10 / 10. Chinatown wizards and Kurt Russell - Great fun and pure bonkers 1980s fantasy

The magnificent Big Trouble in Little China is a 1986 mystical fantasy/comedy film directed by John Carpenter.

The bonkers storyline follows angry truck driver, Jack Burton, embroiled in the rescue of Miao Yin, his friend Wang Chi’s green-eyed - this is important - fiancée, from a Triad gang in San Francisco's Chinatown. Events grow weirder as they stumble upon a funeral procession turned Mortal Kombat-esque riot and encounter mythological immortal sorcerer, David Lo Pan, looking to set himself free of an ancient curse…

Big Trouble in Little China is my favourite film, since first viewing it in the 1980s as a kid, terrified of Lo Pan (excellently portrayed by James Hong) and the monsters, to my now adult nostalgia for great 1980s movies.

Kurt Russell’s Jack Burton is a hilariously quotable anti-hero in this incredible B movie. Everyone gives it their all but knows not to take it all too seriously, especially Kurt, Dennis Dun as Wang Chi and Kim Cattrall as journalist Gracie Law. Victor Wong is excellent as MVP Egg Shen.

The mystical Chinese elements are fascinating and the stand-off and street fight amongst the two Chinese factions and the Three Storms is fantastic (The Three Storms served as inspiration for Raiden in Mortal Kombat). John Carpenter’s horror/monster movie talents are provided in a lighter vein in Big Trouble in Little China than others such as Halloween and The Fog, but is no less enjoyable for it.

I could probably quote every line in this film and it’s pure bonkers nostalgia. I even own a replica of the vest Jack’s wearing above :)

“Son of a bitch must pay.”