Some of the material doesn’t age well, and Lo Pan comes off as unintentionally funny with such an over-the-top portrayal by Hong, but it’s a nice change of pace from the dour work Russell, and Carpenter usually do together, and it serves as another showcase for how versatile Kurt Russell is. He doesn’t fit the description as a truck driver, but if you’re like me, I was having too much fun to have a small detail like that ruin it. Jack gets in the way more often than he makes the right move and Russell has chemistry to burn with Cattrall, Dun, and Wong. Russell is more than game for this kind of adventure, he hits all the right notes, and he isn’t afraid to parody his action hero status. But it isn’t concerned with losing the audience, and while it does get a little dark in some moments, it never stops poking fun at the circumstances or how the movie is playing out. Little China is a trip it moves at a quick enough clip to distract you from how downright ridiculous the plot gets. Considering how serious Carpenter’s work usually is, getting him to direct an outright comedy was an interesting choice. Of all his collaborations with John Carpenter, Big Trouble is the most surreal and definitely the weirdest. Big Trouble in Little China – Jack Burton (1986) Russell helps solidify what turned out to be an underappreciated horror/sci-fi classic.ħ. He also helps you feel the weight and the loss in the end when the dust settles. He’s commanding, sympathetic, and with how bleak the movie gets, you’re genuinely worried about whether MacReady is going to make it. He’s heroic, but he still carries himself like a man who’s trying to wrap his head around an impossible situation. Russell is very low-key but he’s fantastic. Add into this some truly gnarly makeup and creature design for The Thing and a capable cast and you’ve got a big winner. Carpenter does a masterful job of showing the isolation of the location and how paranoia and distrust are just as quickly destroying the researchers as the alien is. Despite being decades old, watching The Thing for the first time fills you with the dread and the uneasiness that the characters are going through. The Thing represents Carpenter and Russell’s most horror-centric team up, and it’s their greatest combined work. Escape From New York provides a glimpse of what Russell and Carpenter could accomplish together, and while it may seem a little mundane compared to huge studio pictures made now, it lives on as a cult favorite even today. Escape’s pace is surprisingly methodical for an action movie, but Kurt also shines when he gets a chance to show his action star abilities. He owns the room just with his appearance, and he’s a force to be reckoned with in this universe. Plissken’s look as a character is also iconic, Russell shows up in the movie with a smirk, an eyepatch, and a badass leather coat. Carpenter does a great job creating this post-apocalyptic version of New York, the entire movie is grimy and makes you contemplate what kind of world events led us to this hellish timeline. In what would become a regular pairing, John Carpenter directs Escape From New York where ex-military and legendary outlaw Snake infiltrates New York (which has become a maximum-security prison) to recover the President of the United States and a tape that will keep an ongoing peace summit on track. When we talk about “iconic” roles for Kurt Russell, Snake Plissken is his most revered character. Escape From New York – Snake Plissken (1981)
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