BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (70mm) Director: JOHN CARPENTER 99 minutes, U.S.A., 1986, Colour, 70mm Book cinema tickets Following Elvis (1979), Escape from New York (1981), and The Thing (1982), director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell collaborated once again on the massively entertaining Big Trouble in Little China, a tongue-in-cheek martial arts film that has gained a healthy cult following since its original release. Russell is truck driver Jack Burton, a man with a big heart but a small intellect. When a friend’s fiancée is kidnapped by the Lords of Death, a Chinese street gang, Burton attempts to help, leading him and his companions (including Kim Cattrall) into a secret world of magic and sorcery as they strive to rescue the victim from the clutches of the evil Lo Pan (James Hing). The dialogue crackles but the film belongs to the hilarious Russell, playing, in Carpenter’s words, “a sidekick who thinks he’s a leading man.” (Notes by Kevin Coyne.) Screening as part of 70mm: The Big Picture, a season of films showing on 70mm at the IFI from Jun 4th to 29th. Tickets for all 70mm screenings: €12 Director: JOHN CARPENTER 99 minutes, U.S.A., 1986, Colour, 70mm