Big Trouble in Little China 1986 3 sweet pickles
The title really does say it all. The audience is invited into a crazy and corny ride with this cult classic. Nothing is predictable. It’s off the wall, random, and oddly clever, which is so typical of the 80’s.
Where to begin in telling this story. We meet our hero, Jack Burton (Kurt Russell), driving an 18-Wheeler in the midst of a storm making crazy random calls out over the radio. He arrives in San Francisco and begins a series of games played at high stakes, with Jack beating out his friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun). Unable to pay his debt on the spot, Jack tags along with Wang to make sure he gets his money back. They go to the airport to pick up Wang’s betrothed from China, Miao Yin, whom he desperately loves. Things go sideways when she is abducted by a notorious group of criminals known as “The Lords of Death”. They chase after them into Chinatown and get engulfed in a street fight between two ancient Chinese societies. If that wasn’t enough, that fight is interrupted by the Three Storms, three ancient warriors with weather related abilities. It becomes too much for Jack and Wang, so they decide to book it, but in the process, Jack runs over a creepy ancient man David Lo Pan, not maiming or injuring him, but terrifying both he and Wang.
There are several more twists and turns in the story, but as it turns out Lo Pan is a man seeking to break a curse that was put on him, and the only way to do that is marry a woman with green eyes and then kill her to appease the emperor, and Miao Yin fits the bill. Resolved to save her, Jack and Wang are joined by a headstrong Lawyer Gracie Law (Kim Cattrell), enthusiastically eager journalist Margo, best friend Eddie Lee, and street wise magician and Lo Pan expert Egg Shen. They break in, are captured, break free, and lose Gracie after she is grabbed by a sasquatch like creature on the way out. She also happens to have green eyes which makes her desirable to Lo Pan. He decides to marry both Gracie and Miao Yin, sacrificing Gracie and keeping Maio Yin. Jack and crew have to go in for one final showdown, saving the girls, defeating the Three Storms, and destroying Lo Pan. All prove themselves to be heroes in their own way, and they exit victorious. Wang and Miao Yin are reunited, and Jack drives off into the next adventure on his truck route.
This movie was random, clever, and unpredictable. Jack was not your typical hero, fumbling through different battle sequences and only taking out Lo Pan, seemingly accidently because of his reflexes. He also doesn’t choose the girl at the end, which was funny and clever. Wang stole the show, with his funny comebacks and saber skills. Gracie Law was all that you would expect and provided a good amount of laughter. Egg Shen was the storyteller, and he opened the movie by recounting the events and had all the info to solve the problems they faced.
