Blended Cheese

A blowhard truck driver gets caught up in a story of magic and martial arts in 1986's Big Trouble in Little China. A more finely aged chunk of '80s American cheese you'll never find.

Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) actually comes off a lot like certain political YouTubers I've seen; he constantly complains and you sense he's not altogether as competent as he thinks he is. Well, you more than sense it in Jack's case--he's constantly at a loss, in one scene even knocking himself out at the beginning of a fight.

Sometimes the joke wears a bit thin because Kurt Russell does have charisma and Jack does seem like a basically decent guy so I'd have liked the bumbling toned down a notch.

The story is great fun, of course. What starts out feeling like some kind of spy thriller, where a girl is abducted at the airport, suddenly becomes a wuxia street fight film. And then there's electricity shooting from people's hands and some impressively grotesque monsters.

Director John Carpenter seems to have brought three sides of his personality to bear in this movie. There's the humour of They Live, the action/adventure of Escape from New York, and a little dose of Prince of Darkness fantasy horror. Also, I always like seeing Kim Cattrall. And she wears a groovy headdress in this one.

Big Trouble in Little China is available on Disney+ in many countries outside the U.S.

Twitter Sonnet #1447

Forgotten metal glowed beneath the lamp.
The night endures despite another dawn.
It's always time around another camp.
Let's sleep with Errol Flynn on Basil's lawn.
Electric proof commenced the rumble night.
Preserving lettuce broke the dark and strange.
Below the city, roots will fly a kite.
And coiled stoves'll roam the metal range.
But who decides the perfect flutes and drums?
A heavy butt collapsed the forest chair.
Beginning late, electric siren hums.
Or something short and little like a mare.
An em'rald dress adorned the lady's crown.
A giant truck was stuck beneath the town.