Movies Worth Seeing

John Carpenter’s Big Trouble In Little China

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A truck driver who can’t stop asking questions, a friend who does the real fighting, and a sorcerer who waited 2,000 years for green eyes—there’s a reason Big Trouble in Little China refuses to fade. We dive straight into why this cult classic still sparks debate: the self-aware camp, the electric synths, the rain-soaked neon, and the audacity of casting a swaggering, lovable bumbler as your poster hero.

We break down Kurt Russell’s Jack Burton as a brilliant misdirect—loud, lost, but weirdly brave—while Wang carries the narrative weight and the martial arts grace. That inversion lets John Carpenter poke holes in the American hero myth without losing the popcorn thrills. From practical monsters and the iconic knife throw to uneven but ambitious fight staging, we pull apart the craft that makes the movie sing. And yes, we talk about the moments that age poorly—forced flirtations, accented English used among Chinese characters—and how the satire lands alongside the stereotypes.

Carpenter’s fingerprints are everywhere: the synth-driven score that snaps scenes into focus, the pulpy color palette that turns Chinatown into a fever dream, and the long partnership with Russell that keeps risk-taking fun. We trace cultural ripples into 90s pop culture, Mortal Kombat parallels, and why this film bombed before becoming midnight-movie royalty. Two of us call it pure five-star joy; one of us gives it a thoughtful seven, intrigued enough to chase The Thing next. Whether you rewatch for the set design, the one-liners, or that thunder-lit ceiling shot, there’s big charm in this little slice of cinematic chaos.

Hit play, ride with the Pork Chop Express, and tell us: is Jack Burton a hero, a decoy, or the perfect mix of both? If you enjoy our take, subscribe, share with a friend, and drop your favorite line in the comments.

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Setting The Stage: Why This Film

SPEAKER_03

Hey everyone and welcome to another episode of Movies Worth Seeing. On today's episode, we are revisiting a 1980s classic, John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China. I'm joined by Luke and Martin for today's episode. It's so good to have Martin for this particular movie as I feel like it really resonated with him in his culture.

SPEAKER_04

I think he said he loved it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I could tell from his his facial expressions, he definitely loved it. What did we just watch? So why did we pick this movie? Well, that's it.

SPEAKER_01

Why did you pick this movie? Don't say we. Stop saying we and you and stuffing in second person. You tend to do this.

SPEAKER_03

I picked this movie because I knew Martin would love it. And clearly I was right. No, I picked this movie because I've seen Big Trouble in Little China a million times, and I love watching it with people that have never seen it before and just watching their reactions.

SPEAKER_01

You love watching people watch little is it is it little trouble in big china or big trouble in little china? Shouldn't I be asking you? Don't noise. Which one is it?

SPEAKER_03

Big Trouble 67 because it's big, like everything's big and massive in Little China.

SPEAKER_01

China's where the heart is, sure. Is that true? Okay, well, unironically, when I I guess it's not really spoiler, but when the egg guy says that line at the end, yeah, that kind of does resonate with me on a personal level. But um, yeah, to each their own with what it means to them.

SPEAKER_03

But everything else, the Chang Sings, the Sorcerer Lopan, the three storms, none of these resonated with you.

SPEAKER_01

Oh yeah, relatable. Oh my, it reminded me of my childhood when I got belted by my dad.

SPEAKER_03

I don't know where that was going. What a wild turn that was. Um Luke, what did you think of the movie?

SPEAKER_04

I thought it was thoroughly entertaining. I really liked it. It was just this psychotronic, psychotropic, I don't know the word. Just like journey or whatever into the underbelly of wherever the hell they were.

SPEAKER_03

And just, yeah, I don't know, but I felt like I got a really good interpretation of Chinese culture from this film.

SPEAKER_04

It was like okay.

SPEAKER_01

You for the audio listeners out there, like you can just try and picture my like face-palming sort of expression like throughout this whole 50 minutes or so that we do this.

SPEAKER_03

For for the audio listeners that aren't familiar, Martin is Chinese. So he has to love this movie. He can't not like it.

SPEAKER_04

He has like a big eyeball monster floating around him all the time, actually.

SPEAKER_01

Ironic, it's the one with the biggest eyeball in amongst all Chinese people.

Culture, Representation, And The American Hero

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Did did Kurt Russell represent the China fairly you feel?

SPEAKER_01

He represented sort of the American sort of like interventionism, like them injecting themselves as like the hero figure in an even though it's a story of like Chinese struggle and stuff, there always has to be like the gung ho patriotic American that comes in to steal the show. You know what's funny? I'm not gonna turn it into political commentary because Lord knows I'm not well versed in like American, American Chinese stuff. But you know what? San Francisco filmmaking uh and all those struggles that the Chinese community, filmmaking communities sort of like went through in 50s to whatever with like James Hong and Bruce Lee and all that, getting sidelined, but all that. Lord knows I'm not well versed in to uh uh provide commentary on those, but this kind of also bring things back up with more positive energy. Actually, I want actually I want to expand like Luke, you you were like you, your first impression of it uh as somebody that is familiar, uh well the two of you actually that both of you that are familiar with uh John Carpenter's uh filmography and me, this one being my first ever John Carpenter movie, also being surprised to learn that he does he composes most of his own movies and you guys are familiar with his style. Uh you guys have your opinions of about like what movies are good, what movies are bad. And then I was wondering to the two of you, where does this movie sit in his filmography? Is it a bit of a black sheep? Is it an outline? Is it very much in no his DM?

Is This Carpenter’s Magnum Opus

SPEAKER_03

So big trouble in Little China is like I feel it's John Carpenter's Magnum opus because it just goes to show that he can commit to the most wild outlandish shit and make a film that is so uniquely his creative voice that you can't imagine any other director creating anything along the lines of this movie. 100%. Also, he has such a great partnership with Kurt Russell where I feel like he uses Kurt Russell so effectively, and they take chances, they take risks with this movie. Where, for example, I love seeing Kurt Russell as the bumbling hero who's not really the hero of the movie. If anything, he's the sidekick, even though he's on the posters and everything. But he you know, like a fight scene where he barely does every anything, the climactic showdown where he shoots the ceiling and the fucking rocks fall on his head and knock him out. And you're thinking to yourself, like, wait a second, isn't he on the cover of this movie?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's just brilliant. Like he's getting he's getting his blade, like his foot blade stuck inside like enemies whilst everyone else is doing martial arts flips and kicks and all that. He's still over there. It's like he's like he's like Chris Pratt and Guardian's Lord.

SPEAKER_03

It's like I'm still stuck here whilst everyone else is doing the badass sort of like and isn't isn't that a fun interpretation of American meets Chinese culture of having the American bumbling through everything without any craft, yeah, failing upward. And um yes, he's got the funny one-liners, but Wang is just fucking all over this shit. He's kicking ass, he's doing all the action sequences that are super well choreographed, and he's taking on sorcerers that control lightning and thunder and shit.

SPEAKER_01

I kind of uh half agree and half disagree about like well-choreographed. Well, like a quick read through Wikipedia says that oh uh John Carpenter always wanted to dip his toes into a martial arts movie, and this was his chance to do so, to work with like James Hong and the likes. Uh I will say it's like I I can see like all the flips and the you know the some somersaults and all that, you know. They they've clearly got great talent in those like uh stunt doubles and uh martial arts people. Uh just I think the camera work kind of lets it down. So it's it's clearly like the a Western, uh Western filmmakers were trying to capture like the Chinese martial arts and they couldn't quite get like the the cameras choreography right. Um so the human elements they were they were great, the camera work just kind of couldn't complement uh the humans enough. That that's what I will say.

