>B-BUT JACK ISN'T THE HERO! HE'S JUST A STRANGER IN A WORLD HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND!
Is this some modern day white guilt or something? Ash in Army of Darkness was in a world he didn't understand and he's a bumblefuck idiot sometimes but he's without question the hero of the movie like Burton.
I think people are really trying hard to over think a fun action comedy John Carpenter
Shit movie for kids
>>67099016
No, it's actually in the commentary. Jack is the sidekick. It's actually really interesting they decided to focus the film on him. Not to say the sidekick can't be interesting or heroic.
>>67099016
what the fuck are you talking about? who are you quoting?
I think you are the one overthinking this movie, dude
>>67099038
>Wang kept fighting the wrong guys
>Egg can't aim for shit
>Burton takes out Lo Pan, the main bad guy
Carpenter made Ghosts of Mars so I don't take his opinion seriously.
>>67099016
John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China treats the residents of San Francisco's Chinatown as if they are only tangentially related to the world around them – and that, by many accounts, is an accurate portrayal of the world's largest Chinese diaspora. It's forgivable, too, that Carpenter, whose career has been spent pasteurizing cheese (Halloween, Escape from New York) casts an esoteric action-fantasy with a blue collar hero in an insular locale the average American might find a tad bizarre at first blush.
What feels so wrong, however, is how Carpenter treats all the fantastical elements as if they are commonplace to the Chinese characters (read: people) – and that ouldn't be a travesty in and of itself, given the film is a satirical fantasy, if so many of those characters didn't remind you of the Asian caricatures from as far back as the 20s and 30s. It's as if Big Trouble in Little China would have you believe, despite being an obvious work of fiction, that Chinese men on a whole are as daffy and loony as they appear on-screen here, and the plot is only a fantasy to the protagonist, a crass truck driver who gets more than he bargained for gambling and drinking one night in Chinatown. The women, not surprisingly, are almost completely relegated to a single scene in a brothel.
>>67099033
For kids maybe but it's pretty good.
>>67099038
I understand Carpenter's intentions but Burton still comes off as the hero, not a sidekick. Making him a bumbling dope doesn't make him any less likable.
>>67099094
The truck driver is played by Kurt Russell, his fourth collaboration with Carpenter including the 1979 TV movie Elvis, seen during the opening credits blowing hot air into his CB about how things are and how things ought to be (while intermittently engulfing a hoagie). This role was tailor-made for Russell's sensibilities and his Jack Burton, who drives a rig cutely dubbed The Pork Chop Express with a crude grill ornament, would have shined in another B action-comedy if he wasn't circumvented by the gaudy art direction, icky visual effects and the rather tiresome nature of the non-stop mumbo jumbo he (and everyone else for that matter) is subjected to once he arrives in Chinatown.
>>67099138
It's not as if Big Trouble in Little China is always a misfire: There are some well-lit moments augmented by a catchy synth score. Russell (when he's allowed), gets in a good one-liner or two, and his ode to Used Cars (1980) is an amusing tribute. Those moments are fairly easy to forget, however, with such suspect script writing that sees an ancient Chinese sorcerer (James Hong) operating beneath the streets of Chinatown, who kidnaps a Hong Kong bride-to-be of the trucker's Chinese buddy (Dennis Dun) because of her green eyes (actress and former Penthouse Pet Suzee Pai is half-white), which will bring him life again once they exchange nuptials. The evil magician inadvertently hits pay dirt when sexpot Kim Cattrall gets caught-up in the melee (she has green eyes, too).
>>67099094
>>67099138
>>67099161
>>67099161
>former Penthouse Pet Suzee Pai
nice
>>67099069
>>Wang kept fighting the wrong guys
He beats up a huge group of thugs by himself and gets to fight Rain one on one. None of the other Three Storms get to have a cool fight.
>>Egg can't aim for shit
He fought with Lo Pan, but they were equally matched if I recall
>>Burton takes out Lo Pan, the main bad guy
That's the only worthwhile thing he gets to do on his own in the movie and it's great he gets to do it otherwise he'd be completely useless.
I haven't seen this movie since like 1999-2000, I swear there is a part where you see the fucking bush of one of the women in a scene where they are underwater. Am I crazy?
>>67099214
http://www.lovehkfilm.com/panasia/big_trouble_in_little_china.html
>>67099214
If Armond wrote that you'd be calling it based
>>67099385
Armond wouldn't be that cucky
A hero doesn't have to be some flawless killing machine. Burton is great because he's a dumb oaf with guts and a sense of humor. I get what Carpenter was trying to do but luckily he failed.
