Big Trouble in Little China (1986, 99 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090728/
I didn't really know what to expect from this film. I guess I knew it wasn't going to be a stellar, amazing movie, but I figured it could be filled with cheesy fun and still be enjoyable.
The film stars Kurt Russell as American trucker Jack Burton who gets stuck in San Francisco's Chinatown after a bizarre turn of events. Fending off Chinese sorcerers with him is old buddy Wang Chi (Dennis Dun). Along for the ride are some more people who he meets in the original bizarre turn of events: Kim Cattrall as reporter Gracie Law and Victor Wong as Egg Shen.
The acting here is nothing to be proud of, really. Kurt Russell over-acts as per his character and for the movie's sake. It works for him. The others can't seem to really get it together with Dun being the unfortunate leader of this group. Though again this might have been the intention, Dun is worse at whatever they were trying to do then the rest of them so I will single him out for his poor performance.
The cheesiness is maxed out as well. There was not a care in the world spent on making anything look realistic and I didn't care. It was still enjoyable. John Carpenter has more impressive visuals with some crazy creatures here and, though they look a little dated due to technological developments, I liked them a lot. The sad thing was that these creatures didn't interact and have as big a role as they could've been. The wolf-like thing could've been a bigger enemy than it turned out to be. Similarly, I didn't like the order in which the villains were killed. The tougher henchmen were saved for last instead of the evil leader which was out of place in my opinion. Had something occurred where instead the henchmen held off the good guys while the evil leader changed form or gained power or something in his transformation, the ending could've been a bit cooler. But don't let these comments detract much from the ending. It's far and away the best part of the film. It's corny as everything but oh so enjoyable. It lasts quite some time but the time flew by with all the cheesy 1980s action.
Overall, I gave this film a 6/10. It was enjoyable and didn't take itself too seriously and this allowed the goofball nature of the film to be better. Kurt Russell's performance is fun but the rest of the cast stumbles along the way. It was a good way to end a busy, busy week for me - a nice no-thinking-necessary, fun movie.
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