They Live Review

[wbassett]

Actors: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George 'Buck' Flower, Peter Jason
Directors: John Carpenter
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region 1

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating R
Studio: Image Entertainment
DVD Release Date: March 25, 1998
Run Time: 95 minutes

Nada (Rowdy Roddy Piper)
I have come here to chew bubblegum or kick butt, and I'm all out of bubblegum.

Lines like that set the whole tone of a movie, and this one says let's have some fun! Get your Popcorn, soda, and Ju Ju bee things and get ready for some guiltless movie pleasure!

I needed a mental break after my last review and remembering the horror that was Children of Men. Believe it or not I picked this as my next review based on a comment in my last review- "To begin with, I'm not very big on pretentious movies that have a political message. Movies should be entertainment and some do manage to pull off social commentary along with a good story."

They Live actually has a social commentary message about consumerism and people being controlled and a slave to it... but it handles it in a light way, almost an after thought.

A rugged loner (RODDY PIPER) stumbles upon a terrifying discovery: ghoulish creatures are masquerading as humans while they lull the public into submission through subliminal advertising messages.

John Carpenter was intrigued by a short story by Ray Nelson about called Eight O'Clock in the Morning.

In Prince of Darkness, Carpenter also had the opportunity to explore important social issues such as the poverty and the class segregation found in modern day Los Angeles. These topics became the focus of his next film, They Live (1988), which possibly presents one of the most imaginative, provocative and incisive criticisms on these subjects. In this film, specially designed sunglasses allow the user to see the world as it really is: the upper class, TV show hosts, government officials and law enforcement agents are extraterrestrials who are secretly exploiting the Earth's resources. On the other hand, the homeless and the working class are still humans, who are being hypnotized with subliminal images that force them to obey the law, marry and reproduce, avoid creative thinking and to adopt a very conformist attitude. Without a doubt They Live was ahead of its time and in a sense this little-known film anticipated the post-apocalyptic world depicted in The Matrix.

The movie is violent and has crude language, but nothing out of the norm for a John Carpenter movie.

The music is done by John Carpenter as usual which gives it that unique style he has come to be recognized by.

Surprisingly Roddy Piper does a commendable job acting, but some say professional wrestlers are actors anyway. The subliminals are both funny but make you think at the same time. As I mentioned, this is a completely unrealistic movie that was taken from a short story that you can literally read in five minutes, but it actually manages to get some social commentary across while having fun at the same time.

The video quality is actually very good for an older DVD that's not really main stream. It certainly is no 'The Thing' or Big Trouble in Little China, so it was surprising to see such a clear image and it up converted nicely. This certainly does not look like High Def, but it did look good. Almost as good as my Bluray copy of The Lake House, but I could still tell it was an SDVD.

The aliens are definitely not the best FX, but it almost feels like that was done intentionally and part of the look and 'feel' of the movie.

If you like John Carpenter flicks, you'll definitely have fun with this one. Oh... did I mention it also has a message? So here we have it, two movies with social commentary, one is pompous and preachy and in the end didn't have a fun factor to it, and another one that completely took itself as almost a joke, yet I somehow seemed to remember the message as well as had a good time.

Drifter (George 'Buck' Flower)
What's wrong with having it good for a change? Now they're gonna let us have it good if we just help 'em. They're gonna leave us alone, let us make some money. You can have a little taste of that good life too. Now I know you want it, everybody does.

Frank (Keith David)
You'd do it to your own kind.

Drifter
What's the threat? We all sell out every day, might as well be on the winning team.

How's that for social commentary and in a low budget flick none the less... or would you rather have a 'strawberry cough'?

[MatrixDweller]

This is a movie I can watch over and over. It just has that character appeal and hoakiness about it that makes it one of my favourites. I saw it when i was a kid with my brother and we still recite some of the cheesy lines from it to get a laugh. You've gotta love the wrestling scene with Roddy and Keith when Roddy is trying to get him to try on the glasses. Cheesy but funny.

[wbassett]

I agree, and in this case I think the cheese was intentional. It's when a movie takes itself way too seriously and then ends up with unintentional cheesy scenes is when I cringe.

Big Trouble was pretty cheesy too if you ask me, but I loved it. Don't get me wrong, I do like serious movies and drama too, but sometimes I'm just in the mood for some fun.

[wbassett]

The fight scene (right out of a WWF main event, except they actually bled and got bruised ) was fun and was one of the longest fights I have seen.

I wouldn't say Piper was a world class actor in this, but he really did show some promise and I thought had the potential to do some more movies and become one of the new action stars. He's actually been in more movies than I thought he was, but he never seemed to be able to jump to the main stream, which is a shame. For a wrestler he seemed to have a good personality and some acting skills. I've seen some actors that have done worse than him and they are supposed to be the professionals.