Big Trouble In Little China (1986)

A truck driver (Kurt Russell) hanging out with a friend (Dennis Dun) suddenly finds himself caught up in a fantastic adventure below San Francisco's Chinatown as an evil 2,000 year old sorcerer (James Hong) and his minions attempt to break an ancient curse. At first, I was quite frustrated as I attempted to make sense of the confusing narrative but once I realized that it didn't matter a bit and just gave up on that and enjoyed the colorful action and general silliness, I had a good time. Directed by John Carpenter (HALLOWEEN), the movie rushes at a breakneck pace with barely anytime to breathe which is probably a good thing because if one actually thought about it, it would quickly fall apart. Kurt Russell (channeling John Wayne) is the perfect actor for this kind of big screen craziness. He knows just how much to give without actually winking at the audience and thus condescending to the material. It's quite a handsome movie what with the spectacular production design of John J. Lloyd and Panavision compositions of cinematographer Dean Cundey. Normally I dislike synthesizer scores but this one courtesy of Carpenter and Alan Howarth is just right. With Kim Cattrall, Victor Wong and Kate Burton.