I saw this movie when I was 9 years old, and I could not believe my eyes. I had seen plenty of kung-fu movies as a kid thanks to sunday afternoons in front of a tv at my Grandparents. But this had guns, monsters, jokes, and Kim Catrall, to say nothing of Kurt Russells amazing hair.
Wise cracking trucker Jack Burton is an all American joe. Drives his truck, gambles and drinks his wages and lets out sage advice like a Dalton from Roadhouse but with a better sense of humor. He goes with his buddy Wang to the airport to pick up Wangs girlfriend and she is kidnapped by some amazing punkrock Chinese gangster dudes (called the Lords of Death), and whisked away. Kim Catrall (a journalist) is also at the airport picking up a refugee girl and gets roped in. Winds up that Lo Pan (an evil Bowie-esque ancient warlord/wizard/ghost/wiseacre) has snatched up Wangs girlfriend because she is a Chinese girl with green eyes which is the only thing that can appease Lo Pans god and make him flesh again. Jack and Wang and Kim Catrall have to go get her back.This involves guns, waterslides, old sets from the Goonies (that are supposed to pass for the sewers of San Francisco’s Chinatown), monsters, magic potions courtesy of good magician/ally Egg-shan, and an amazing Villian-compound with elevators and trap doors and such.
Confused yet? Don’t be, all you need to know is that if at any point you are unsure of the plot Kurt Russell will tell you whats happening in a “I can’t Believe I’m seeing this shit! Are you seeing this shit!” kind of way.
Lots of amazing bad guys, including the source material for characters that wound up in some video games and also that long-haired dude from Die Hard, Lethal Weapon and Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure (Al Leong….you rule). Mind blowing fight sequences, sweet SWEET one liners like they do not make anymore. This is fun tounge in cheek action comedy before all that shit got all “ironic” and self-aware on us.
Directed (and scored! of course) by John Carpenter this is an amazing amount of fun that is as good as when I was a kid and I can’t imagine ever getting sick of.