"Kurt Russell plays truck driver Jack Burton, who helps his friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) rescue Wang's green-eyed fiancee (Suzee Pai) from bandits in San Francisco's Chinatown. They go into the mysterious underworld beneath Chinatown, where they face an ancient sorcerer named David Lo Pan (James Hong)." - wiki
Not the best film I have ever seen nor should it really be considered "good". Its bizarre that it should be mostly about rescuing Wang Chi's fiancée but It felt like Dennis Dun didn't get a bigger role as it is Kurt Russell who steals the spotlight. The script is very bad, I wish all of the actors could have been made more important rather than just background people typical for an American movie with Asian culture heavily present. Though I don't think this was John Carpenter's idea for this movie but at least he made a movie with Asian actors playing Asians in a film heavily influenced by Asian films. He gave a lot of people a chance to work
David Lo Pan (James Hong) was a nice villain, he was entertaining to watch (to me he was the most entertaining thing about this film). James Hong did a good job, actually this might be the first movie that I have seen him have a lot of screen time. It was nice to see someone different even if I couldn't tell who he was. Villains that wear make up have a long history of success or cult like status like Beetlejuice, Heath Ledger's Joker, etc. So why does James Hong get forgotten in the mix? I think its mainly due to the poor special effects in the film. Its hard to take a villain serious if the effects are a complete waste. Sadly to say this villain is one most of us have forgotten but shouldn't we at least review James Hong's performance?
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