Review of They Live (1988) by Mike M — 18 Nov 2012

Wikipedia: ''Part science fiction horror and part dark comedy, the film echoed contemporary fears of a declining economy, within a culture of greed and conspicuous consumption common among Americans. The film follows a nameless drifter referred to as "Nada", who discovers the ruling class within the moneyed elite are in fact aliens managing human social affairs through the use of a signal on top of the TV broadcast, concealing their appearance and subliminal messages in mass media.''.

My first John Carpenter film! As far as low-budget sci-fi films go, this was a goodie. A great satire about the capitalist economy structure, modern day consumerism, and the social media. So many thought-provoking themes, yet entertaining as hell (''I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubblegum!'' Oh, and that fight scene was really cool too). In some ways, it reminded me of ''The Matrix,'' in the sense that a small group of humans have ''woken'' up from a false reality, and now have to fight a alien species to regain their world. Maybe the Wachowski siblings were inspired by this movie? No great performances to speak of, but Roddy Piper was pretty decent in the lead. Background score deserves mentioning. All in all, a good movie to check out.