Big Trouble in Little China DVD: Review By bcloutier

Rain is pounding on the roof, and as the thunder cracks every few seconds the windows rattle in time. It is indeed a dark and stormy night here at the Casa del Bob. What better way, I thought as I finished sandbagging the front door trying to stem the tide, to wait out this beast of a storm than by writing a quick review of John Carpenter's classic kung-fu/fantasy film Big Trouble in Little China. Some of you out there reading this will probably be groaning right about now and saying things like, "That movie sucked" and "It was so campy and absurd". Yeah well, if that's the way you feel then hit the road jack we don't like your kind here. If, however, you still give a little fan boy giggle every time you hear, "This is Jack Burton in the pork chop express". Then my friend you have come to the right place, welcome.

By now you probably know the story. Jack Burton is a tough talking truck driver whose bark is a lot worse than his bite. He goes to Chinatown in San Fran to unload his shipment and ends up going with his friend Wang to the airport to pick up some precious cargo. From there things get worse. Wang's fresh-off-the boat girl gets kidnapped and Jack rushes to her rescue or tries to anyway. By the end he finds himself battling a two thousand-year-old evil spirit, a human blowfish guy, and a float eyeball that likes to lick itself. As he puts it, he's a reasonable a guy who experiences some rather unreasonable things".

This movie may not be full of fluffy metaphors involving building walls and tearing down relationships, but if you like the wacky Kung-Fu and Kurt Russell at his finest then this does not disappoint.

Fine, you say, I know the movie by heart but what cool stuff do I get if I go out and spend my hard-earned pesos on this two-disc set?

Video

The transfer from film to disc is nearly perfect. Big Trouble is presented to you in a gorgeous 2.35:1 anamorphic wide screen.

Audio

Those of you here in the States end up getting what you're used to, the good stuff. The English Channel is mastered for Dolby 5.1 surround. And those of you in France finally didn't get screwed out of the goods just because you don't live in the US. There is a French channel with Dolby 5.1 surround. Unfortunately for the rest of you in the world you are out of luck. French and English are the only choices you get here. The Third audio channel is taken up by a very cool Commentary track. But we'll get to that in a minute.

Extras

These little goodies are why most of the hard core DVD collectors out there buy what they buy. We start out on disc one with a feature length commentary with John Carpenter and Kurt Russell. They add bits and pieces to what we know of the making of the film. Mostly, however they do what I like to see in a commentary on a film like this. They laugh a lot and let the film speak for itself. Though it does range way off topic at times, the commentary was interesting and well worth a listen. And for the record I'm with John Carpenter I liked Captain Ron too.

That leads us to disc two. To be perfectly honest they probably could have made this a one-disc deal crammed a couple of the disc two extra in there and called it a day. But they didn't and while some of the things they stuck on this second disc are obviously pure filler a few things are well worth the purchase.

Every DVD that come out these days, particularly those in the comedy genre comes equipped with a Deleted scene section. So does Big Trouble in Little China The difference here is that in most other cases they just are not that funny and its easy to see why they were cut. If you are a film student or a writer just learning about your craft then seeing those failures are educational and worth your time. Most of us though just want to see the funny sh*t that got left out for pacing reasons. Well the Big Trouble DVD delivers. I haven't laughed out loud at outtakes since I saw Cannonball Run for the first time when I was 7 or 8. These Deleted scenes cement in my mind that Kurt Russell is just not given enough quality comedy work to do.

Next up we have a nice little featurette that was filmed while the movie was being made. This is pretty standard stuff. Interview with the cast and crew, behind the scenes footage, a little off the cuff humor and the overwhelming sense that they are showing you this to get you excited enough to go out and watch this film. This bit is fun to watch and definitely an asset to the DVD.

Richard Edlund, the effects guru behind Star Wars and Raiders of The Lost Ark, took on the visual effects duties for this film. Fortunately for us someone decided they needed to get a full-length interview with him before he skipped off to greater things. Have you ever wondered how they got lightening to shoot his bolts out of his hands? Or how they created the hell of the upside down sinners? Well never fear because all your answers are inside.

From there on out the second disc in the set is pretty much filler. Don't get wrong most of this stuff is worth a once over. But I doubt if you'll be visiting too often. The Still gallery is filled with both pictures from the film itself and behind the scenes nuggets. The production notes section holds all the technical data that your little heart could desire. After that we round out disc two with magazine articles, the infamous Big Trouble in Little China music video, and the trailers and TV spots from the original ad campaign. On a side note I have to confess that I really enjoy seeing trailers and commercials from over fifteen years ago. Its interesting to me how they try to sells us on things so differently today.

There has not been a day since I bought this DVD that I have regretted the purchase. In fact I think it's made me a better person. Okay, so that going a bit far but I am sincerely glad I have this disc in my collection.

The film is an 80's classic, they did a great job putting the DVD together, and you get tons of extras you never even knew you wanted. If you are a big fan of fun campy movies or John Carpenter in particular then this is definitely worth a purchase. If you just want a couple hours of fun then go rent Big Trouble in Little China and see for yourself why I rate this one so high. I bet you'll even end up adding it to you collection.