Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Duration: 100 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Dolby Surround 2.0 Audio with Optional English SDH Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun, James Hong, Victor Wong, Kate Burton, Donald Li, Carter Wong, Peter Kwong, James Pax
Before I get into the review proper for this one I wanted to give a bit of background on how and where I saw this film, i think it's interesting, maybe you will too. It must have been the summer of 1987 when I first saw John Carpenter's cult-classic chop-sockey comedy projected on the big screen at Hadley Hall in Willard, NY. the place was an auditorium at the Willard Psychiatric Center which opened it's doors to the divergent masses in 1869 - twenty-four years later a 500 seat auditorium opened and the space was used for performances and lectures. In 1920 a cinema screen and projector were added and on Monday nights movies were projected for the enjoyment of patients and staff.
Sixty-five years later my father was employed at that same psychiatric center and he told me that they screened movies at the asylum on Saturday mornings for the patients but that I could attend if I wanted. Now, the nearest theater to me was at least thirty miles away, and my family actually going to the cinema was a mighty rare experience, so of course I wanted to go! Nearly every Saturday afterward from about 1986-'88 you could find me at the psychiatric center watching projected movies along with the divergent masses.
Dad would drop me off in front of Hadley and I would walk up the stairs into the main auditorium and find a seat among the patients in fold-up chairs gathered in the center of the auditorium. Typically I would choose to sit on the Nautilus exercise equipment that lined the rear and sides of the auditorium if possible, sitting among the mental patients was sometimes awkward, I saw a lot of strange things happening there as you might expect. There would usually be a handful of other kids my age also enjoying the movies, most likely the offspring of other employees such as myself. I'm not sure if this is typical but the psychiatric center seemed to be an open campus with some of the patients seemingly free to wander the grounds as long as they were back in time for bed check I guess. I was no stranger to the facility and would frequently visit my father while he was at work and I had a familiarity with being around the patients, actually knowing several of them by name. In retrospect it may seem odd but at the time I wasn't all that alarmed to be watching movies with the nutters, sure a few were a bit peculiar and prone to tourette-style outbursts but it wasn't anymore distracting than a typical Friday at the cinema today with annoying chatty teens texting away on their phones in all honesty.
The programming was pretty eclectic, a nice mix of repertory and second-run showings of comedies, fantasy-adventure and drama. A few of the movies I watched there include Armed and Dangerous, Spies Like Us, Cloak and Dagger, King Solomon's Mines, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, King Kong Lives, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, Foul Play, 2001: A Space Odyssey and I shit you not - a screening of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest which was all sorts of wrong, the delicious irony was not at all lost on me even at the young age of thirteen. I look back on these magical screenings with a wonderful sense of nostalgia, my love of Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd 80's comedies really started here. I would love to meet the programmers who brought these movies to Willard Psychiatric Center and helped shape my cinematic tastes during these formative early teen years, and just say thank you for saving me from my smalltown boredom for ninety-minutes at a time.
That long winded tangent brings me to my first viewing of John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China (1986) a classic slice of cult-cinema screened at the psyche center sometime in 1987. Probably not too very long after it failed big-time at the box office. I don't recall having seen any advertising or promotion for the film prior to watching it and if you know the story of how the studio dropped the ball promoting the film that may not be much of a surprise. At that point I hadn't started identifying directors as the creators of movies, I'd already watched Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980) and The Thing (1982) but hadn't connected the dots and attributed them to the work of John Carpenter, they were just cool-ass movies. When it came to directors I pretty much knew who Steven Spielberg and Alfred Hitchcock were and that was about it. As it happened Carpenter was coming off the success of the sci-fi alien romance Starman (1984) following the box office failure of The Thing (1982) - a movie that has since evolved into one of the most legendary fright flicks of all time. Having redeemed himself the studio offered Carpenter this project and after reading the W.D. Richter (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) penned script he jumped on board. A lifelong fan of kung fu cinema Carpenter was pretty stoked to bring a big budget chop socky fantasy-adventure-comedy to the screen.
At it's heart Big Trouble in Little China is a goofy fantasy-adventure loaded with Chinese mysticism and crazy over-the-top martial arts action. Kurt Russell (Escape from New York) is a truck driver Jack Burton who becomes entangled in the bizarre when his friend Wang's (Dennis Dun, Prince of Darkness) soon-to-be wife Miao Yin (Suzee Pai, First Blood) is abducted from the airport by the Chinese gang Lords of Death at the request of the dreaded sorcerer Lo Pan, played by actor James Hong (Blade Runner) who is is fantastic as the squealing and conniving sorcerer.
Jack Burton is a sort of half-ass John Wayne type who peels off some of the most quotable one-liners in all of cinema. Full of tough-talking bravado but with absolutely nothing to back it up. Barely rising to the status of anti-hero he's just a big-mouthed jackass who'd be dead twice over if not for the heroics of his diminutive ass kicking friend Wang.
