They Live (Film Review)
1988 Universal Pictures
Written and Directed by: John Carpenter (Based upon the short story,"Eight O'Clock in the Morning," by Ray Nelson)
Starring: Roddy Piper, Keith David, and Meg Foster
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 94 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 7/10
Nada's a drifter just trying to look on the bright side of life. Sure, it's hard to find work, and most people are struggling to get by, while a small minority do very, very well, but Nada still loves America. One day, Nada meets a new friend named Frank Armitage, who helps Nada find a soup kitchen and shanty town place to sleep, while he waits for his first paycheck from a construction job. Frank doesn't have as rosy a view of America, mentioning that the big companies seem to be laying off more and more employees, while giving their CEO's raises. Hmmm...this dystopian future sounds kind of familiar, huh?
One night, Nada notices the
shantytown leader acting a bit suspicious and follows him. Turns out the guy might be a part of some
kind of uprising...against authorities who aren't what they seem. Suddenly, the
shantytown is being raided, people are being killed, and Nada is on the run. Thankfully, Nada now has a special pair of sunglasses, which allow him to see that some people are actually
hideous aliens, subliminal messages to obey and not question are hidden all
around him, and something other than humanity is actually in charge
They Live doesn't hide its cultural commentary and critique of an unregulated capitalist system under the surface. It's right there for almost the entirety of the film's 94-minute runtime. A few people have sold out the rest of humanity to live large. It's happened throughout all of humanity's past. It's happening now. It's why I don't think humanity is inherently good. It's why I have no hope in humanity. But that's neither here nor there because They Live is actually a very fun, very silly film, starring professional wrestler, Roddy Piper, as the drifter, Nada. Piper is a natural performer, magnetically enjoyable here as he smirks and is baffled by his increasingly odd circumstances. As Nada's partner in blasting away fascist aliens who look like humans, Keith David brings the kind of charming authority he's exuded his entire career.
The obvious highlight and centerpiece of the film is a fight initiated when Nada insists Frank put on the truth-revealing sunglasses for the first time, and Frank refuses. In junior high, my classmates told me the fight was 30 minutes long, and that Piper wore a kilt. It's actually five minutes long, and he doesn't, but the fight is still a hugely enjoyable treat. Piper and David kick the snot out of one another, bruised and bleeding and exhausted by the end. Fun scenes like this make They Live extremely watchable. Where the film falters, in my opinion, is not only the silliness in plotting at moments, but also the lack of attention to detail.
They Live doesn't hide its cultural commentary and critique of an unregulated capitalist system under the surface. It's right there for almost the entirety of the film's 94-minute runtime. A few people have sold out the rest of humanity to live large. It's happened throughout all of humanity's past. It's happening now. It's why I don't think humanity is inherently good. It's why I have no hope in humanity. But that's neither here nor there because They Live is actually a very fun, very silly film, starring professional wrestler, Roddy Piper, as the drifter, Nada. Piper is a natural performer, magnetically enjoyable here as he smirks and is baffled by his increasingly odd circumstances. As Nada's partner in blasting away fascist aliens who look like humans, Keith David brings the kind of charming authority he's exuded his entire career.
The obvious highlight and centerpiece of the film is a fight initiated when Nada insists Frank put on the truth-revealing sunglasses for the first time, and Frank refuses. In junior high, my classmates told me the fight was 30 minutes long, and that Piper wore a kilt. It's actually five minutes long, and he doesn't, but the fight is still a hugely enjoyable treat. Piper and David kick the snot out of one another, bruised and bleeding and exhausted by the end. Fun scenes like this make They Live extremely watchable. Where the film falters, in my opinion, is not only the silliness in plotting at moments, but also the lack of attention to detail.
For instance, hours after this fight, when Nada and Frank
are attending a resistance meeting, they have the unblemished faces of angels, as if no fight has even occurred.
Later on, when the meeting is attacked, Nada and Frank warp away to the enemy
broadcasting tower (the aliens are using TV broadcast signals to keep the veil
over citizens' eyes), using an alien wristwatch. The duo are new to the resistance,
and yet somehow no one else has tried using one of these wristwatches with known
warping capabilities until these two do. Also, the aliens continued plan entirely
rests on their broadcast antenna at the top of the tower, yet the antenna is essentially unguarded, and destroyed with one pistol shot. All of this is just too silly
for a movie with higher ambitions.
I'm not saying I didn't enjoy They Live. I enjoyed it enough to say I nearly loved it, and had a ton of fun watching it. The movie is fun till the last shot. However, with tighter plotting and a higher attention to detail, They Live could be a straight-up classic instead of just a cult one.
I'm not saying I didn't enjoy They Live. I enjoyed it enough to say I nearly loved it, and had a ton of fun watching it. The movie is fun till the last shot. However, with tighter plotting and a higher attention to detail, They Live could be a straight-up classic instead of just a cult one.
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