SPEAKER_03

Interesting. Luke, what was your first impression?

SPEAKER_04

My first impressions was this movie is crazy good. There's just so much to the aesthetic. There's Venetian like blind lighting, there's like rain, there's smokiness, there's neon, and like there's this beautiful reflections, and the thing then there's obviously all the um, I guess you could say Eastern influence, which may or may not uh be kinda a little bit stereotypical, if I'm honest. But at the end of the day, it was such a fun film. And Kurt Russell in particular, his character is the most hopeless, most freaking hopeless lead I've ever seen in the movie ever. He has no idea what's going on. People will explain it to him with the exposition outright. He still has no idea.

SPEAKER_03

So there's actually a super cut of this on YouTube. You can look up Big Trouble in Little China. Jack Burden asks a whole bunch of questions, yeah, and it just shows you every line of dialogue where he asks questions, and it's literally like 30 minutes. What? Huh?

SPEAKER_01

Keep in mind this this movie is one hour 47, whatever. So that's almost like one third of the three. It's almost a third.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, wow, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_03

But it's good shit because when you watch it, you're just like, wow, he does ask a lot of questions. Yeah. Like I love it personally, near the end of the film, when this fucking giant monster comes out of nowhere, grabs a guy, egg shen throws the fucking smoke bomb or whatever, and he's like, ah, it'll come out no more. And he's like, What? What will come out no more?

SPEAKER_01

And he's like, ah, okay. And then things come out of wars, and then just grabs one of the one of their little helpers, and then they pay it, no, they they don't call attention to it anymore, they don't explain anything, they just keep keep on their merry way.

SPEAKER_03

One of those great moments where like a little henchman is killed and everyone is just like, well, alright, let's go.

Style, Aesthetics, And Martial Arts Staging

SPEAKER_01

They carry on. At least like the 30 minutes of him just like asking questions about what the heck is uh what the heck is a this, what the heck is that, what's with the red turban and the yellow turban? And so, and then the people that then gives those expositions and like the most matter-of-fact look kind of, oh uh uh Wing Kong, it's like you mean you mean the ones that was you mean the ones that was in Belzy Link the and then the the Gracie, the I'm the ones from the newspapers and that they give like full sentence of like like perfectly explainable everyone knows everything, and then it just like uh gives at least like uh I guess it gives me, I don't know if hope's the right word, that like at some level that this movie is still somewhat self-aware of all its zyniness. Like it feels like to me, I would say uh it feels everything feels like uh a sort of mad fever dream of just like them uh stepping into like from one sort of like you know weird action set piece to another, uh, you know, practical set design and all, which feels sometimes kind of like a white man's idea of like Chinese aesthetics with the with the uh set design and all that. But yeah, they just unapologetically just jump from like one weird weirdness onto the next. And then uh Jack's something like Kurt Russell's character, him, he just coming in and what the heck is going on? Or Jack Burton, and it's just like all I need is my truck, and then this guy's got up into flames, and then I ran into him, but it actually ran through him, and like, don't tell me it's an act of God because what the heck is going on? So it gives me at least this movie must be somewhat like self-aware of this like ridunculousness of what's only self-aware.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, it's kind of crazy where he's just like the whole movie, he like he loses his truck at the beginning of the movie, he's just wanting his truck the rest of the movie, and his money, of course. And then once he's done, he's going on this epic adventure into the bowels of San Francisco, Chinatown, whatever, and saving this girl and woman and whatever, and he's just like no tough shit. I want to get back to work. And he does, he just gets in the fucking truck and he just goes.

SPEAKER_03

So American, like he goes back to the same equilibrium, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

There's no like hero's journey where he's like better or whatever at the end. It doesn't become changed. No, no, he's the same person, and that's I don't know, like it's almost like is it is it working class propaganda? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

Uh I just saw it as he's American. Okay. Part of me liked that in like he goes back to the status quo. I suppose, like, uh, maybe about half-ish into the movie, like when I gave up trying to understand everything and and trying to make sense of everything that was going on, and then I would just like mentally sort of gave up and just like accepted what my eyes were seeing. It's just like because otherwise I would be getting too caught up in just being like, what am I watching? What happened witnessing all? So then I'm so it got to the point where it's like when he finally got his truck back. I a part of me, like like this happiness like welled up in me. I was like, Yes, he's got his truck. I'm just going along with the stupidity.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I didn't care that he saved all these people. I was just happy that Kurt Russell got his truck back. Yeah. That's all that mattered for me. When I saw the truck, I felt the euphoria for him. And I think for for you, Martin, it felt like you reached the same point that Jack Burton reached near the end of the movie, where he was like, Yeah, okay, yeah, what the fuck is this? Alright, whatever.

Jack Burton’s Questions And Comic Timing

SPEAKER_01

Stop trying to make sense of it, just like go with it. Just go with the flow, just like stop trying to reason with it and just like okay, yeah, you know, I'm here to see this through to the end, all this mystical, mystical marriage and whatever. Whatever. Let me just get the chick.

SPEAKER_04

And then just like aren't you gonna ask any questions, Martin?

SPEAKER_03

And he paused and he's just like, no, just I just kept looking at Martin and being like, so is that true? Is that is that real? Like, yeah. The three storms, is that is like that really part of the morphology? I thought it was just Mortal Kombat, but actually this came out before Mortal Kombat. Oh, did it? Uh, okay, okay. So I can see a lot of influence. What this was the first one to do the whole lightning thing?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, no, it wasn't Mortal Kombat first that did the whole like lightning effect. Ah, nine so uh this one is like 1980s, and then Mortal Kombat was the 90s. Oh, okay, okay, yeah, yeah. Gotcha, gotcha.

SPEAKER_03

So it was it's pretty cool to see so much of that. Like the wind uh the thunder, lightning character, the I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

The expanding guy was more practical effects rather than computer effects.

SPEAKER_03

Um is Shang Sung, essentially. Like he's got a very similar look.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, you don't mean the actor. Oh. No, no, no, not the actor.

SPEAKER_03

I mean the David Lopen as a character looks similar. I can see a lot of similarities to someone like Shang Sung.

SPEAKER_01

Resting Priest, um uh what's his name? Cory Yuki or something. Cory something, the the guy that plays uh Shang Sung. He died last year or something, didn't he?

SPEAKER_03

The guy from the original Mortal Kombat movie. Your soul is mine. Your soul is mine. Your soul, your brother's soul is mine. I'm pretty sure you said that on a podcast that we did once.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, probably. Uh yeah. Like once once I can get past that mental barrier, then I just fall into a weird mind melding of just acceptance. Yeah, and as you brought up, actually, I maybe sort of like me as a first-time viewer also represents like Kurt Russell's character as well, whose name I keep forgetting. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03

How do you forget Jack Burden, man? Jack Burton says his own name, he refers to himself in the third person like 20 times. He does that, he does.

SPEAKER_04

Even the characters know how like hopeless he is in the thing. He goes, You know what Jack Burden would do? And they're like, who? He's like, Me? Like, okay. Like, it's it's it's it's great. There's that sort of like campiness or whatever to the film that makes it so much more fun.

Embracing The Fever Dream

SPEAKER_03

And getting to see like Kurt Russell, it wouldn't surprise me if he improvised those parts on the radio, walkie-talkie in the truck. But like him killing time on the truck by just talking to himself and whoever's listening, referring to himself in the third person, then sets up for later on when he continues to do that. Just like when Wang goes to cut this glass bottle in half, and you see him have this really awesome reaction, you're like, oh, okay. He doesn't have any powers or anything, and he can't fight, but maybe there is some secret power to him, something unique. He does have really good reflexes.

