Everybody relax, Kurt Russel is here. This is another case of a movie knowing what it is. John Carpenters version of a kung-fu film is hard not to enjoy. Russel is the ultimate American hero archetype in this one. Hes a truck driver that carries a gun and a big knife. The sense of humor the movie has about that is makes it so great. He is constantly outmatched and overpowered by the otherworldly beings or, in some cases, his own ineptitude. The fight scenes and kung-fu get pretty silly at times but Carpenter figured out how to make them fun. This movie is laughing with you while you are laughing at it. The posters for this make it look almost like a video game and they are not wrong. It has the same attention to subtlety and reality as most 8-bit games of the era. Jack Burton fights his way through the underground labyrinth of little China and beats all the levels to reach the boss at the end. If this list was longer, youd see Kurt Russel show up again but I picked this as his only entry because the action and sense of humor make it a perfect guilty pleasure. Just watch this whole movie, dont fast forward. Best line: "Sooner or later, I rub everybody the wrong way." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=592EiTD2Hgo
