Director: John Carpenter
Starring: Kurt Russell, Kim Cattral, James Hong, Dennis Dun, Kate Burton, Victor Wong
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 99 minutes
Synopsis: Kurt Russell plays Jack Burton, a reasonable guy who is about to experience some unreasonable things in San Francisco s Chinatown. As his friend s fiancée is kidnapped Jack becomes embroiled in a centuries-old battle between good and evil. At the root of it all is Lo Pan, a 2000-year-old magician who rules an empire of evil spirits. Jack goes to the rescue dodging demons, goblins and the unstoppable Three Storms as he battles through Lo Pan s dark domain.
Reuniting for the fourth time following ELVIS: THE MOVIE, ESACPE FROM NEW YORK and THE THING, legendary director John Carpenter and actor Kurt Russell’s 1986 bold and bonkers BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA is every bit as enjoyable as its title suggests. Mixing breathless elements from countless genres, the goofy film which is making its remastered Blu-ray debut for the first time in the UK, has no right to work as well as it does, yet, it remains arguably the duo’s most hysterical collaboration. It’s now gone on to become a cult favourite after infamously being buried by 20th Century Fox on its initial release.
Part of its charm comes from Russell’s character’s insistence on thinking he’s our All-American lead hero, when in fact, it’s Dennis Dun who’s really on the dangerous rescue mission to win back his beautiful green-eyed bride. Jack Burton is the air headed side-kick but not that he knows it. The grotesque gallery of ass-kicking rogues and mythical monsters may have come across as overly convoluted in such a simple supernatural story, but it remains one of the few films where throwing in everything (including the kitchen sink) only adds to the shear entertainment on show.
The crazy script from W.D. Richter was originally a wild western, updated to present day by Carpenter and screenwriters Gary Goldman and David Z. Weinstein, and it shows. With the director’s love of the over-the-top marital-arts features of the 1970s inspiring him in a change of pace and genre-bending, while offering a nudge and wink to his love of the past. It never really stops once it gets going, with each delirious set piece topping those previous. It’s perhaps ahead of its time and why the studio decided to effectively disown it proves they never really ‘got’ the humour or the audacity Carpenter and his cast attempted to convey.
The short retrospective interviews, particularly Carpenter and Russell’s are must-watch, eye-opening and damn right hilarious, as they look back at the troubles of post-production. The print is glorious and literally pops off the screen. Even the music video featuring Carpenter’s band ‘The Coupe DeVille‘s,(aka frequent collaborators Tommy Lee Wallace (director of HALLOWEEN III and IT) and Nick Castle (director of THE LAST STARFIGHTER and Michael Myers in HALLOWEEN) singing the title theme tune has to be seen to be believed. The whole package is a blast and even worth a double dip!
Special Features:
- High Definition presentation of the film from a digital transfer prepared by Twentieth Century Fox
- Optional 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and uncompressed Stereo 2.0 Audio
- Isolated 5.1 DTS-HD Isolated Score Soundtrack
- Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio Commentary with director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell
- Return to Little China: A brand new interview with John Carpenter
- Being Jack Burton: A brand new interview with Kurt Russell
- Carpenter and I A brand new interview with cinematographer Dean Cundey
- A new interview with producer Larry Franco
- Interview with visual effects producer Richard Edlund
- Vintage Making-of featurette featuring cast and crew
- Extended Ending
- Deleted Scenes
- Music Video
- Gallery of behind-the-scenes images
- 3 original trailers
- TV Spots
- Reversible Sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw
- Booklet featuring new writing on the film by John Kenneth Muir, author of The Films of John Carpenter, a re-print of an article on the effects of the film from American Cinematographer, illustrated with archive stills and posters
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA is released in the UK on the 16th December via Arrow Video 
