They Live

After putting on a special pair of sunglasses, an out of work drifter (Roddy Piper) discovers an alien conspiracy.

In one respect, They Live has aged well. The story’s theme, a vast conspiracy by the privileged to exploit and suppress the middle and lower class, plays just as well today as it did twenty years ago during the Reagan administration. Indeed, an early line from Piper’s character about several banks going under the previous month rings especially true.

However, They Live is still subject to the same huge problem it had upon its initial release; namely, the ridiculous special effects. Neither scary, nor shocking, they looked bad in 1988 and they still look bad now. It’s a crippling mistake in the execution of a solid premise that’s surprising for a veteran director like John Carpenter.

That said, the film does have its redeeming qualities. While one suspects Carpenter had frequent collaborator Kurt Russell in mind when he wrote the part, Roddy Piper is surprisingly solid as the lead, and reportedly ad-libbed the film’s greatest line (one that almost single-handedly makes the whole thing worth watching), though he also choreographed a rather lengthy fight sequence between himself and Keith David that was supposed to last half a minute, but stretches to over five. Granted, the blame really falls on Carpenter, who should have cut it, but still…

Carpenter does a good job creating atmosphere, mixing blue-collar angst with pulp sci-fi to create, when it clicks, a rolling action-fantasy similar to his earlier Big Trouble in Little China, but unfortunately, these moments are too few and far between as Carpenter can’t seem to decide just how seriously he wants to take the material.