SPEAKER_04

I was really hoping that they'd circle back around and have him do that at the end or something like that, or something. Do what? Just to cut the bottle in half, or even like go to do it again and just smash it into a million pieces or something.

SPEAKER_01

And the only real impression I got of his character is the bumbling character who it's not because they possess some secret hidden power that's like locked inside of them, it's more so that due to accidents, they just they become accidental badasses because like maybe really lucky. Like really lucky. Johnny English is like someone falls into the blade rather than like he did something badass or something. So, oh I'll be I accidentally did this badass thing. That's how I feel. Although, but oh actually, I'm although I'm gonna contradict myself as well with like the whole knife throw at the end as well. I mean, at first he misses, but then he gets a second chance and does it again. And it that in an actual kind of badass way.

SPEAKER_04

That was really funny.

SPEAKER_01

That was super badass, man.

SPEAKER_03

That was like one of the best villain kills ever, because the first time seeing it, you did not expect that, especially because it was so quick. I feel like it would be dragged out that moment where it was it was done.

SPEAKER_01

And it doesn't even give like the one-liner like after like before the kill or after the kill. Just like all of a sudden it's like like you already miss, and then when it gets thrown back to him, it's like and then whip pan across and it's like it's lodged into the guy's the guy's like head, and it's like, oh whoa! Holy crap, that was swift, that was that was badass. No need for one-liners. I was like, and then move on. The moment was just badass. You didn't need a one-liner. No, it would have just and that was not bumbling or whatever, and that was pure skill. Whoa, okay, crap.

SPEAKER_03

Well, also in that brief moment, he he grabs like Miao Yin and puts her behind him. So even if like you don't know how it's gonna turn out, you still see brave uh moments of heroism and sacrifice, even though he is that typical bumbling guy. Like, no one really forces him to go with Wang to save Miao Yin. Ah, he his own agency. Even after he like narrowly escapes the storms attacking him.

SPEAKER_01

Which are you talking about?

Mortal Kombat Parallels And Effects

SPEAKER_03

When he goes to like the brothel. Oh yeah. Uh-huh. So when he goes to the brothel in disguise, and then he tries to punch one of the storms, and he like kicks him and goes flying, he still afterwards says to Wang, like, I told you I'd come with you. So even though he is this bumbling idiot, you still love and respect that he's like very supportive and really wants to help him.

SPEAKER_01

He is heroic and he does kinda like do acts of heroism. Yeah, suppose then it's like my first character I've seen where I feel like in in my uh viewing experience, I've seen characters that are either like completely bumbling and then they just accidentally do badass things, or they're like the heroic dog. Never someone that like has moments of both. It's like sometimes he's like he does something that's genuinely badass, but then there's other moments where he gets his knife, like he he he's trying to pull the knife from out from his boot and he just flicks it off and he just goes out. And then Wang gets his like badass moment where when Jack comes back, everyone's already knocked out like that.

SPEAKER_03

Also, he goes to kiss Kim Catrol's character, uh Gracie, and Gracie was like as if to say, like, what the hell are you kissing me for? instead of it being like this happy embrace or whatever, which definitely wouldn't be done with that.

SPEAKER_01

But then the cold exterior starts melting away, and then she starts to sort of like go along with his matchfulness, but then she can't resist the Jack Burton machismo. Yeah, but I go with you.

SPEAKER_02

Nah. This just walks off. You're not even gonna kiss her goodbye.

SPEAKER_03

No, nah. You know what old Jack Burton says.

SPEAKER_01

Or um are do do Kurt Russell and John Carpenter, are they frequent collaborators in the same? It's kind of like Tim Burton and Johnny Depp.

SPEAKER_03

Um, not as frequent because Johnny Depp and Tim Burton like can't make a movie without each other, except for like very rare.

SPEAKER_01

So I ask because like in other John Carpenter movies, is that does Kurt Russell also fall into similar characters? Like I don't know, uh every in other John Carpenter movies, first of all.

SPEAKER_03

He is, but they're all completely different. So he's like he's McCready in the thing, which is very, very different character to Jack Burton, and then Snake Pliskum, which is like more of a badass, like the typical badass. Like actual badass, badass.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03

So the one-liners and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01

So the so having worked collaborated at some times together, they do I don't know, sort of have like a have like a sort of working relationship together where he lets Jack Russell uh not Jack Russell.

SPEAKER_03

You were about to jump Jack Russell. He lets the Jack Russell just run through free. He takes the leash off Jack Russell, yes.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, like like like the lets him come in, like come into his own, like the acting wise with each character.

unknown

So yeah.

SPEAKER_03

He lets him come, and then I was like, oh shit, where's this going, Martin?

Heroism Without Transformation

SPEAKER_04

I'm pretty sure like a Jack Russell, instead of Jack Burton, would have more knowledge and agency about what's going on around him.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, a Jack Russell would do better.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, he'd be much more intuitive.

SPEAKER_03

100%. So is there anything that you feel would 100% not be put in a modern movie?

SPEAKER_04

I think that moment where he does just kiss Kim Catrol and such.

SPEAKER_01

In a non-consensual manner. Even just like him approaching her like at the airport, like making unwanted advances.

SPEAKER_04

And the other thing is as well, like there's even that moment, it's like, can you stop moving all over me? It's it's ruining my concentration and stuff. That was done in a way where at the time it was supposed to be comedic and such, but now it's like a little bit of a lot of it. Now it's like a kind of a bit, yeah. I just wouldn't fly with modern or like in a modern film.

SPEAKER_01

It not that it wouldn't fly with modern audiences, it wouldn't fly with the people who think they know what modern audiences tolerate.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so it wouldn't fly with- it just wouldn't fly with woke producers and all that shit. Is that what you mean?

SPEAKER_01

In in a uh sense or like or maybe like where where the people who the people that cause the shots where they sort of how they want to sort of steer the direction of things, or like where they feel the direction in in the wind is in the zeitgeist, of like where they think like people will and won't tolerate. Uh I don't know. It's it's a deeper conversation about who it is that dictates what's tolerable, what's intolerable, and whether one affects the other and and what have you, or maybe it's symbiotic sort of thing.

SPEAKER_03

Luke, what what did um were you surprised to hear, Luke, that this movie and the thing were like back-to-back bombs for John Carter?

SPEAKER_04

I I really was.

SPEAKER_03

Which came first? Which came first? Uh The Thing. Okay.

SPEAKER_04

I'm was very surprised to hear that they both bombed. 100%. Because uh I honestly think that they're both really great films. I honestly think the thing remake is better than The Thing from Another World. Um, and I yeah, I was just really sort of surprised as well because they would have been big budget productions, like they would have put a lot of money behind marketing and such, but it was just kind of surprising that they're both doomed to fail. But we were sort of chatting about it off camera where maybe the audience was having a bit of audience fatigue. Because you said ET came out around the same time, and so these two semi-science fiction, I guess you said might be more fantasy films coming out back to back.

Knife Throw, Reflexes, And Real Skill

SPEAKER_03

Um probably didn't I suppose a family-friendly alien movie would probably do a lot better than a like M, but whatever the hell the thing was rated back in the day, with like brutality and also depends on how they marketed it. Like when I watch a movie like Big Trouble in Little China, I have no idea how they would have marketed this this movie.

SPEAKER_01

Who's the target audience? Like, who is the targeting? So if if you can't answer that simply, it's like it's very difficult to publicize this for sure.

