Review of They Live (1988) by James S — 07 Jan 2010

Cheesy, but some of the best one liners ever!

Story: Aliens invade and a guy fights them with guns while spouting one liners. Seriously, what more do you want? Carpenter spends a lot of time jumping up and down on his soapbox, with the hidden messages on the money and the billboards being oh so subtle (?This is your god!?), but it's done in such a cheesy, over the top way that it becomes quite hilarious. There are a few moments of plot induced stupidity, mainly coming from the bum who turns out to be working with the aliens not noticing that Piper's face was on TV as being wanted when he takes Piper inside the alien base. C.

Acting: Roddy Piper does an excellent job of playing a very understated character at the beginning of this movie. Then once he notices the aliens around him he starts spouting one liners in an over the top fashion. In many ways it felt like his character had split personalities. I also love the fact that the first offensive move he does in this movie is a good old fashioned clothesline from pro wrestling. Keith David is probably the star actor of this movie, unless you count the fight between him and Roddy which was probably the real star of this movie, just ask South Park (Cripple Fight!). C.

Visuals: Okay, this movie looked awesome. The special effects are a bit dated, but they more or less hold up to this day. The differences between the real world and the world seen through the glasses are awesome. John Carpenter is and will always be one of my favorite directors and this one was pretty good, although his love for long shots cost the scene of the cops beating up people in the back alley. That scene needed some creative editing and rapid cuts to make the hits look like they were actually impacting the victims. B.

Sound: Carpenter loves synthesizers, as shown by this movie, Prince of Darkness, and In the Mouth of Madness. In this one we get the blues as played through a synth, which makes for an eerie sound. No foleys kicked me out of the movie, so all around we're good. A.

Overall: This is a really stupid movie and I love it. It has become a bit hard to find these days, and if you consider yourself a fan or Carpenter and/or Evil Dead 2, then this movie is worth hunting down. I'd be willing to pay up to fifteen dollars for a good copy or a buck or two for a used VHS copy somewhere. C.

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