Great films that never got a sequel - Big Trouble In Little China

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Spoiler alerts Many movies spawn an undeserved endless cycle of formulaic sequels. I’ve lost count of all the Friday The 13th, Halloween and Nightmare On Elm Street continuations that were churned out, each worse than its predecessors. John Carpenter offered sequels to many of his movies, especially Halloween, Escape From New York and John Carpenter’s Vampires. His two finest movies, both comedies, were left without sequels. To be fair, Dark Star really left no option for a continuation, but 1986’s Big Trouble In Little China had huge potential. It may be one of the best martial arts movies ever made not to star Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan. The plot involved hapless Kurt Russell trying to get his stolen truck out of Chinatown (San Francisco), only to fall foul of drug dealers, martial arts warlords and Chinese sorcery. The formidably powered, even God like villains left the audience wondering how the hero would save the day. The answer was mostly entirely by accident. Kurt’s hero is blissfully unaware of how useless he is throughout the comedic action movie. Russell is getting on in years but probably not beyond playing the action hero again (Harrison Ford got off the Zimmer frame long enough to do it with the 4th Indiana Jones movie and left us wishing he hadn’t). Big Trouble provided an early love interest role for Sex And The City girl Kim Cattrall, the oldest of the four series regulars. A follow up might still be easy to set up, after all Big Trouble In … could be followed by any location the film maker’s desire. (Big Trouble In Newport Pagnell?)The fights, stunts and effects could look as inventive and fresh as the first time round. Few martial arts films from Hong Kong capture the distinctive look. (an exception would be 1980’s Lone Wolf & Cub movie, Shogun Assassin). It’s an angle on action-comedy-adventures that really does deserve to be loved by a fresh audience and Carpenter could still do this justice. Instead, we’ll probably just get another Halloween re-tread. The film was not a success at the box-office though it has a strong fan following. It’s the lack of financial success that probably flatlines hopes of a follow up. Arthur Chappell