As the plot unfolds we discover that the sorcerer Lo Pan requires Wang's green-eyed girl to perform a ritual sacrifice which will free him from a centuries old curse. Lo Pan has three henchmen known as The Three Storms, a trio of supernatural warriors that would be right at home in a Mortal Kombat video game. There's Thunder (Carter Wong), Rain (Peter Kwong) and the Lightning (James Pax) who each control the elemental powers of their namesakes. Burton and Wang enlist the help of an eccentric Chinese mystic, the squinty-eyed sorcerer Egg Shen (Victor Wong, Prince of Darkness) to help rescue Miao Yin from Lo Pan's underground labyrinth. Along for the ride is a nosey and obnoxious reporter Gracie Law (Kim Catrall, Porky's) who tags along providing a difficult love interest for Burton. The two have a fun adversarial chemistry as Gracie defends herself against Jack's strong but clumsy come-ons.
Big Trouble in little China is a special effects and martial arts extravaganza with some great effects work from Richard Edlund and the Boss Film Studios crew who worked on a ton of 80's classics including Ghostbusters (1983), Poltergeist (1982), Fright Night (1985) and the original Star Wars trilogy just to name a few. For this one they created some creepy mystical creatures including a beastly Chinese Wildman, a multi-eyed floating sentinel and a weird fish-lizard monster which we see for only a moment - if you blink you might miss it. A small complaint about the effects would be I wanted more of 'em onscreen for longer, particularly the wildman since the ending hints at a continuing story, so where the heck is the sequel, I have been waiting for years!
The chop socky battle sequences are fantastic, a kinetic blend of martial arts styles and some sweet gravity-defying wire work - it's a trip. We have no shortage of flying fists of fury the clanging of weaponry and various implements of impalement - fun action packed stuff that holds up delightfully well. The film has a great pace that never lets up, moving forward in a manner that never leaves you time to question reality, logic or reasoning - which is good because all three are in short supply in this one, you just have to give into the fun of the adventure.
The production design from John Lloyd is simply amazing, it was hard to believe the Chinatown sequences were not shot on location, this is all done on a set. Once our heroes descend into the labyrinthine underworld of Lo Pan it's particularly fantastic as the film takes a dark fantasy feel as they progress through the sewers into the palace like interiors and the underwater torture chamber right up to a bizarre neon-lit ceremonial room, the film is still a visual stunner.
The tone of the film is a bit off-kilter right from the start. Big Trouble doesn't take itself too seriously and the cast are game to make fools of themselves, they set out to make a zany actioner that subverts the usual stereotypes and it succeeds on all fronts in my opinion. Big Trouble is a strange and wonderful watch, and is perhaps one of the most quotable movies of all time, a cult-classic in the truest sense of the word, a film that is unique unto itself.
Like I said before the film bombed big time at the box office recouping just over half of it's budget in part due to an ad campaign that failed to ignite audiences. The studio were unhappy with the finished product having wanted a more traditional Indian Jones type movie, but with a script co-penned by the writer/director of The Adventures Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) what did they expect? The post-production hassles from the studio turned Carpenter off future studio productions for quite awhile, but despite the initial poor reception Big Trouble has since gone on to develop a rabid fan base, what can you say, John Carpenter was a man way ahead of his time.
Audio/Video: John Carpenter cult-classic Big Trouble in Little China (1986) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory, an imprint who from their inception have seemingly made it their life's work to give Carpenter's filmography the proper respect and presentation it deserves on Blu-ray. Unfortunately this is not a new transfer, being the same HD master prepared by Fox that was previously issued on Blu-ray by both 20th Century Fox and Arrow Video. That said, it's a fine looking image with a nice looking grain structure, offering some decent fine detail, depth and clarity. The neon colors are vivid and bright throughout. A new 4K scan would have been terrific but 20th Century Fox (now owned by Disney) have always fickle licensors when it comes to creating new transfers for their properties, and I would assume at some point this cult-classic is gonna get an inevitable 4K UltraHD upgrade through Fox themselves, though I doubt we will get any of these excellent new extras on that potential release, so if you're a fan of extras, and this sucker is loaded with 'em, this is still worth snagging.
Audio options include English language DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Surround with optional English SDH subtitles. It's a lively presentation with some modest audio depth, perhaps not the most dynamic surround experience one could hope for but there's some effective use of the surrounds to be sure. Mirroring both the 20th Century Fox and Arrow releases we have the option of listening to the John Carpenter and Alan Howarth score via an uncompressed DTS-HD MA 5.1.