SPEAKER_04

E.T. is one of those movies though, in comparison, that it's like a four-quadrant film where it hits all the markets. The kids will love it, uh, you know, um young adults will love it, root like middle-aged people will love it, and old people will love it. And they'll all go to the movies.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

But that's also still, even for general movies, that's very hard to hit. Obviously, with a movie like Big Trouble in Little China or the thing, they're not skewed to the kids or like you know, um, not skewed to really old people. It's kind of those people in the middle.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, because as a kid watching Big Trouble in Little China, I found it hilarious, but then there was all these scary moments where I'm like, ah, that monster thing is creepy ass and gives me nightmare feel.

SPEAKER_01

Grotesque designs. And and then you were saying that okay, tell tell us which bit like really scarred you.

SPEAKER_04

I remember it like much worse, but when he stabs them in the wrist.

SPEAKER_01

Meow ying with a needle thing.

SPEAKER_04

I mean blood. And like, look, I've never actually been afraid of syringes or needles or whatever. That's a joke. So it's not like it had Jesus moment, but something about that moment where he just stabs them in the wrist or whatever really got me. I just remember it being so much worse than it actually was. But now watching it now, I'm like, oh, that was nothing.

SPEAKER_01

But pretty tame. Yeah. Is it because you've watched much more violent depictions on screen since?

SPEAKER_04

I don't know. I'm not quite sure. I just think I think I s what I might have thought I saw as a kid was a lot worse than what was actually on screen.

SPEAKER_01

You watched you watch the uh you watched the R-rated uncensored version where Where he just puts the pin in and it's like blooded. Go through the arm, and it's like and that's like lost media that's like no one has seen except you. You got like the lost VHS tape that will go for like millions of things. You saw the Tarantano card. You watch the original.

SPEAKER_03

That's somewhere the that creature and it's just which one?

SPEAKER_01

Which which one? The floating like Ant-Man, like that one.

SPEAKER_03

The the hairy monster that looks like a bigfoot.

SPEAKER_01

The one that looks like that comes out just to remind us that it's exists in the movie.

SPEAKER_03

Well, the first time when it when it grabs Kim Catrol as character Gracie, and then her reacting and being like, What the fuck is this thing? And like, ah like that part really got me as a kid because I'm like, man, this thing is really ugly and it has like a very horrible roar that I'm very curious from the sound design department how they put that together. If they put like a bunch of elephants and a tiger's roar combined to so when you say got me, do you mean like it made you burst out laughing or really creeped you out?

SPEAKER_01

It creeped me out as a kid. Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, gotcha. It was one of those things like that is exactly what I'm like.

SPEAKER_04

The yellow eyes are what got me at first.

SPEAKER_01

I was like, that's not Oh, the yellow eye inside the wall? Yeah, because it's like a Scooby-Doo's on a that was freaky to me.

SPEAKER_04

I'm like, your eyes should not be that yellow.

Consent, 80s Tropes, And Modern Standards

SPEAKER_01

That guy's like jaundice or something. He's got some kidney problems. He's got pea inside his eyeball. Inside his eyeball, I think. P stored in the balls. Yeah, the eyeballs. Sorry. The eyeballs. Um do we bother saying like which one's our favourite character? I don't really know if I I myself would have a favourite character. Or maybe favourite moments, favorite kills. Really? Not even Wang. Oh, I'll have to think about all the characters. Uh I'll have to cycle through. Wang, he's an actual badass.

SPEAKER_04

Wang was the best character, but I let's be real. One, he had like the best goal in mind, which was getting his like, you know, fiancee or future wife back, whatever.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, he's the motivating factor in the world.

SPEAKER_04

And he's also the most like competent one and such. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

It's also not explained how he's able to fight off like the thunder gods and shit and take them down.

SPEAKER_01

Seems he has a way more interesting backstory and upbringing, and then uh Kurt Russell's character is the one that like happened to be at the right place to then help out his pal.

SPEAKER_03

He's also gotta accept that like perhaps the the myths and stories he was told as a kid were actually real. Like the harsh truth that, oh my god, all that shit was real. I didn't want to believe it, but now I have to believe it.

Box Office Bombs And Marketing Puzzles

SPEAKER_01

So is there an oh gosh, would there be like an adaptation where it's like it's all serious, there's no comedy, and it's from Wang's POV, like we go, like maybe dive a bit into his upbringing with his martial arts training and what have you, and the myths he's he's been brought up to, like the bedside the bedside stories that he's told. And I wonder if this could be like a reimagining or I know we hurt the hate the term. Like where it's from his perspective and it's a serious take on this movie without the comedic angle, without the American interventionist who comes in to he'll come to save the day. I I don't know. It's it's it's a horrible, it's a horrible idea.

SPEAKER_03

It's a Pulp Fiction movie without the Tarantino essence. Like, why would you why would you want that though? I just want I just ponder the movie. I just ponder the possibility.

SPEAKER_01

No, I just I just simply ponder the possibility. What if, man, what if you had like a movie that was like you flipped around the perspective and made it about him being like the the central protagonist, and then you had like a more serious take, and then you you make like all the the villainy or the pro the antagonism less campy, and then there was like a somewhat of a serious, sort of more maybe borderline, even like creepy kind of take on like the whole mythology and the myths and so on, and you were really fighting this like world-ending evil and stuff. I I don't know, and then I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_03

I'm sure the love interest that has a lot of those aspects.

SPEAKER_04

It just might not necessarily be American.

SPEAKER_01

Um that's what I'm saying. Like maybe they remove that like American like guy and just make it about like a revenge tale's not really the one, but like someone who's trying to reunite with his love that's you know they got separated from. I don't know, it's but it's some variation of that probably already exists somewhere out there.

SPEAKER_03

So you want some little trouble in big China with no no American cast.

SPEAKER_01

I would prefer if there was no trouble in any China.

SPEAKER_03

We're just gonna be some trouble harmoniously. Otherwise, why are we watching it? If there's no trouble, then it's just we're just watching tourist videos. We're just watching China.

SPEAKER_01

We're just watching Egg Shen give his uh a tourist sort of tour bus. I would so ride on his bus though. I would love to talk about it. You would love to ride on his egg bus. Yeah, okay, cool. I don't know why. Love to ride his egg. Yeah. Why am I digging my I don't know? Put the shovel down, Martin. Anyway.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Well that's where that's repeat.

SPEAKER_03

Martin, is there anything you want to tell us about? Is there any is there any homoerotic feelings that this movie brought up for you? Did you want to see a deleted scene where Wang Jack Burden got it on? Because I remember at the end you were like, oh, Jack should hook up with Wang. That would make a lot of things. Yeah, Wang, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Wang should show his Wang to him as well.

SPEAKER_03

Wang should have been like, Jack, come touch my Wang Wang in this room at the end.

Replay Value: Design, Music, And Camp

SPEAKER_01

It's pronounced Wang, by the way, but anyways. Uh but I'm Wang, guys. I guess I missed that. Well, okay, like I will say I also coming in, I don't know if I already said this, but like this, like this was me watching the movie with like three hours of sleep, so then already my mind was in a haze, and then it the watching this fever dream of a movie also didn't help matters as well.

SPEAKER_03

So then it's like anything goes kind of thing. I get it. If you want, we can watch a movie that like makes fun of I don't know, Australians or Americans. Italians.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Italians, or like you know, Mike Big Fat Greek Wedding. Oh, that would just torture all of us though.

SPEAKER_04

It's a parody movie called Mafia. I don't know if you've seen it. It's terrible, but it like Is it an American movie? It's an American movie, but it does parody like all of the what are they called, mafia movies or whatever.

