can identify with, being the protagonist of their own, admittedly pedestrian, story. Once he arrives in San Fran and the plot begins, Jack is left totally in the dark; everyone around him seems to be an expert on the subjects of Lo Pan and ancient Chinese mysticism, but Jack spends the majority of the plot hardly knowing which way is up. He is the perfect link to the audience. We identify with him in every capacity, including his ignorance towards what it is exactly he's dealing with. As Jack is a stranger lost in the wild world of Chinatown, so is the audience. His reactions to the magic and mystery that plague the streets of Little China are our own; his turn as main protagonist makes for a perfect deconstruction of the action/adventure genre. And the best part is, Jack Burton isn't even the protagonist of the movie.
As I said before, the role of protagonist belongs wholly to Wang Chi, a simple restaurant owner and martial artist trying to save his fiance from an ancient evil. The movie plays with our expectations; in any other film, it'd be fairly obvious that Jack, the two-fisted caucasian outsider, is the main hero who saves the day, while Wang is his trusty sidekick. In reality, the roles are reversed. In Chinatown, Jack is the minority. He's an occasionally useful buffoon who fancies himself an action hero despite doing very little of consequence. Conversely, Wang is by far more capable; he's smarter, tougher, and all-around better than Jack in basically every way. At first glance, one would expect Big Trouble to be yet another 80's asskicking flick that survived in the cultural consciousness simply for being "awesome" or "radical". The fact of the matter is, Big Trouble in Little China, like Robocop and They Live, is a biting subversion of the standard action fare that was so prevalent at the time. It's an action movie where we spend the majority of our time focusing on the comedic relief sidekick while all the other, more important characters do the actual heavy-lifting.
Big Trouble in Little China has most definitely earned its place of recognition and reverence in the annals of film history. While it's goofy and irreverent on the surface, one only has to look just below what's visible to find something truly clever and intelligent. It's a great bit of fun commentary on the "burly white guy goes on an ethnic adventure" genre, aside from just being a genuinely strong, fun action flick in its own right. John Carpenter is a director who knows how to make practical effects work for him, resulting in a film that's as fun to look at as it is to watch. If you're looking for something that's secretly clever in addition to just being a genuinely fun time, Big Trouble in Little China is a solid choice.
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