"All I know is, this Lo Pan character comes out of thin air in the middle of a goddamn alley while his buddies are flying around on wires cutting everybody to shreds, and he just stands there waiting for me to drive my truck straight through him with light coming out of his mouth!"
— Jack Burton
One of John Carpenter's greatest films, written by J.D. Richter and released in 1986.Kurt Russell is Jack Burton, a long-haul trucker with a penchant for making soliloquies over the CB. He's in Chinatown to meet his buddy Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) and pick up Wang's fiancee Miao Yin (Suzee Pai) from the airport, but David Lo Pan (James Hong) kidnaps her with the help of his Wing Kong street gang and the Three Storms.Jack, Wang, lawyer Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall), tour bus driver Egg Shen (Victor Wong), and the Chang Sing street gang join forces to rescue Miao Yin from the deathless Lo Pan, but Jack's really in it to get his truck back.Subverts a few tropes of the action hero genre. Most notably, as stated by both Carpenter and Russell in the DVD commentary: "This is a movie about a guy who thinks he's theAction Hero when he's really the comic sidekick."Don't confuse this with Chinatown. Hilarity will not ensue.
Back-to-Back Badasses: Subverted. Jack is so tense he accidentally throws his knife into a corner, and the fight is over by the time he gets back.
Badass: Jack tries... at least his dialogue is badass.
Balloon Belly: Thunder, when he inflates himself with air.
Bavarian Fire Drill: Jack and Wang bluff their way into the Wing Kong Exchange building by pretending to be telephone repairmen who'd been called in to fix a problem.
Beam-O-War: Lo Pan and Egg Shen duel in this way. The two beams, upon colliding, take the shape of dueling swordsmen. And then they twiddle their fingers like they're using video game controllers to direct the swordsmen.
Cutting the Knot: In order to get into an elevator, Jack Burton hauls out a knife and cuts through the wall to get in, which works because the wall is made of paper.
Did Not Get the Girl: Jack Burton declines to stay with Gracie Law at the end of the movie.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Justified, as the heroes deliberately wait until after Lo Pan is married to fight him because he'll be mortal afterwards.
Diving Save: After kidnapping Miao Yin, the Lords of Death are escaping in a car. Jack Burton pulls a frozen Wang Chi out of the way of the oncoming car.
Groin Attack: Gracie Law to Lo Pan's humanoid monster when it grabs Jack Burton.
Hand Wave: One of the classics. When Jack asks Egg Shen how he managed to get up above them, Egg replies, "Wasn't easy!"
Hellevator: How does it know which way to go without anyone pressing buttons? Ancient Chinese secret.
Hero Ball: Jack and Wang juggle it. Wang is more martially competent and properly motivated; but Jack is the one who comes up with the ideas and keeps saving everyone else's life.
Hey Catch: Jack Burton says "It's all in the reflexes".
Hooked Up Afterwards: Margo invites Eddie over to her apartment in a very seductive way.
How We Got Here: The film opens with a lawyer asking Egg Shen to explain what exactly went down in Chinatown. While the film does explain what went down, it doesn't explain what led to the conversation with the lawyer (who never appears outside the opening scene).
Humble Goal: All Jack really wants is to get his truck back.
Margo: "I feel like I'm in over my head." Eddie: [kindly] "You are."
Intimidation Demonstration: When the Three Storms first appear to break up the fight between the Chang Sings and the Wing Kong, they give a display of martial arts skills to intimidate the gangs. One of the Storms, Lightning, adds a display of his electrical powers for extra shock value. You can watch the sequence here.
Juggling Loaded Guns: Just before the climactic battle, Jack Burton attempts to lead the charge of The Cavalry by shooting upwards dramatically. A chunk of the ceiling lands on his head for his effort, and puts him out of commission until the fight is well underway.
Large Ham: Basically everyone expecially Jack himself. The villains are also this.
Law of Inverse Recoil: Subversion when Jack fires a machine pistol on full automatic.
Mighty Whitey: Subverted. While Jack Burton acts like he's the lantern-jawed, All-American hero of the story, he's actually the side-kick of his more capable Chinese-American friend Wang Chi.
Mind-Control Eyes: When Gracie Law and Miao Yin are under David Lo Pan's mental control.
Mirrors Reflect Everything: Egg Shen uses this when Lightning fires some, well, lightning at him. His mirror? A Chinese fan that looks like it's made of aluminum foil.
Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: Jack Burton when punching Rain, one of David Lo Pan's minions. After hitting Rain twice to no effect whatsoever, Jack sort of gives a respectful nod before getting thrown across the room.
A Real Man Is a Killer: In one scene Jack is embarassed by having killed someone only for the first time and lies about it so as not to appear dorky to his male friends, who obviously aren't killers any more than he is.
Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Subverted when the heroes must stand by and allow David Lo Pan's wedding to take place so he will become mortal, and thus vulnerable.
Summon Magic: Egg Shen and Lo Pan conjure huge spirit-warrior figures to duel one another during the wedding-ceremony battle.
Super Serum: Egg Shen provides this in the form of a potion that lets one "see things no one else can see, do things no one else can do." It also provides a good buzz.
Sunglasses at Night: Not exactly night, but barely an hour before it, we see Jack Burton at the start of the film, driving a truck with sunglasses on well after the sun has gone down.
The Triads and the Tongs: The Wing Kong and Chang Sing street gangs are explicitly referred to as "Fighting Tongs".
Underside Ride: The ending shows the hero happily driving away, only for a last minute Jump Scare revealing a monster hiding under his semi trailer.
The Unmasqued World: The first scene (which is chronologically the last scene) implies that the outside world noticed the fight with Lo Pan and wants answers.
Wait Here: Parodied when Jack Burton tells this to several of his Sidekicks.
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