SPEAKER_01

Oh what, like Italian American stereotypes or like crime, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So like parodies like the godfather, like good fellas, and you know, so it's a parody movie. Yeah, okay. It's bad, but it's entertaining somewhat.

SPEAKER_03

Would you watch this movie again?

SPEAKER_04

100%. 100%. I'm speaking for him a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01

For the for the audio listeners out there, he Luke just sort of like beckoned towards me. It's like assuming assuming my cooperation in this.

SPEAKER_03

I don't even have to ask Martin because I know he would watch this again. Oh yeah. 100%, hands down.

SPEAKER_01

What what what replay value like genuine question as like a Chinese person to you guys? It's like what replay value is there in it for you two? Would you watch it?

SPEAKER_04

Would you watch it with your parents?

SPEAKER_01

Fuck no.

SPEAKER_03

Um interesting question. What replay value? I love the exposition drops because they're they're delivered so seriously, but like with a tongue-in-cheek way of being like, we know this is fucking ridiculous story. Um, Jack Burton's reactions to everything going on around him is so much fun. I love the production design, the set pieces are really colourful and like the neon and special effects. Like that shot where the thunder god lights up the ceiling and then he's walking away like really cool and it comes down behind him. Like that looks badass. That looks fucking really cinematic.

SPEAKER_01

Pretty pretty good blending of like lighting techniques to complement what they would impose, like compute, like add in in post later on with computer effects with the blue lightning streaks. Uh, pretty well timed those, like when it lights up the eyes or the or uh the environment. Yeah, pretty good those.

SPEAKER_03

I also gotta say, the John Carpenter does a great job with the music.

SPEAKER_04

100%.

Carpenter’s Synth And Broader Influence

SPEAKER_03

There's something unique about his films because you feel like his creative voice is so in sync with the music because he's done both, that he knows the moments to like push up here, build this up, and he does it really well because he doesn't have to tell a music composer what he wants, he just does it, and he knows exactly tonally what he's going for, where he can compose the music for something like this, which is like an 80s fantasy action comedy, and then he can also go and compose the music for a film like The Thing, where it's this suspense horror thriller, slow burn kind of movie that deals with like themes of paranoia and anxiety and trust. I I just find that really cool that he can just wear so many hats because I'm like, I can't even fucking do more wear than one hat with like doing a podcast or anything in life.

SPEAKER_01

Is the name of that like midi keyboard sort of effect called is it called synth? It's like the thing that characterizes 80s movies. It's called synth, right? S-Y-N-T-H. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I like those.

SPEAKER_04

It's yeah, so and I I honestly think it's like a it's a very good way of like informing his style as well. Like he does accompany it just so well and it's so iconic. And he's had like an even bigger, I guess you could say, uh, influence on the broader film community. Because if you watch a movie like It Follows, disaster piece, like he composed that soundtrack for that movie and is very much like John Carpenter. I've made short films where I'm just like I've handed over the composer, I'm like, you know what? I want like the John Carpenter feel, I want it like suspense or I want it eighties or whatever, and I've just not 100% knowing what they're doing. So he's had like a much bigger cultural impact, I think. Does he own that stuff? Does he okay?

SPEAKER_03

He's one of those guys that like you could go see him perform. Oh yeah, I would just so pay to see like that. Like he's in the Denny Elfman department for me. Whoa, of like high bar. Yeah, I'd say that. I mean, you got Halloween, which is a super iconic theme. Then you got movies like this The Thing, The Thing, They Live.

SPEAKER_01

Wait, Halloween the like piano dun dun dun dun dun that's him.

SPEAKER_04

That's him.

SPEAKER_01

Whoa! Holy crap! Yeah, that's so cool.

SPEAKER_04

We can post the whole school for that, and the see two sequels, I think, which is Halloween 2 and Halloween 3 Seasons of the Witch. Which I think is really underrated. I don't know how you feel about that movie.

SPEAKER_03

I honestly haven't watched it in a long time. I would love to watch it.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, that'll be watch we should watch that with him.

SPEAKER_03

It was like it was one of those movies where I just couldn't understand, like, wait, so it's a Halloween movie without Michael Myers? Like, but after I got over that, I was like, okay. It's a pretty good movie.

SPEAKER_01

Well, just to round off like some of the replay values for you, Michael, and then I guess on to Luke's like you you you were saying, like the the campiness, the self-awareness, the set design, the practical effects, the the uh um the music. Uh was there any other uh replay sort of stuff?

Collaborations: Burton, Plissken, McCready

SPEAKER_03

Or if not, then like I guess like the fight scenes, this humor behind everything, uh David Lopin as a character, like one thing that I can just say like David Lopin telling these guys that he's just taken captive, like, I'm gonna marry this girl because she's got green eyes, and then Jack Burden just taking the whole story and being like, Come on, man, are you serious? You've had 2,000 years as a sorcerer to find a girl with green eyes and you couldn't find anyone, you must be doing something seriously wrong, man. You couldn't find a broad with green eyes, that yeah, yeah, that was such American one-liners, you know. But also this guy being like, hey, hey, uh, there were others, you know. I had chances, like as if he's some guy trying to say, like, yeah, I can hook up with chicks. I just it just didn't work out with the other ones, you know. I don't I just feel like it it's something that you don't see. It's just such a humorous moment where you see this sorcerer just being mocked.

SPEAKER_04

I love it that he gets to that, like, spoiler alert, he does get to the point. He gets what he wants, he becomes flesh and blood, and then it's just ruined by some dead deadbeat fucking truck driver. Like, you know, like that's it. It's like, yeah, okay. Yeah. That's actually that's some that's some pretty cool um, I guess you could say, um, disruption of the sis of system when you think about it. Which the working class hero. Gosh, that got deep.

SPEAKER_01

Um, well, what what replay values are in it for you? Oh, I there's so much replays. Pretty much similar to like Michael's sort of like the what he likes about it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, I love like just some shots of the stuff that jumped out of mind for me. It's like when the pink Cadillac rocks up and there's all the neon and it's raining and there's lightning and you just see the reflections and those deep blacks, there's bright colours or whatever, juxtapose. I love the weird effects, the weird eyeball thing, the explosion of the thing. There's just so much to see this movie. I wasn't I wanted to see this movie at the longest time, but I was not expecting me to love it so much. Like it was such a great film. I loved it. So, yes, there's everything, everything to me is rewatch value for this film.

SPEAKER_03

Why would you not re-watch this model?

A Serious Wang-Centric Reimagining

SPEAKER_01

Uh to like respond to like all the pros that you guys raise. Um like every every like good points that you guys raise are things that I completely like you know agree with, agree with. It's just not enough for me to warrant a re-watch. Uh, if anything, it kind of makes me now then move forward to like other John Carpenter stuff to then see like what sort of like through line DNA it's like of his like is uh permeates throughout. Like, you know, you guys were talking about the synth music and like his style, the his style of like directing and and the way that he tells the story. Um so it's uh everything you guys said like as as much as I also just as just as much uh enjoyed the uh practical effects and music and and uh the cheesiness of it all. Um if for me the same reasons that you guys like it is for me a way of saying it's a one and done for me. I like I enjoyed it, okay, for me, move on. I'm just in that a bit a bit of a different headspace. I enjoyed it to the same degree you guys, but then my takeaway was okay now next, rather than let's let's watch that again.

SPEAKER_03

I feel like one day I'll be in bed at 3 a.m. And I'm gonna get a message from you saying, Michael, I get it now. Big trouble in little China. What's that is the best movie ever made?

