Big Trouble In Little China is somewhat of a cult classic and frankly, a film that I have always enjoyed. I didn’t see the film in the theater when it was released back in 1986 but did see it when I rented the laserdisc when the film was released on that format in the late 1980′s or early 1990′s. I immediately added the film to my collection on that long dead format ( I still have my copy today). I was not really all that happy with the video quality on the laserdisc but loved the film. When the film was released on DVD many years later, I picked up a copy of that as well. While the DVD offered an improvement over the laserdisc in all respects, I was never really happy with the video quality on the DVD either. Now Big Trouble in Little China has been released on Blu-ray. I happy to report that it offers a significant upgrade over all prior video releases in terms of both picture and sound quality.

Film

At the outset, I will freely admit that Big Trouble in Little China is not for everyone. In fact, it was a commercial failure in theaters and didn’t gain in popularity until it hit the home video market. It is a quirky and crazy film, which is one of the reasons I like it so much. It is simply an hour and 40 minutes of fun.

The film is the 11th film directed by John Carpenter and stars Kurt Russell as the wisecracking truck driver, Jack Burton, who pulls his rig into San Francisco’s Chinatown to meet up with some friends, have a drink, gamble and collect some winnings. Before he can leave, a friend, Wang Chi (Dennis Dunn), asks Jack to come with him to the airport to pick up his fiance, Miao Yin (Suzee Pai), who is arriving from China.

While they are at the airport, Jack takes a gander at a local lawyer, Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall), who does not return his affections. However, while they are waiting, a Chinatown gang arrives and kidnaps Miao Yoin. Jack and Wang immediately take off in pursuit of the kidnappers to rescue her but lose them on the freeway After an unsuccessful attempt at a rescue, Jack and Wang later find that Miao Yin has been snatched by David Lo Pan, a local Chinatown businessman and gangster, who happens to be over 2000 years old. It seems that Lo Pan was cursed by an ancient Chinese emperor and is more ghost than man. To break the curse and become flesh and blood again, he must marry a Chinese woman with the rarest of the rarest, emerald green eyes and then sacrifice her to the gods. It just so happens that Miao Lin has those green eyes.

Jack and Wang, along with Gracie and a local sorcerer, Egg Shen (Victor Wong), descend in to the Chinatown underground to locate Miao Yin and reunite her with Wang. Big Trouble is filled with nonstop action and tons of humor. It is an action adventure comedy and is a ton of fun. It is filled with chase scenes, magic, gun battles, monsters and Kung Fu, all mixed into together with Chinese mysticism. For fans of the film, this Blu-ray release is a no brainer. For any of you not familiar with the film, do yourself a favor and rent it. You will be glad you did.

Video

There is little question that Big Trouble in Little China has never looked better than it does on it debut on Blu-ray. The picture quality on this release is much better than any prior home video release and by a wide margin. However, the video is still a bit of a mixed bag. I was really concerned that we had a real clunker here when the 20th Century Fox logo game on screen as it looked very soft and a bit faded. However, when the actual film started, it was clear that this was a significant upgrade over the DVD. In fact, there are large segments of the film that qualify for a 4.5 star rating, boasting excellent black levels, detail, shadow detail, clarity, depth and color reproduction. However, there are certain segments of the film which look appreciably worse, with a general softness with widely varying color palette as well as differing degrees of color saturation, even within the same scene.

In particular, skin tones are all over the place here, especially those of Kurt Russell, which can look very red or orange one minute and spot on the next, again, even in the same scene. I wish that I could give the video here a 4.5 star score and large sections of the film fully warrant it. However, I have to knock the grade down a peg to reflect the rest of the film which doesn’t look nearly as good. Since we only deal with half a star gradients here, a 4 star rating will have to do. However, I am confident in predicting that fans of the film will be more than happy with the overall picture quality on this release. I know I was.

Audio

While not representing as big an improvement as the video, the audio on this release is also an upgrade over the prior DVD release of the film. What strikes you immediately about the audio is the improvement of the overall fidelity. While there are spots where the audio sounds a bit thin, the smoothness, richness and fullness of the sound is way better than the Dolby Digital audio track on the DVD. The bass response in particular is much better, having a weight and impact simply lacking on the DVD.

The dialogue track is also well recorded and well placed in the soundfield and also represents an improvement over the DVD. Where the audio comes up a bit short, is in the actual sound design regarding the implementation of the surround channels. While the surrounds are active throughout the film, they are at a fairly low level in relation to the front three channels. As a result, there is little in the way of an immersive sound experience, even during the many action sequences. This issue is very noticeable during the panning sequences, where objects move from the front of the room towards the rear. While the effects are clear and distinct as they move across the front of the room, they just out die as they move towards the rear of the room, due to the low volume of the surrounds. It is almost as if those pans fall off the cliff. Other than this one issue, this is a fine sounding audio track, especially given the age of the film, and represents a significant improvement over all prior video releases of the film.

Special Features

There are several extras included with this release, none of which really grabbed my attention. Included is a an audio commentary track with John Carpenter and Kurt Russell as well as a new 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio isolated score track. If you want to sample the film with just the musical score accompanying the video images, check this one out. For me, a few minutes was more than enough. Also included are deleted scenes and an extended ending created from work prints of the film. These are presented in what appears to be widescreen anamorphic standard definition.

Also included is what is described as a vintage featurette on the making of the film which was included in the DVD release as well as a music video, an interview (again in widescreen SD) with visual effects coordinator Richard Edlund as well as trailer and TV spots and a Behind the Scenes gallery. The release is D-Box Motion coded but is not BD-Live enabled. The release also does not come equipped with a digital copy.

Final Thoughts

While a bit of a cult classic, Big Trouble in Little China is a blast of a film and well worth a look. The video and audio here are significant upgrades overall prior home video releases of the film. Highly recommended for fans of the film and as a no brainer rental for those of you out there who are unfamiliar with the film.