Movie · 1986 · Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy · 1h 40m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 2.5/10 (168.7K ratings)
Jack Burton's in for some serious trouble and you're in for some serious fun.
Overview
Truck driver Jack Burton gets embroiled in a supernatural battle when his best friend Wang Chi's green-eyed fiancée is kidnapped by henchmen of the sorcerer Lo Pan, who must marry a girl with green eyes in order to return to the human realm.
Ratings
Curator score: 2.5/10
IMDb: 7.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 71%
Metacritic: 53
TMDB: 7.2/10
Director
John Carpenter
Production
Taft Entertainment Pictures, 20th Century Fox, SLM Production Group
Cast
Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun, James Hong, Victor Wong, Kate Burton, Donald Li, Carter Huang Chia-Ta, Peter Kwong, James Pax, Suzee Pai, Chao Li Chi, Jeff Imada, Rummel Mor, Craig Ng, June Kyoto Lu, Noel Toy, Jade Go, Jerry Hardin, James Lew
Curator Review
Verdict
A wildly inventive, genre-blending cult adventure that turns pulp fantasy, martial-arts chaos, and deadpan comedy into something uniquely playful. Its plot is gloriously overstuffed and often deliberately absurd, but the energy, creature design, and swaggering tone make the confusion part of the appeal.
Best for
fans of offbeat 1980s action-comedy
viewers who like practical effects and creature-heavy fantasy
people who enjoy cult movies that play like comic books come to life
audiences who appreciate a clueless hero surrounded by competent allies
Skip if
you want a tightly plotted or logically grounded story
you dislike broad comic tone mixed with supernatural action
you prefer serious martial-arts films or straight fantasy epics
you need a protagonist who is clearly the smartest person in the room
Overview
Big Trouble in Little China is one of those movies where the chaos is the point. It starts like a trucker adventure and mutates into a neon-soaked ghost story, kung-fu romp, and monster movie all at once. The result is messy in the best possible way: a film that keeps escalating its own nonsense until it becomes a delirious cult classic.
Worth noting
What makes it endure is the confidence of the world-building and the comic timing. The movie treats ancient sorcery, alleyway brawls, and absurd one-liners with the same straight face, which gives it a strange, infectious charm. The practical effects and production design also do a lot of heavy lifting, giving every corner of the film a tactile, handmade weirdness.
Bottom line
It’s not a movie for viewers who need clean logic or a conventional hero’s journey. But if you like action films that feel like they were beamed in from an alternate reality where pulp novels, monster movies, and Saturday-morning cartoons all collided, it’s a blast. The film’s reputation as a cult favorite is well earned.
Top Letterboxd reviews
David Sims (4.5★) · 3760 likes
"What's in the flask, Egg? Magic potion?"
"Yeah."
"Thought so, good. What do we do, drink it?"
"Yeah!"
"Good! Thought so."
#1 gizmo fan (4.5★) · 3060 likes
this movie makes no sense but that's what makes sense about it
Branson Reese · 1493 likes
All criticism of this movie is correct but I don’t give a shit.
Eli Hayes (4.5★) · 1241 likes
1) what the actual fuck
2) the abrupt 'creature scene' at the one hour mark alone warrants at least a 4+ star rating
(and on a similar note, fuck yes to the film's final scene)
3) you must experience The Guardian
4) you must experience the entity which I can only describe as self-destructive-balloon-man
5) what the actual fuck
Branson Reese · 1149 likes
Me watching this as a kid: Jack Burton rocks. He's just like me only bigger and stronger.
John Carpenter: Jack Burton is a bumbling fool. He's the dim-witted and self-aggrandizing comic relief character instead of the true protagonist.
Me: I hope one day I get strong.