Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun, James Hong
Have I Seen it Before: Yeah. Of all Carpenter’s films, this is the one I’ve never quite loved as much as other people (Some eagle-eyed readers will note I’ve always been a little cool on The Fog (1980), but I really do prefer to think people are more with me than not there.)
Did I Like It: That’s all different now. Where some of Carpenter’s best films are exercises in ruthless simplicity, this is a sometimes overwhelming feast for the senses, but in true Carpenter fashion, it wastes no time getting to what it promises, and seeing Russell let loose and have fun with Carpenter at his side.
And then I’m starting to run out of things to say about the film. Maybe I don’t like it as much as I want to. Is it because it might be a bit problematic around the edges, featuring an asian-influenced story brought to you by a white director and two white leads? It’s certainly possible, but I already had this reaction when I first saw the movie. Also, Burton is pretty thoroughly depicted as something of an idiot in over his head, so I think (read: want to believe) that counts for something.
Is the vibe of the film just a bit too aggressively 80s for my taste? Probably. I always blanche at that, wanting my films (and Carpenter certainly does this with many of his earlier works) to have a timeless quality to them.
Maybe the real problem is that Carpenter’s tough luck in the box office of this era, he couldn’t launch forth with the sequels he might have been actually interested in making. The Thing (1982) and Escape from New York (1981) (I know; bad example), but this is ultimately a good looking pilot for a series the network didn’t pick up. This is ultimately a beginning with—through no fault of Russell or Carpenter—no follow through.