The Firelight Shocks DVD Review Section

Big Trouble in Little China Distributor: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Region: 1 Ratio: 2.35.1 (Enhanced for widescreen televisions) Sound: Dolby Digital/ DTS

Talk about unlikely! Who would ever have thought that the powers that be over at CBS Fox would choose a minor cult favourite such as this for a two disc 'special edition' release? Certainly not me - in fact, I had begun to think that this film was virtually forgotten about... and, boy, am I glad I was wrong - for here is Big Trouble in Little China as you've never seen it before. Indeed, having only previously seen this film on a pan and scan VHS tape, I was blown away by the beautiful widescreen transfer afforded to this movie. Make no mistake - visually this film is right up there with Carpenter's most famous work. Big Trouble in Little China proved to be tricky sell when it arrived at American cinemas (less we forget the awful, cringe inducing 'A Mystical, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Kung Fu, Monster, Ghost Story!' tagline - ironically John Carpenter's own words!) and it promptly flopped. However, the movie was quite popular on home video (I loved it as a child) and it is something of a hallowed title in the hearts of many a John Carpenter fan, some of whom rate it as his best work. I'm not quite sure I would go that far (the movie certainly isn't up to the heady heights which the director reached with Halloween and The Thing), but Big Trouble in Little China is still a very enjoyable fantasy romp. Obviously influenced by Raiders of the Lost Ark (Kurt Russell's character, Jack Burton, is essentially a goofball Harrison Ford) and the Baby Cart films of Kenji Misumi (even stealing the ninja triplets from Baby Cart at the River Styx), Carpenter's film aims for laughs. As such it is still slightly sad to see this new DVD being advertised as a 'sci-fi spectacle' - it's almost as if the studio still doesn't know how to market this quirky little title! Anyway - if you've never seen Big Trouble in Little China before, then my advice is to approach it as a comedy/ adventure come homage to the likes of Sergio Leone, Akira Kurosawa and the aforementioned Misumi. Add to this a nod of the hat in the direction of Indiana Jones and far too many kung fu films to even begin to list and you may well have some idea as to what Carpenter's film plays like. Kurt Russell is Jack Burton - a guy who is possibly the least likely leading man in cinema history. He can't shoot a gun straight, makes a mess out of virtually every heroic gesture he offers and is little more than a truck- driving slob. Thankfully (for him) he is backed up by Dennis Dun - a kung fu expert who is on a mission to rescue his fiancée from the clutches of the two thousand-year-old sorcerer Lopan - who wishes to marry Dun's fiancée on account of her bright green eyes. A further spanner is thrown into the works when nosy lawyer Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall) snoops around Lopan's lair only to be captured and also offered up for marriage because, yes, she too has green eyes! By marrying one of these women Lopan can become flesh once again, although why he would want to is anyone's guess seeing as how he is practically invincible in his spiritual form. True, this aspect of the story never registered with me, but Big Trouble in Little China (as nonsensical as some of it is) remains a whole lot of fun. Certainly, Russell is a bag of laughs to watch, and on the commentary track Carpenter acknowledges how few people gathered that all he did with this film was swap the hero and the sidekick roles around - hence Dennis Dun is the real hero of the movie. There are some amazing fight sequences in this films too - from a sword battle in the mid air (predating Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - which is a great film, although in cult circles that might not be such a popular thing to say. Some fans don't take nicely to popularity), to a huge stand off in San Francisco's Chinatown. Add to this a wise old man called Egg (Victor Wong) who spurts some incredibly irrelevant, but very funny, Chinese proverbs - a selection of awesome visual effects (courtesy of Richard Edlund), not to mention Kim Cattrall in a wet shirt and you have a great night's entertainment and then some. If you have already seen this movie then you know exactly what to expect and you hardly need me bleating on any further about its considerable merits. However, if you somehow managed to miss this highlight in John Carpenter's long and varied directorial career then now you have no excuse! Pick this DVD up and relish one of the most audacious and purely enjoyable flops of the eighties. I just love it to bits.

