Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
★★★ — Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
There's a moment in Big Trouble in Little China where Kurt Russell's Jack Burton delivers what he clearly believes is a badass one-liner, promptly trips over himself, and gets knocked unconscious. He misses the entire fight. That tells you everything you need to know about this film, and whether it's for you.
Jack Burton is the joke. He's a loudmouthed, swaggering trucker who stumbles into a centuries-old mystical war beneath the streets of San Francisco's Chinatown and spends most of the runtime absolutely convinced he's the one driving events. He's got the bravado, the backwards baseball cap, the CB radio patter. What he hasn't got is any actual idea what's going on. And crucially, he never realises it. The film does, though, and it winks at you constantly. It's a buddy action movie where the supposed hero is the sidekick and doesn't know it. That's a genuinely clever bit of construction, even if the film around it is completely, gloriously deranged.
John Carpenter directs the whole thing with a pulpy, comic-book energy that I find hard to resist entirely. He keeps the pacing frenetic, leans into the neon-drenched excess, and never once pretends any of this is grounded. One minute you're in a greasy spoon diner, the next you're fighting sorcerers, flying skulls, and eight-foot-tall henchmen who make the ground shake when they walk. The world-building is pure fantasy dressed up as urban legend, and the logic, well, the logic simply doesn't exist. You either roll with that or you're in for a long night. Kim Cattrall brings genuine glamour and some welcome grit as Gracie Law, and she holds her own even when the film threatens to spiral entirely off its axis.
But here's where I have to be honest: it's fun in bursts rather than a sustained good time. The tone is so wild and the internal rules so nonexistent that it occasionally tips from charmingly bonkers into genuinely exhausting. I love Carpenter working in this register. They Live pulls off something similar, that blend of genre absurdity and genuine attitude, and holds it together more consistently. Escape from New York gives you a protagonist who's also a walking cliché but makes the world feel lived-in enough to earn it. Big Trouble in Little China is scrappier, sillier, and considerably more chaotic than either. That's part of its appeal and part of its problem.
The cult reputation makes total sense to me. This is absolutely the kind of film that rewards you for meeting it on its own mad terms, and if you watch it at the right time with the right people, it's an absolute blast. The commitment from everyone involved is infectious. Russell is clearly having the time of his life. The creature design is wild and inventive. The set pieces have a gleeful, anything-goes energy that you just don't get from films produced by committee.
Three stars, then. Not a great film by any traditional measure. The coherence isn't there, and some of the comedy lands with a thud rather than a thunderclap. But it's bold, it's bizarre, and it doesn't have a cynical bone in its body. Don't go in expecting logic. Go in expecting lightning demons, ancient curses, and a man who narrates his own heroism while repeatedly failing to be heroic. If that sounds like your kind of evening, you'll have a great one.
Just don't expect lightning to strike twice on repeat viewings if the spell wears off. For some people it will, and for others this'll be a forever film. I'm somewhere in the middle, which is probably the most honest place to be about something this gloriously weird.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 1986 | Watched: 2025-10-10
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from John Carpenter: Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) · They Live (1988) · The Fog (1980) · Escape from New York (1981)
More with Kurt Russell: The Fox and the Hound (1981) · Bone Tomahawk (2015) · Tombstone (1993) · Escape from New York (1981)
More from the 1980s: Nightmare City (1980) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Style Wars (1983) · Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers (1980)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