The A/V is solid, but the real reason for upgrading from past editions are the copious amounts of extras on this new release. Not only do we get all the special features from the 2009 20th Century Fox Blu-ray, plus all of the Severin produced extras from Arrow's 2014 release, which is already impressive, but we get twelve brand new interviews! New stuff comes by way of interviews with actors Dennis Dun (14 min), James Hong (24 min), Donald Li (18 min), Carter Wong (25 min), Peter Kwong (29 min), Al Leong (7 min), plus co-writers W.D. Richter (21 min) and Gary Goldman (28 min), Associate Producer/Martial Arts Choreographer James Lew (35 min), plus interviews with The Coupe De Ville’s Members Nick Castle (13 min) and Tommy Lee Wallace (29 min), and a 17-min conversation with legendary movie poster Artist Drew Struzan. All of this adding up to over four-hours of new interview created exclusively for this new Collector's Edition Blu-ray.
That's not all, we also get a pair of brand new audio commentaries, the first with Producer Larry Franco, and a second with Special Effects Artist Steve Johnson, Moderated By filmmaker Anthony C. Ferrante, both of which are fantastic. This on top of the already amazing Carpenter/Russell vintage commentary on the disc.
While I am a bit bummed we didn't get a new definitive new 4K scan of the original camera negative I am absolutely overwhelmed by the definitive scope of the new extras that Scream Factory and their partners wrangled for this release, there is no stone left unturned here, it's an impressively inclusive and varied set of extras, more than enough to merit splurging on the same HD master yet again.
The 2-disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, we get both the original and iconic Drew Struzan original illustration plus a new illustration from Laz Marquez. The new illustration is also featured on the limited edition slipcover which accompanies this release, though notably the slip is not emblazoned with the usual "Collector's Edition" branding. The disc artwork feature both an except from the original artwork on the film disc and what looks to be an alternate Struzan design I am unfamiliar with on the extras disc.
Special Features:
Disc One: The Film
- NEW Audio Commentary With Producer Larry Franco
- NEW Audio Commentary With Special Effects Artist Steve Johnson, Moderated By filmmaker Anthony C. Ferrante
- Audio Commentary With Director John Carpenter And Actor Kurt Russell
- Isolated Score
- 3 Theatrical Trailers
- 5 TV Spots
- Vintage Audio Interview With John Carpenter (6 min)
- Electronic Press Kit – Interviews And Profiles (28 min)
- Gag Reel (3 min)
- Music Video (3 min)
- Deleted And Extended Scenes (55 min)
- Extended Ending (3 min)
- Photo Galleries – Movie Stills (81 Images), Posters, Lobby Cards & Publicity Photos (4 Images), And Behind-the-scenes Photos (185 Images)
Disc Two: Bonus Features
- NEW You’re The Hero – An Interview With Actor Dennis Dun (14 min)
- NEW The Soul Of Lo Pan – An Interview With Actor James Hong (24 min)
- NEW Able To Be Myself – An Interview With Actor Donald Li (18 min)
- NEW The Tao Of Thunder – An Interview With Actor Carter Wong (25 min)
- NEW The Tao Of Rain – An Interview With Actor Peter Kwong (29 min)
- NEW The Hatchet Man Speaks – An Interview With Actor Al Leong (7 min)
- NEW Damn Wiley Prescott – An Interview With Writer W.D. Richter (21 min)
- NEW It Was A Western Ghost Story – An Interview With Writer Gary Goldman (28 min)
- NEW The Poetry Of Motion – An Interview With Associate Producer/Martial Arts Choreographer James Lew (35 min)
- NEW Into The Mystic Night – An Interview With The Coupe De Ville’s Member Nick Castle (13 min)
- NEW Since We Were Kids – An Interview With Second Unit Director/The Coupe De Ville’s Member Tommy Lee Wallace (29 min)
- NEW Love And Art – A Conversation With Movie Poster Artist Drew Struzan (17 min)
- Return To Little China – An Interview With Director John Carpenter (12 min)
- Being Jack Burton – An Interview With Actor Kurt Russell (21 min)
- Carpenter And I – An Interview With Director Of Photography Dean Cundey (16 min)
- Producing Big Trouble – An Interview With Producer Larry Franco (15 min)
- Staging Big Trouble – An Interview With Stuntman Jeff Imada (12 min)
- Interview With Visual Effects Artist Richard Edlund (13 min)
- Vintage Featurette (7 min)
Big Trouble in Little China (1986) is a blast of a cult-classic, an action-packed comedy-fantasy adventure that the more I watch it the more it rises to the top of the list as a Carpenter favorite. When I'm having a shit day there's a short-list of 80's comedies I can pop in that are guaranteed to cheer me up and this at the top of that list, it's right up there with Ghostbusters. While the new Collector's Edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory lacks a new scan of the film elements it is the most definitive version of the film, carrying-over the hours of existing extras and offering hours more, you can buy this with confidence knowing that the only way to improve upon it would be to give it the 4K UHD upgrade, but even then I am pretty sure this release will be the only way you're getting the extras.
