Review of They Live (1988) by Nolan V — 09 May 2012

They Live is simple, not truly outspoken or new but enjoyable because there is an effort and finesse to the way this was made. Carpenter, who I never seemed to understand beforehand, is growing on me as a director, because his style may not be refined, or practical, but it does relate to the audience.

I so wanted to love this outright, but I still can't always get past the silliness, the impassioned acting of Roddy Piper, the lack of information that concerns the plot, and the simplicity of everything, nothing truly explained or explored.

It bases the entire film on one concept and then doesn't develop the characters to really ingratiate us to care about this lackadaisical dystopian world. Still, I thought the visual components and the message that was so heavyhanded yet original, made this a good watch.

Roddy Piper, who was most famous for being a wrestler at the time of this, truly blossoms onscreen. Though I don't regard those who are not actors acting in films to be a pleasant experience most times, Roddy really does fit within this film.

The character calls for Nada (Piper) to be expressionless, severe, maybe even brooding, and Piper does a great job of portraying a down and out construction worker who stumbles across the biggest secret in the entire world.

Do I think he should ever be in anything else? Absolutely not, but in a Carpenter film anything can happen, and though things were disproportionate most of the time, I found it small budget action film, in a good way.

Though the best scenes seem to be comprised of Nada kicking bad guys down a peg or two or else learning the integral secrets of an alien operation, I enjoyed every little wisp of ill intelligence. Though Nada rarely speaks, he does spout some one liners and action movie cliches, my favorite of which has got to be, "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubblegum.

" There's a lot more, but Nada only seems to mutter them from the corner of his mouth and then just as easily forgets what he has just said. I agree with other reviewers that the ending was less than ideal, but I generally liked it because it was one big easy reveal, like ripping off a band aid.

One of Carpenter's better low budget films, I highly recommend it.