Director: John Carpenter
Producer: Ray Nelson, John Carpenter
Starring: 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster
Prior to watching this film, the only John Carpenter film I had seen was Big Trouble in Little China. Needless to say, after that experience, I found it very difficult to take They Live seriously. It provides only a fraction of the absurdity of Big Trouble but makes up for it in anti-consumerism undertones.
Professional wrestler, ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper stars as George Nada, a surprisingly well-muscled homeless man struggling to even find work in construction sites. He finds himself suspicious of a church near to his landfill site of habitation. He meddles about in matters and ends up lost in a rigmarole of oddly believable ridiculousness.
The undoubted best aspect of the film is the incisive allegorical anti-consumerism. There are hugely overt references to how false the American dream is and how media is effectively brainwashing consumers. The theme’s presence is apparent and definitely the focal point of the film but it doesn’t detract from the action of the film. It would be difficult to make any political statement this large in a film that isn’t a documentary, which is the impressive part of the film. It affected my standpoint on the matter as much as a Michael Moore film.
The action in the film is odd and rather jarring. In act three, gunshots are quickly followed by a close-up of the jittering barrel of the gun that is shooting… every single time. This happens many times and never failed to shove me right out of the film so that I could look away to avoid a splitting headache. Even still, the act three shots are majorly long takes and visually arresting. Having Roddy Piper as the leading actor, you would expect more suplexes and clotheslines than actually appear. The extent of his fighting is him forcing sunglasses onto a guy’s face (which is admittedly hilarious).
I don’t want to spoil a large aspect of the film, (an aspect that most people already know) so I will merely say that the production value and make-up in the film is very impressive, something that Carpenter has become known for after The Thing.
They Live is the quintessential mix between political statement and cheesy 80s action film. The statement is expertly integrated and was personally, very successful. The action is a true mixed bag featuring great long takes but needless flurries of cuts. However it features a great use of production and make-up. Definitely worth your time.
They Live receives an: 8/10
You should buy it!
They Live [Blu-ray] From Amazon
They Live [DVD] From Amazon
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