"I came here to do two things, kick ass and chew bubble gum.
And I'm all out of bubblegum!"
John Carpenter has brought us
such great movies as Halloween, Big Trouble in Little China, The Thing, Escape from New
York, Vampires, etc. etc. But one of Carpenter's movies that few have seen is the one I'm
going to review for you today, They Live. They Live is a rather old movie, released in
1988. I've been on a Big Carpenter kick as of late, so I couldn't resist giving this one a
viewing after loving every minute of The Thing. And with Roddy Roddy Piper on the cast,
can you really go wrong? But before I go any further, let me give you the lowdown on the
plot:
--John Nada (Piper) is a wandering job-less/homeless man. He finally finds some
construction work and lives in a poor village with most of his co-workers. But things go
downhill from there. John begins to discover the true face of the people around him (for
those that haven't seen the movie, I won't ruin it and tell you the device he uses). Many
persons in this city are in fact aliens and most of them are important members of our
society. Using some sort of signal, the aliens are able to keep their true faces and
subliminal messages hidden from the humans. The aliens keep humans in ignorance and they
rule our world as they like. Nada knows there are others out there that know the truth, as
he attempts to go at the aliens head-on. With shotguns blazing and body slams everywhere,
the movie heads towards its climax.--
"I'm not
daddy's little boy anymore."
Well that's all of the plot that I want to reveal to you. If I tell you the whole movie,
whats the fun in watching it? But there are a few more things that need to be mentioned:
-This movie has the most impressive fight scene (without) weapons you may ever see. Nada
(Piper) and best friend (Keith David) go at in an alley WWF style. Body slams, kicks to
the groin, trips, flip moves, its all there. This is the big tough American version of
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, ha. This scene does go on a little long, but just think of
it as Hollywood prowrestling, and compare it to garbage like No Holds Barred and you'll
see just how much better it is. Now if only Piper could look that good in a real ring.
-The subliminal messages that the aliens are broadcasting to the humans are eerie to say
the least. They are the highlight of this movie hands down. Messages like "Stay
Asleep" and "Marry and Reproduce" are in everything the humans view and
read. Seeing them in black and white only makes them more haunting. Prepare to mark out.
-The quotes in this movie can be considered either hilarious or downright retarded. I've
peppered this review with them, so if you're not digging them now...you're going to hate
them even more in the movie.
-This DVD should be titled Bare Bones, its a pretty fitting alternate title for the movie
and it more than describes the DVD. There isn't a damn thing on here...not even a damn
trailer. I have some pretty weak discs (Pulp Fiction, Blade Runner), but this one takes
the cake. When you go to the menu, its automatically in the Scene Selection mode, as
that's much as you're going to get. A nice touch though are the "subliminal
messages" when you highlight a specific chapter/scene. This is a movie that could
have really immersed you with relevant extra features, but I guess anything starring Roddy
Piper isn't going to have a huge studio behind it, pumping money into the DVD.
-The ending has pure corny moments, but pure perfection too. Do they balance out? That's
up to you to decide.
Finally, this movie isn't for everyone..that's for sure. I viewed it with my girlfriend
who was far from impressed. I believe the sentence "the worst movie of all-time"
came from her mouth more than once. But personally I enjoyed it for what it was, a lower
budget sci-fi action comedy and didn't ask for anything more of it. And Fans of the Evil
Dead trilogy will more than agree with me, they'll probably LOVE this movie. It's got the
same combination of action, comedy, a cocky hero, and countless quotable lines. So if you
like John Carpenter, Evil Dead, or Roddy Piper...you'll dig They Live. If not...why am I
talking to you, you have no taste.
"Life's a
bitch, and she's back in heat!"
Rating:  1/2 out of four.
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