SPEAKER_01

I'll let you audio listeners uh figure out what hand gesture I'm making.

SPEAKER_04

Actually, what was the hand gesture they did at the end? It's the Chang Sins. Okay. Is it like a C or is it an L?

SPEAKER_01

It's it's like the Dr. Strange. Fingers are like sort of curled up like this, and then it's just like it's the exact same as the Dr. Strange. Oh my god. You know how like you, Michael, you and Addy, you hate when people are like, you just don't get it, man. Now it's your your turn to be saying that to me. You just don't get it, Martin. You don't get this Chinese film. I just try to tell a Chinese person. I'm just fucking what to think about. Yeah, but I'm also I'm also going along with the banter, but I was the one going along with the with the you just don't get it, Martin. It's like you don't you as a Chinese person don't get this Chinese masterpiece. It's all about the American interventionist stepping in to Wang's hero's journey and then taking credit for everything. And then the American's the one that like went takes all the credit and stuff. You just don't get it, Martin. This is a commentary on American.

SPEAKER_04

Why don't you kind of sound like Tarantino for a second?

SPEAKER_01

I'd be out I'd be out there like uh criticizing Paul Dano next, calling him like the worst actor in the sag. Fucking that was random.

SPEAKER_03

That was so random. I still would warrant it. I would never think that Tarantino would like that. He would shit on randomly.

SPEAKER_01

Why why pro what provoked such uh such a uh such an attack on um Matthew Lula? And Paul Daniels. That was super rampant. Did he attack Matthew Lillard as well? Yeah, and then everyone supported him as well. And it's like, oh my gosh, thank you guys so much for you know the love you show me. You know, I know I know I'm not taken as seriously in Hollywood. And you know, it's just so such an unwarranted attack. It would be hilarious. Was it an interview he did? What what yeah it was a podcast or something?

SPEAKER_03

But you know what would be funny if he was like, psych, I got you all. My next movie's starring Matthew Lillard and Paul Dano.

SPEAKER_04

That's kind of what I'm expecting to happen in a way. Like he's sort of setting that up. And then that's just gonna start even more chatting.

SPEAKER_01

It's like it's like Twitter, like fake beefs, it's like these two rappers, they're like, and then they're like pretending to like drum up some real drama, and then next thing you know, it's like rap battle, like rap battles, like and then it's all and then you've come to find out both rappers are owned by the same record label, and it's just fake drama that's invented by them to sort of like stir up trouble in order to sell more albums.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I mean it's 40 chess from it got a lot of attention on Paul Dano. So I mean, like it worked out great for him. I don't know how it's gonna work out for Tarantino because he comes off looking like a massive dick.

SPEAKER_04

But he'll be fine.

Humor, Subtext, And Working-Class Read

SPEAKER_03

One thing I'll say, Martin, even though I know you hated this movie, I didn't hate it, no, I didn't hate it. I I know that you'll love the thing because all the things that you liked about this movie uh much better in that. In the thing, okay. But also, I mean, the thing is a completely different type of movie, but it is one of those movies where you can watch, even though it's the same director, you can watch it and be like, holy shit, I hate this movie, but I love this movie.

SPEAKER_01

Ah, like the thing that all the things that you you the three of us said we liked about this movie, had it been applied, had it been applied to another movie, like there was a different genre, like a horror, like the thing, for example, then I'll be like, this is more applicable, and now it these these moving pieces like work for me. It doesn't fit in this cheesy thing, but it works in a horror. Okay. Well, uh until I watched a thing, like, yeah, I'm inclined to think that might be the the source of my uh I don't know, befuddlement to my apprehension to this movie. Mind you, I I say apprehension, but don't don't get it twisted. I I don't dislike this movie, I must, I must uh clarify. Nah, everyone's coming for you, man. They're coming out with the pitchforks. I wonder what James Hong like thinks of uh his his time working on this movie. And yeah, because gosh, James Hong's he's worked in like hundreds of movies. Like he's cemented himself as like the like American sort of Hollywood icon. Um, and yeah, I'm sure hopefully he has fond memories of like being David.

SPEAKER_03

I think he would. I mean, it's it's one of those characters that when people see him on the street, they're like, oh man, David Lopan. Like that character is synonymous with him.

SPEAKER_01

I'm sure the yeah, he yeah, James Hong is like very uh grateful for like for every role that he's he's held being a part of.

SPEAKER_03

Also, it's a really fun role. Like he gets to do so many different things. He gets to be this old withered uh guy, but then he gets to be this young, youthful sorcerer, yeah, like seven feet tall with those big high boots and shit. And he's powerful.

Crowd Watches And Litmus Tests

SPEAKER_01

And he's funny in both iterations. Like you laughed, you cackled so much when he was like this old pervy dude, just going while while it's like Grace or no Grace. Yeah, Gracie. Gracie. It is Gracie. It's like he's she still trying to be like, Oh, I'm gonna get you guys in a slam for this one, and then she's going, and he's just he it's just going completely in one ear, out the other. It's like hee he, you know, like this poking at her chest, and you were just crazy.

SPEAKER_04

I thought he was poking at her face.

SPEAKER_01

Face, then like chest.

SPEAKER_03

Kind of just like poking at it was almost like he was tickling her, but it was funny because it just undercut her trying to be like really tough with him in like you were cackling so much of that.

SPEAKER_04

Him saying it never worked out with anyone over 2,000 years. I think that explains it. If you just like Yeah, it's not gonna work out, bro.

SPEAKER_03

And also also the other part when like he's he's saying about Miao Yin, he's like, oh, I love you, I need you, and she's like, No, get away from me. And he's like, take the stupid bitch. It's like, okay, I could see why it's been 2,000 years and you haven't found anyone, David.

SPEAKER_02

It would have been funny if like if they remade this and he's like has that interaction with Jack and he's like, you know, I there were others, I was on Tinder and Bumble and Hinge, but I never found anyone.

SPEAKER_03

It is very tough out there, but surely you, Jack Burton, understands the complexities of modern dating.

SPEAKER_04

Maybe all he needed to do was just go out with Jack Burton for a bit. He seemed to do pretty okay at the end.

SPEAKER_03

That would have made a lot of sense. Yeah. Just be like, Jack, you seem to be pretty good with the ladies, even though he's not. He's not.

SPEAKER_04

I can't say he fumbles the ball at the end, but he deliberately drops the ball. He's just like, yeah, no.

SPEAKER_03

It's probably internet alpha males been like, yeah, man, that was alpha as fuck, bro. The way he like turned her down and flipped the frame. Who the fuck's gonna turn down Kim Control? Like, come on, man. That's that's just wrong. I just like Kim Control for me was like my first childhood crush. Where I was like, whoa.

SPEAKER_04

Was it she like, didn't she end up being in Sex in the City and that?

SPEAKER_03

Or yeah, she's the she's like the chick in Sex in the C the cougar in Sex in the City that like just bangs constantly. She's like a sex a holy.

SPEAKER_04

Did that also inform your uh crush or whatever, or no?

SPEAKER_03

I remember being a kid being like, oh, I'm gonna watch Sex in the City because there's there's probably gonna be nudity, and then I watched the name like Sex in the City, it's anyways. Yeah, and then I watched it and I was like, oh, this is shit. It's just girls talking about guys and stuff. Like, this is horrible. Um but yeah, that was my childhood. Good to know. What was everyone's favorite line from the movie?