EXTRAS: I'm not sure the point of spreading the extra features over two discs, because there doesn't seem to be enough here to justify that. Which is not to say that Big Trouble in Little China is not jam packed with extras - it is, but no more so than The Thing or Deep Blue Sea, and they managed to cram everything onto one disc. Anyway... Disc one offers you a commentary track with Kurt Russell and John Carpenter. If you've got The Thing on DVD then you might remember that Russell and Carpenter mentioned that they would both like to do a commentary track for this film during the end credits. Well here it is. You're actually in for something of a disappointment to be honest. When the track ends with Carpenter saying: 'Sorry we haven't talked more about the movie', and Russell chipping in with 'Yeah, but the beer's been good...' you might get some sort of notion of just what I mean. Basically, the two use this opportunity to reminiscence about their families and just talk about stuff that is totally irrelevant to the action on screen. It begins well enough, but it soon flounders, and I can't think anyone would really want to hear about Russell's son playing hockey in Canada (as proud as his dad might be). Still, in amongst the boredom are flashes of insight. Carpenter says he can judge someone's sense of humour on account of whether or not they laughed as this film (which is really quite arrogant but there you go). The director also talks about some flak he received from the Asian community for apparently stereotyping them and Russell maintains that the whole cast was stoned during one take. At the end of the film Russell and Carpenter bring up Escape From LA and then proceed to talk about how that film might go on to become a well respected cult movie in the coming years. A bit optimistic if you ask me, but let's hope that if they do a commentary track for that one it's a bit more relevant... And so we begin on disc 2. Of course, there are the trailers - three for the cinema and six (count them) for the television. They're not bad either - the cinema trailers (one for the film's Spanish release) look the best, but the telly ads are the most entertaining, suggesting that the studio figured it had a blockbuster on its hands ('Jack Burton... he's coming to rescue your summer'). Take note: by the time the film actually made it to television, the brain police had decided that it was 'a comedy, action adventure'. The second disc also includes a selection of surprisingly detailed production notes, alongside the reproduction of two articles on the film from back in 1986. The first is from American Cinematographer and the second is from Cinefix. It doesn't take a genius to work out what each one is concerned with - and both are accompanied by a selection of photos that can be easily accessed. The obligatory 'Still Gallery' is also present - although trailing through it is made a little more bearable than usual. Yes, truth be told - I usually find still galleries to be a bit of a waste of time, however due to the inclusion of some hilarious sights (such as some of the crew mimicking the large bellies of some Buddhist statues) this one is actually more worthwhile. The other, seemingly inevitable, extra is a selection of biographies for the main cast, as well as for John Carpenter himself. An eight-minute featurette, obviously produced for publicity reasons back when the film was ready for release, is enjoyable enough - although the picture quality isn't great. Far more eye opening, however, is the film's music video, with a song performed by a band called The Coupe De Villes. Who are they? Well, 'they' are John Carpenter (singing, lead guitar and basically goofing around and looking very silly indeed. Brett Anderson he is not), the original Shape, Nick Castle, and Halloween 3 director Tommy Lee Wallace. They are, quite frankly, awful - not helped by the horrible eighties music video and John Carpenter dressed in a robe. Oh dear. Next up is an extended ending. Only the actual ending is not in the slightest bit different - the only change in this 'ending' is a brief section of Kurt Russell running the Chinese kidnappers from the beginning of the film over a peer and a brief dialogue exchange between Russell's character and Victor Wong. Of interest to the biggest fan of the film will be the huge selection of deleted, and extended scenes, with the opportunity (in some cases) to view these scenes in either a work print or video version. Some of these deleted scenes are enjoyable to watch (Kurt Russell briefly goofing around at the end of The White Tiger sequence stands out, as does the hilarious pay off at the end of Gracie's Office) but others are slightly less rewarding. The ten minutes plus of 'odds and ends' during Six Demon Bag, in particular, really begins to wear out its welcome. However, if you are a huge follower of this movie then I have little doubt that you'll eat all of this up with a passion! Last, but not least, is a fifteen-minute chat with special effects genius Richard Edlund who has a laugh at the expense David Fincher (based upon the director's idea for how to recreate the alien in Alien 3). The interview is fine and will be of special interest to those interested in Edlund's line of work. I felt that its appeal was lost on me, to be honest, but some of Edlund's chat still grabbed my attention. Phew! So there you are - Big Trouble in Little China really does deliver the extras. But, again, I have to ask... were the two discs really necessary? Whatever the answer to that may be (and I expect it is no) this is the only way to see Carpenter's film - in a gorgeous widescreen print (which really is perfect) and a blistering Dolby soundtrack (with the choice to utilise DTS, which my player can handle. Yippee!). Simply speaking - this transfer blew me away! I am a fan of this film, but the extras began to tire me out after a while, and I never found any of them (save for the odd deleted scene and a few of the television trailers) to be outstanding. Certainly nothing here is as entertaining as the eighty-minute documentary about the making of The Thing on that movie's disc release and, as aforementioned, the commentary track is a letdown. Maybe I was expecting too much from that though (The Thing remains one of the best commentary tracks ever, and Carpenter and Russell are on form throughout). I am of course nit picking... and all said I recommend this DVD. If you've not seen the movie before then I can't imagine that you wouldn't smile at least a few times at Kurt Russell's amusing portrayal of Jack Burton. Meanwhile if you have seen the film... well, then you know if you want to go near this movie or not. Even so, few could possibly have asked for more than this disc delivers.