A brief piece on John Carpenter’s seminal work, in advance of an in depth look at  the film as part of The Cineastes project in a few months time. Kurt Russell teamed up with Carpenter for the fourth (?) time on Big Trouble in Little China, on what is their most playful collaboration. The film feels like a cartoon at times, and is a great America’s obsession with pseudo-Asian popular culture in the post-Nintendo days of the 1980′s. Its great fun, and Russell has never been better as the loose talking Jack Burton. Throw in a post-Porky’s, yet pre-Sex and the City turn from Kim Cattrell and you have a likeable and surprisingly appealing pairing. 

I look forward to analysing Big Trouble in Little China more thoroughly in a few weeks time with the rest of The Cineastes.