Favorite Lines, Language, And Cringe

SPEAKER_01

Look, I don't know, but just once again perpetuates like the age-old practice of ethnic people in Americans in American movies speaking in like ethnic accents in English, even though they're like amongst their own people. Like even if even though David's a like a Chinese person amongst Chinese people, he still has to like he still has to deliver expositions in English in a with a broken accent, even though there's no Americans around. Is that why age old?

SPEAKER_03

Is that why you were cringing when I was doing David Lopan's voice? Uh what wait, whilst we were watching a movie or no, no, no, no, just now when I was doing his voice, I could see cringing, like, uh fuck.

SPEAKER_01

For me, it's just a like a bit of a fatigue, fatigue sort of thing. I'm just like, uh, not that.

SPEAKER_03

Having said that, there were times where he changed to Chinese.

SPEAKER_01

That's the thing, is like, oh, every so often it's like in mid-conversation, you just like switch back to like the their native tongue for no reason. It's an American movie scared, you know.

SPEAKER_04

For me, uh my probably my favorite line actually was just damn it! And there's just no reason for him to say it. Like they're just like, there's a monster in the thing, he won't get us now. And I think just because he's just been scared of it, he's just like, he takes a second, he's like, damn it, and then he just walks off.

SPEAKER_03

I love that moment too, because it's like he has to just accept, like, all right, so no one's gonna explain what the fuck that thing was. Like, what's the story behind that giant thing that just popped out of nowhere?

SPEAKER_04

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03

And like that that was exactly what Martin was probably feeling for most of this movie of like, it's what what is this? Ah fuck it.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Fuck it, I think, is probably like yeah, the modern modern equivalent of it, really.

SPEAKER_03

Awesome. Let's get into final ratings. Luke, what would you give out of five?

SPEAKER_04

Ten. Ten out of five. Maybe like maybe a four four four point five nah, five out of five. Pure entertainment, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Martin. Uh out of five. Uh it's not my cup of tea, but that's not that's not reason enough to like give it a low score. Um like I can see why it's enjoyable and which makes it all the more perplexing why it didn't do well. Um, that and the thing. So I'm gonna give it uh graciously give it a seven out of ten. So that's like, what's that, three and a half out of five? I think this is a movie that does deserve, that did deserve to do better at the box office. But then you guys were saying maybe by that point, like there was a bit of an audience fatigue for that sort of thing. I don't know.

Final Ratings And Takeaways

SPEAKER_03

I don't I'm not aware of like it might have just been uh I feel it could have been bad marketing. Maybe Kurt Russell wasn't hitting his stride at the time. I'm not 100% sure, but like if he had done the thing and then done this movie, I don't know where he was at if he was like bringing in the big star power at that time. Because I I like I don't remember which movie was the one that kind of catapulted Kurt Russell.

SPEAKER_04

Was he in Assault on Precinct 13, or was that before?

SPEAKER_03

Okay, because he was in Escape from New York, but that's another movie that I don't think had that worldwide mainstream success. Could have been that they didn't even know what it was or how to market it, like like I said before, because it's like it's so many stuff.

SPEAKER_01

You have to watch it to sort of get it, yeah sort of thing.

SPEAKER_03

What would you even show in the trailers? I can't even imagine the guy editing the trailers would have been like, man, this is fucked. I quit. I'm not editing this trailer.

SPEAKER_04

Have you seen 80s trailers though? They just did not give a shit. Like, there's nothing entertaining about them. And they don't have any idea of what they're doing. Like it's only in the 90s where I think they started being like, oh no, it's gotta tell a story, you know.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, here's a weird analogy then. Then would would it be sort of like the same case with like a Hideo Kojima kind of game where it's like you you can you it's really hard to explain until you actually like play Death Stranding yourself? But and so in the meantime, with only the marketing materials and the trailers to go off of, which is actually edited by Hideo Kojima himself, it's like it's like how do you make a trailer out of this thing? It's like you can only really like get it and enjoy it if you actually play it, like put the controller in your hand yourself. Is that kind do you think it's like that kind of scenario?

SPEAKER_03

I mean, there is there is definitely parallels to something like Hideo Kojima in that I think John Carpenter is one of those filmmakers where you at you either really like his stuff or you really don't like his stuff, but there's no in-between.

SPEAKER_01

Uh oh. I I didn't hate this, but I didn't love this though. But I I kind of am in that category though. I'm somewhere above the midpoint. Like as I said, I'm like a seven out of ten with this movie.

SPEAKER_03

Whenever I show people this movie, they're either like that was hilarious, or Michael, why the fuck did you show me this movie? We can't be friends anymore.

Closing Banter And Last Laughs

SPEAKER_01

Well, and and again, I'm I'm exactly both of those. That's like, what Michael, why did you show me this? But then at the same time, that's also kind of why I derived entertainment out of it. Maybe it's because like the the the two of us, we've done those like reaction, like reaction videos before where we show like we watched Bird Demic and and like uh Troll 2 and and Alone in the Dark. So then like I still you know like look back and be like, oh man, I had a good time with that one. But then in the heat of the moment, my brain is just so like what the hell? I think I laugh at that.

SPEAKER_03

After like all of those reaction movies that we made, those type of films, like I needed to hibernate. They were horribly soul draining for me.

SPEAKER_04

See, I like watching bad movies. I don't think Big Trouble in Little China is a bad movie.

SPEAKER_01

No, but I don't know, I don't think so either.

SPEAKER_04

Bird demi, it's always it's better when you watch those awful movies with a crowd. Yeah. I think that's the only way to enjoy it. If you're just watching it by yourself, it's not.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, true. So I wonder, does this one warrant watching with a crowd then? Like if you were to do the whole replay, like re-watch thing, does it rot warrant like oh actually, no, I would say yes, because you, Michael, you were saying that you like to re-watch this when you bring in new people into the fold to then watch them cringe and groan and or laugh out loud and whatever. It's also like this across the spectrum.

SPEAKER_03

This movie is like a great litmus test for do my friends understand what kind of movies I like. Do they share my sense of movies? People say, Well, do my friends understand me?

SPEAKER_04

And I'm thinking, I don't think I want to.

SPEAKER_03

Man, I wouldn't have many friends then if that because they would just be like, ah, I don't get this. Like, I know I know this movie, like, there's no way I could watch this with my wife. Like, she'd be like, What the fuck? I'm like, I'm signing papers, I'm I'm leaving you.

SPEAKER_04

Sidestepping. Sidestepping, like, do you have that one of those? Is my movie's The Artist, where I'm just like, and look at the end of the day, not everyone loves the movie, but that's my movie to like sort of like test the test the waters properly.

SPEAKER_03

Right, right.

SPEAKER_04

With your partner or you uh yeah, with my partner with my partner, yeah, specifically, but just with people in general, it's a pretty good reflection too. Yeah, the artist. Okay, you haven't seen it?

SPEAKER_03

No, who's in it?

SPEAKER_04

I mean, Malcolm McDowell's in like one scene. I can't what's his name? Um John Goodman. I can't recount the rest of the cast, like the actual leads. It's a good movie.

SPEAKER_03

That's pretty good. Okay. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01

Um, what score would you give? So uh you said five out of five. I gave a gracious sort of like three three point five diplomatic three and a half out of five.

SPEAKER_03

I feel like you wanted to go lower.

