They Live Reviews

honestly if you took orwell's 1984 and the tv series V (right down to the main bad girl who is a dead ringer for diana) and a dose of wwf wrestling thanks to rodey piper and a dose of john carpenter horror and what you end up with is....well this. a bit sci-fi horror thats not scary nor very serious. it could have been either or even both and it probably would remain interesting today. unfortunately it reeks of the tail end of 80's horror slop.

its not aweful and its still watchable. its a saturday-i've-got-nothin'-better-to-do sort've movie. it probably won't appeal to most modern viewers.

its bold graphics while looking through the sunglasses is its finest moment. while owing a ton to earlier versions of 1984, it remains well done and stunning enough to survive.

much of the film is long dialog-less takes with rodey piper. this is his finer moments because he's not a good actor and when he tries it shows. theres also a lot of fighting and shooting....ditto.

For quite a while i stayed away from this movie,assuming it would suck like all other movies with wrestlers in it. As a fan of Roddy Piper in the wrestling world i also didn't want to lose my respect for him in the ring, so i left it at the bottom of my want list. Then one day i ebayed it from somone who lived by me and put it on when i got home. as the beginning seemed to drag on i dosed off for a second and the interference with the static woke me up, realizing something was going down.. Soon. From then on the movie had me loving every minute; from its rediculously long lasting fight between Roddy Piper and Keith David over seeing [them] through the glasses to the shootout at the bank and bullets flying everywhere else. John Carpenter has not made in movie that hasn't blown me away; but this one was one of my favs minutes after i saw it. Such a good and firmiliar theme based on other beings controling us and sublimely telling us to obey and consume; making this nightmare of a world a realtiy; and a dream come true for the pockets of the players in the corporate game called capitalism. Roddy said it the best at the end... The Finger.
I actually got a chance to get this dvd signed too. Made out to me saying "all out of bubble gum."




"I Have Come To Chew Bubble Gum And Kick Ass.. And I'm All Out Of Bubble Gum."