“Big Trouble in Little China” at the Nuart

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I remember seeing “Big Trouble in Little China” in a sparsely-populated theater when it came out. Though the movie didn’t set the box office on fire, it got a lot of play on network TV. I’ve seen this film in whole or in part probably upwards of 50 times. And I still get a kick out of it every time.

The Nuart screened “Big Trouble in Little China” for a much larger audience last night than the one I’d seen it with in 1986. It’s always a joy to watch a childhood staple on the big screen. Even after having seen it so many times, I pick up on things I never noticed on the small screen. Movies just play better in a theater even if it’s a grainy, 22-year-old print you’re watching.

“Big Trouble in Little China” — or “John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China” if you’re not into the whole brevity thing — is what I call an “Eastern.” The film blends the conventions of the Western with those of a martial arts film, sort of like “Enter the Dragon,” but with more mysticism and buddy comedy. In doing so, the movie deconstructs the myth of the Western hero, casting Kurt Russell’s truck driver Jack Burton as the comedic foil, while his restauranteur friend Wang (Dennis Dun) does most of the heavy lifting in terms of action.

Jack Burton rolls into San Francisco Chinatown and quickly finds himself caught up in a kidnapping plot involving Wang’s fiance, Miao Yin, a Chinese girl with green eyes; such things are rare, evidently. Miao Yin soon falls into the hands of Lo Pan (James Hong), a ghost who needs to marry a green-eyed girl and lift a curse that’s kept him in spectral form for 2,000 years. It’s all very complicated, as these movies often are. But the confusion is paid off so beautifully when someone rattles of a bunch of exposition, and Burton goes, “What?!”

Whenever John Carpenter and Kurt Russell work together, it’s almost always magic. “Big Trouble in Little China” is their third theatrical feature together after “Escape From New York” and “The Thing.” They’d reunite a decade later for “Escape From L.A.,” but the film was a bit of a step back for both talents.

Nonetheless, Carpenter was at the top of his game as a genre filmmaker in the ’80s, though his technique was sorely underappreciated at the time. Carpenter’s approach was often too cynical and downbeat; I’d have loved to see his take on Batman. But with this film, he really demonstrates a gift for comedy that wasn’t all too prevalent in his earlier projects. I’ve gotten into Carpenter in a big way in recent years. It’s just unfortunate that “Big Trouble in Little China” is probably his last best effort.

-Brad Lohan

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