SPEAKER_01

Uh I think I think it's unfair to go lower. Um, that's that's how I say it. Um and also and also I I myself, like, yeah, as I said, like all the things you guys like, I also like it's just my takeaway is different, but then it's like it's still as a as a net result, it's still war it still results in a 7 out of 10 for me. So it's it's a genuine 7 out of 10 for me. It's like this, it's just uh it's it's like some it's like for example some video games. It's like uh like for example, it's like Hyrule Warriors or whatever. It's like it's like it's not it's not egregiously bad. It's it's like I all I really particularly want to all I really want to do is just like see this game through to the end. It's like it's still all like Metroid Prime 4. It's like I'm not I'm not like disliking it. I just it's just okay. And then I'm just okay, let's just finish this off. And uh yeah, I'm I yeah, I I don't dislike, I don't hate this movie. I uh I don't love this movie. I just think it's good, it's good, yeah, seven out of ten. Just get this through to the end. That's yeah, so I I don't think it's diplomacy, it's a it's genuinely just seven out of ten. So what's your right?

SPEAKER_03

I I I'd give Big Trouble in Little China a five out of five. It's it's like as someone who loves 80s over-the-top cheesy action movies, it's great. Uh, it's self-aware, at least, whereas like a lot of films back in that era were not self-aware of how cheesy they were coming across or how weird or over-the-top they were, but this had this great self-awareness to it. And Jack Burton's such an iconic character. I actually prefer Jack Burton over Snake Pliskan, and feel that it's one of Kurt Russell's best characters, where like I could not imagine any other actor taking that that role. It's just him. When I think of Jack Burton, I think of Kurt Russell, and it was kind of like my gateway drug to John Carpenter where I was like, oh, I have to see what else this guy has made because this is just so different. Same, same.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I just yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Even though it's not your cup of tea, you have this intrigue of like, what the hell else has this guy made?

SPEAKER_01

Like get put into a different genre of all the same techniques, maybe it would be my cup of tea. Okay, and and so and also too for you, you would say that like having had like experience with like other 80s movies, does that shape your favorability of this movie? And like and then I see you just definitely lean more towards like the like if you were to watch a cheesy movie, you want it to be self-aware, which this one is. Um, and then that that helped elevate it for you. Yeah. And having watched other 80s movies, it then also helped elevate it, would you say? Having having had a broader sort of like viewing experience of like other 80s movie design. Well, like other movies, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I haven't watched much others, so other movies of the era, it's like the action hero is the typical bulging biceps like rainbow or commanding foil. You know, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Stallone going around shooting millions of guys and never getting any bullets hit them. They're invincible and they're perfect at everything. And then this movie comes along, and Kurt Russell is this bumbling action hero who has some good moments where he just gets by, but he is by no means like I could not see Stallone or Schwarzenegger playing this character. I think they would the ego wouldn't allow them to play.

SPEAKER_04

They wouldn't like wouldn't allow themselves to be the reluctant hero or I mean look, I mean, look, Arnie was in Jingle all the way where he does play the reluctant hero and kindergarten cobbler's bit hopeless.

SPEAKER_03

But he's still like at us in those movies.

SPEAKER_04

True, but I think um like Jack Burton, Kurt Russell's Jack Burton, is probably a lot more similar in a way to say John McLean from Die Hard, you know, in the way where he is more is not the bulging biceps dude. He's still fit, he's got that lean muscle, still handsome, you know, and he's still confident or whatever. I mean, John McLean obviously is a bit more savvy than Jack Burton, but he is that kind of other 80s action hero where he almost could just be any guy.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, which I think is kind of beautiful. Yeah, it's it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01

He's a truck driver, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And it's a testament to Kurt Russell as an actor where he can play someone like Snake Plisken, who's this very serious, like he's a criminal badass, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

He's a basically a criminal in a hero role, you know.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, who's like so cool. What movie is Escape from New York and Escape from LA, but yeah. He was he it was kind of like the inspiration for Snake from Metal Gear Solid.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, okay, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_03

And um, yeah, so for him to like play these badasses and then other movies where he's like a silent badass where he's just he's muscled up and everything, but then gone to a movie like this, and he is this guy that thinks he's tough shit when he isn't, and he's bumbling through action sequences while his sidekick is like kicking ass, and he's surviving by the skin of his teeth, but also not completely bumbling, like there let's there are some little nuggets of like where he's not like Mr.

SPEAKER_01

Magoo, he's not that bad. With the knife throw and stuff, you know, the naked gun, but it's just yeah, Kurt Russell. So wow, two two like perfect five out of fives, and then me with the seven out of ten. Maybe it's like oh if I were m exposed to more of the eighties stuff, then I will warm up to this more.

SPEAKER_03

I I maybe I I get the vibe that 80s movies don't gel with you.

SPEAKER_01

Well, uh well, it's more so that like I haven't been exposed. I it's more so that I haven't been exposed to much, and this is my first foray into John Carpenter like 80s sort of thing. So it's like maybe the more more some more of that like maybe exposure bias. Maybe it's like the most important thing.

SPEAKER_03

But isn't it interesting that you still want to check out the rest of his filmography?

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So it's like it's not complete, it's not like I have complete friction. So yeah, cool. That's our final verdict.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so that is our thoughts on big trouble in Little China. If you enjoyed this review, please like, share, subscribe, and comment below what's one of your favorite lines from good old Jack Burden and the Pork Chop Express. And until next time, take care.

SPEAKER_00

Soyin, soy kian. We'll just keep doing it. Chang Sing. Soyin. Deal.

SPEAKER_03

May the oh fuck, what is it saying? May the feathers of liberty fly away or something. Oh, when they're like sharing the toast and it just turns in this whole pitch and it's like, where'd that come from?

SPEAKER_04

It was the most American thing I've ever heard, by the way.

SPEAKER_03

When they were having the drink.

SPEAKER_04

No, when he was said, May the feathers of liberty guide you or whatever it was. That is from the drink scene, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but on the side of the side. Before he drinks it, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Anyways, yeah, no, that's the most American thing. That's the most violently American thing I've ever heard in my life.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Well, I guess that was the point, is like he delivers it thinking it's cool, and everyone else is like, fuck, that's cheesy, man. Like we all said cool shit, but you didn't. Yeah. Is he?

SPEAKER_01

Oh no, okay, I guess. Yeah, goodbye everyone. I guess uh yeah, to leave off to leave off with everyone, I I just thought of I just remember what my f actual favorite line was. It's the line about like, oh, we take a little China with us in our hearts. To end off the video, yeah, that would be my favorite sort of sentiment that's like left off, which unironically, you know, uh resonates with me. So we'll leave off with that.

SPEAKER_03

My favorite line was when he s doesn't he say one of the guys says like oh China is all around us or something, and and Jack says like, what the hell does that mean? And then he just goes off on this rant, like this low pan character, seven foot tall guy. First he's here, then he's not. I run through him or whatever, or I run over him with my truck. Then this guy's coming out, the Chang Sings are throwing swords, and then these thunder gods are coming out of the fucking clouds. What is going on? I think that's like my favorite part when he's just like what is going on, you know, when when new factions are introduced. I'm a reasonable guy. I've just experienced some very unreasonable things.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that was a good one.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That was a pretty funny one. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you know what? As we talk, the more and more I'm warming up to this movie. I I still don't think I'll watch it again, but anyway, let's end this video. I told you it's gonna come one day. You just don't get it. I'm gonna get the 3 a.m. be like, okay, I get it, Michael. Remember, we take a little bit of China with us and we go away from the motherland.

SPEAKER_02

You leave Jack Burton alone.

SPEAKER_03

He is a hero that we should we owe a great debt to Jack Burton. Who?

SPEAKER_01

Who's Jack? Me? Me! I'm Jack Burton.

SPEAKER_03

Jack Burton. You know what makes that moment? Him having the lipstick. I love that little detail. Because he's trying to look all badass, but yeah, he's still got the lipstick. See, it's brilliant. It's brilliant. Alright, see you guys.