Post by doomedbloodwork on Aug 11, 2004 8:20:44 GMT -5
For the most part, John Carpenter's BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA was a movie that was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Cutting-edge in terms of style (a martial arts movie within the context of a family film), it was also unfairly treated at the time of it's 1986 release.
I caught the uncut version on DVD over the weekend and actually found it a good deal more enjoyable than when it was first released in the UK in the autumn of 1986. It also looks much more daring nowadays and possibly could be a forerunner of the likes of the recent Jet Li spectacles, ROMEO MUST DIE and CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE.
On it's original release, it appeared to me to be more like a cross between RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and GHOSTBUSTERS and it is possibly this point of reference that threw the audience in the US and contributed to it's limited success (not that 20th Century Fox, the distributors of BIG TROUBLE, were complaining, as ALIENS was their other big tentpole summer release that year...)
The humour element of the film (Jack Burton is clearly an idiot with none of Indy Jones' sense of escape) is fragmented at times. Kurt Russell, nonetheless, manages to salvage a suitably hammy performance throughout. In addition, the romantic element seems a bit cluttered with several relationships all occuring as the story progresses, unlike RAIDERS which wisely kept it to one.
Still, it does have a lot to offer and much to impress. The production design is first-rate, the fight sequences are exhilarating to watch and Carpenter's score collaboration with Alan Howarth is consistent with other works.
I caught the uncut version on DVD over the weekend and actually found it a good deal more enjoyable than when it was first released in the UK in the autumn of 1986. It also looks much more daring nowadays and possibly could be a forerunner of the likes of the recent Jet Li spectacles, ROMEO MUST DIE and CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE.
On it's original release, it appeared to me to be more like a cross between RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and GHOSTBUSTERS and it is possibly this point of reference that threw the audience in the US and contributed to it's limited success (not that 20th Century Fox, the distributors of BIG TROUBLE, were complaining, as ALIENS was their other big tentpole summer release that year...)
The humour element of the film (Jack Burton is clearly an idiot with none of Indy Jones' sense of escape) is fragmented at times. Kurt Russell, nonetheless, manages to salvage a suitably hammy performance throughout. In addition, the romantic element seems a bit cluttered with several relationships all occuring as the story progresses, unlike RAIDERS which wisely kept it to one.
Still, it does have a lot to offer and much to impress. The production design is first-rate, the fight sequences are exhilarating to watch and Carpenter's score collaboration with Alan Howarth is consistent with other works.
