Big Trouble in Little China

Big Trouble in Little China

Duration: 1hr 39m

Setting: Chinatown, San Francisco                           

Characters:

Jack Burton is the main protagonist and acts tough but when it comes down to fighting he is weak and doesn't know what he is doing.At times he's a bit egocentric. Jack's motivation is getting his truck back. Jack's other motivation is that Wang owes him a lot of money for a bet he lost.

Wang Chi is a main character and he is motivated by witnessing his fiancee being kidnapped by a local crime syndicate. Wang is extraordinary martial artist and is responsible for most of the film's heroics.

David Lo Pan is a main character who's motivation is to exploit Miao Yin's emerald eyes to regain his youth. As an old man David is a comically cantankerous loudmouth but in his true form he is evilly majestic. he is also the mysterious almost invisible CEO of the Wing Kong trading company. FACT David inspired Mortal Kombat's Shang Tsung.

Gracie Law is a newspaper journalist and is an unwanted face around Chinatown most likely due to her awful reporting, judging by people's reactions. Her motivation is her fascination for local crime specifically the Lords of Death. She is also prone to being kidnapped a lot because of her jade eyes.

Egg Shen is a tour bus owner by day but by night he is a Wise Guardian of the spirit world. he is a solitary but respected man of Chinatown and is David Lo Pan's long time nemesis.

Miao Yin is sub character and gets kidnapped due to her jade eyes.

One Ear is David Lo Pan's guardian and enforcer.

The Three Storms (Bad Guys),
Thunder,
 Lighting,
 Rain,

Genre(s) Martial Arts, Action and Fantasy

Plot: Jack Burton helps his friend Wang Chi rescue his green eyed fiancée from bandits in San Francisco’s Chinatown. They go to the mysterious underworld beneath Chinatown where they face a sorcerer named David Lo Pan who requires an Asian woman with green eyes to release him from a centuries curse.

Beginning:

Truck driver Jack Burton wins a bet with his restaurant owner friend Wang Chi and accompanies him to the airport to pick up Wang’s Chinese fiancée Miao Yin to make sure he honours the payment. A Chinese street gang, The Lords of Death tries to kidnap another Chinese girl at the airport who is being met by her friend Gracie Law intending to sell her as a sex slave. After Jack intervenes they take Miao Yin instead. In Jack’s big rig truck he and Wang track The Lords of Death to the back alleys of Chinatown where they find a funeral procession that quickly erupts into a street fight between Chang Sing and Wing Kong two ancient Chinese societies.

When The Three Storms (Thunder, Rain and Lightning warriors with weather themed powers) appear slaughtering the Chang Sing. Jack tries to escape but runs over Lo Pan a powerful and legendary sorcerer and the leader of the Wing Kong. Horrified Jack exits his truck to find Lo Pan entirely unfazed and glowing with malicious power. Wang guides Jack through the alleys the two escape the carnage and mayhem but Jack’s truck gets stolen.

Middle:

Wang takes Jack to his restaurant where they meet up with Gracie, Wang’s friend Eddie Lee and magician Egg Shen a local authority on Lo Pan. They try to explain to a disbelieved Jack some of the ancient knowledge and sorcery the Chinese brought with them to America eventually devising a plan to infiltrate a brothel where they think Miao Yin is being held. The infiltration effort is moderately successful but The Storms interrupt the operation and make off with Miao Yin taking her to their master Lo Pan. Jack and Wang track down the front business used by Lo Pan and impersonate electricians to gain access but are quickly subdued by Rain.

After being tied up and beaten by Thunder the two meet Lo Pan however he now appears as an a crippled old man. Wang tells Jack that Lo Pan needs a special green eyed girl to break an ancient curse and he intends to sacrifice Miao Yin. Centuries ago Lo Pan a great warrior and an even greater wizard was defeated in battle by the first sovereign emperor Qin Shi Huang. The Emperor placed upon Lo Pan the curse of No Flesh. Although Lo Pan can be temporarily granted a decrepit body by supplication to the gods in order for him to break the curse and regain his human form he must marry a woman with green eyes.

This simple act will appease Ching Dai the God of the East. But to satisfy the Emperor he must sacrifice her. When Jack and Wang’s friends attempt to save them they are also captured and Lo Pan notes that Gracie has green eyes too. Lo Pan decides to sacrifice Gracie while making Miao Yin his unwilling wife. After getting the drop on Thunder Jack and Wang escape and free many women kept in holding cells in the process. A horrible orangutan like monster recaptures Gracie before she leaves.

  

End:

Wang and Jack regroup with the Chang Sing and Egg Shen as a group they enter an underground cavern to return to Lo Pan’s headquarters. Egg pours each of the group a potent potion that makes Jack say it makes him feel kind of invincible. During the wedding ceremony a huge fight ensues. Jack id largely incapacitated during the battle first knocking himself out and then getting trapped under an automaton suit of armour. Wang kills Rain in a sword duel while Jack and Gracie pair up and chase the newly alive Lo Pan with a skillful knife throw. Thunder too distracted by Wang to prevent his master’s death inflates to an enormous size from dishonoured fury finally exploding and killing himself.

Jack, Wang and Gracie and Miao Yin are cornered by Lightning in a corridor who triggers a collapse with his powers. Egg rescues them with a rope and kills Lightning by dropping a stone Buddha statue on him when he tries to follow. After finding Jack’s truck the group busts out and escape back to Wang’s restaurant.

The group celebrates their victory in the restaurant with the rescued women. Wang and Miao prepare to marry while Eddie is pairing up with Gracie’s journalist friend Margo. Egg sets off on a long due vacation Jack suggest his homeland but Egg says that China is in the heart. Jack presented with a new life with Gracie instead bids farewell to the group and hits the open road not wanting to be tied down. Unbeknownst to him the orangutan like monster survived the battle in the labyrinth and has stowed away on his truck. 

                                     

                 Is Big Trouble in Little China based on a book?

Big Trouble in Little China is based on a script but not a book after the film was made and released to the public a comic book series came out consisting of 25 issues.