'A rough-and-tumble trucker and his side kick face off with an ancient sorcerer in a supernatural battle beneath Chinatown.'
Bit patronising, no? Realistically, Wang is the hero, Jack Burton is a parody of the over-confident, boneheaded, macho American guy. The kind who shouts "USA! USA!" at sports events. That's what makes the role and Kurt Russell's willingness to poke fun at his own tough guy image such a delight.
Hey, it's ok. Don't pout. He's certainly brave (foolish) and he gets to be heroic (lucky) so there's that. Jack's heroic in a Don Quixote sort of way. He leads the charge despite not knowing where he's going or what he's going to do when he gets there. Courage sans plan. Gracie is similar, all brio and no grey matter. Good thing they've got Wang and the rest of the yellow jackets to help them face the villains.
Big Trouble is a big pleasure. It's a spoof, an action-comedy that delivers all the thrills and confrontations and shocks but in a spirit of fun. It never, NEVER, takes itself seriously, Nolan could never make a movie like this. He has too little regard for the audience.
It's a fantasy, full of mystery and monsters that suddenly pop-up. One ditzy youtuber, watching the movie, actually compared it to a comic-book (maybe) or a videogame (nope). Big Trouble is full of characters, not the usual videogame situation of an unstoppable hero (GAME OVER is never that) and an army of ciphers, plus a few bosses. John Wick is a movie videogame. It's so video-gamey it's utterly shameless in that regard. No, Carpenter, the director, understood that the audience wants to have fun watching, not sit there while the director gets to play. It's a lost art, entertaining the audience.
Preaching is the order of the day. 21st century movies also run-on too long. No worries here. We have a zesty comedy about a truck driver who loses his truck, a young man who loses his fiancee, and an evil wizard whose flesh is missing. They're all on a quest to recover what matters most.
Can't believe I didn't laugh at the Storms' hats when I was a kid. Or their weapons (one guy is armed with spanners, another with back scratchers!).
Bit patronising, no? Realistically, Wang is the hero, Jack Burton is a parody of the over-confident, boneheaded, macho American guy. The kind who shouts "USA! USA!" at sports events. That's what makes the role and Kurt Russell's willingness to poke fun at his own tough guy image such a delight.
Hey, it's ok. Don't pout. He's certainly brave (foolish) and he gets to be heroic (lucky) so there's that. Jack's heroic in a Don Quixote sort of way. He leads the charge despite not knowing where he's going or what he's going to do when he gets there. Courage sans plan. Gracie is similar, all brio and no grey matter. Good thing they've got Wang and the rest of the yellow jackets to help them face the villains.
Big Trouble is a big pleasure. It's a spoof, an action-comedy that delivers all the thrills and confrontations and shocks but in a spirit of fun. It never, NEVER, takes itself seriously, Nolan could never make a movie like this. He has too little regard for the audience.
It's a fantasy, full of mystery and monsters that suddenly pop-up. One ditzy youtuber, watching the movie, actually compared it to a comic-book (maybe) or a videogame (nope). Big Trouble is full of characters, not the usual videogame situation of an unstoppable hero (GAME OVER is never that) and an army of ciphers, plus a few bosses. John Wick is a movie videogame. It's so video-gamey it's utterly shameless in that regard. No, Carpenter, the director, understood that the audience wants to have fun watching, not sit there while the director gets to play. It's a lost art, entertaining the audience.
Preaching is the order of the day. 21st century movies also run-on too long. No worries here. We have a zesty comedy about a truck driver who loses his truck, a young man who loses his fiancee, and an evil wizard whose flesh is missing. They're all on a quest to recover what matters most.
Can't believe I didn't laugh at the Storms' hats when I was a kid. Or their weapons (one guy is armed with spanners, another with back scratchers!).