After the massive success of Halloween in 1978, John Carpenter’s career continued to grow and flourish in commercial success. His next two films, 1980’s The Fog and 1981’s Escape from New York, were both financial hits. However, things came to a halt with 1982’s The Thing which, while now regarded as a classic, was a failure. After the financial failure of The Thing, Carpenter had trouble finding work until he got the job for 1983’s Christine. Despite it doing fairly well commercially and critically, Carpenter wasn’t entirely happy with it and decided to try other genres. While 1984’s Starman did well enough, 1986’s Big Trouble in Little China was yet another financial disaster. Growing ever more frustrated with the studio system, Carpenter decided to go independent with his next film, Prince of Darkness. Finally, to close out the 80s, Carpenter directed the now iconic sci-fi film, 1988’s They Live.
%
Rating
A lone drifter credited as Nada (Roddy Piper) wanders into town looking for work and not having much luck. He manages to get a job at a construction site where he meets Frank (Keith David), a fellow blue-collar worker. Nada starts noticing weird things going on, including strange TV broadcasts warning people that we are being controlled by “them”. After the police raid a homeless camp Nada and Frank have been living in, Nada discovers something: mysterious sunglasses. When he puts on the sunglasses, the world turns black-and-white, billboards become subliminal messages, and certain people are actually aliens. Nada soon realizes that these aliens have been controlling us through subliminal messaging and keeping us complacent to their plans. After an alley fight, Nada teams up with Frank and a local resistance group to bring the aliens down. Will our heroes succeed, or will they continue to rule?
Given the subject matter of the film, this was definitely the best way to cap off the 1980s. John Carpenter made the movie because of how disgusted he was with Reaganomics and the rise in consumerism. This movie perfectly hits captures that with all the subliminal messaging and the aliens representing the rich and powerful. It’s a message that’s just as relevant today as it was back then, perhaps even more so. Aside from the socio-political message, this movie also works as a fun sci-fi action film about taking down evil aliens. Roddy Piper does a great job as the nameless drifter, displaying a real working-class charm and tons of charisma. Keith David is awesome as always, and he and Piper work incredibly well together, almost like a buddy cop duo. On top of that, the two have probably one of the greatest fight scenes in cinematic history.
The supporting cast is also great, the stand-outs being Meg Foster, Peter Jason, George “Buck” Flower, and even Al Leong. The aliens, referred to as ghouls, may look slightly crude, but their looks is very iconic and even frightening. There are some scenes where several of them are slowly approaching, and the black-and-white makes it even creepier. If there are any issues with the film, they’re very few and far in between and incredibly minor. For one, at times the pacing can be a bit repetitive, with our hero going from place to place. Also, there are times where the budget limitations creep in, whether it’s the alien masks or some shoddy effects. In spite of these issues, this still remains one of the most iconic and eerily relevant movies of the 1980s. With a great cast, cool action, and a timeless message, They Live is one of Carpenter’s best.
