They Live

It took me a long time to get around to watching They Live. I'm not really a fan of horror films, so I haven't seen much of Carpenter's repertoire, but I do have a soft-spot for Prince of Darkness and The Thing. In the end that didn't matter, because They Live is not a horror film. On the surface it's science fiction, but it's really more of a commentary on the present time than on the distant future.

Nestled uncomfortably between 1987's Wall Street and 1989's Liar's Poker, the film explores the increasing distrust between the working class and the ruling elite. A year after Gordon Gekko declared that "greed is good", the film questions how easily a person might sell out their friends if they thought it would get them ahead in the game. That humans are so willing to sell-out their own species for the opportunity of wealth and to live as part of this social ruling elite, while allowing the destruction of the earth and its environment in the process, is a perfect example of the kind of short-term thinking that plagues society. The concept of the film fits the cultural consciousness of its time perfectly, but sadly fails to live up to its potential.

The acting from the leading man and lady is dreadful. They are so wooden that when they first met I couldn't tell whether they were meant to be attracted to each other, or just dead behind the eyes. Many reviewers, as well as Carpenter himself, describe the film as satire. There are some moments that lend credence to that idea, but it feels like making excuses for poor execution. Whether it was intentional or not, it's a shame because the concept deserved better exploration than it received. It's summed up by one of the most laborious scenes of the film. After discovering a hidden alien race walking amongst us, Roddy Piper needs to convince his friend of the situation. Rather than explaining what is going on, they spend five-and-a-half minutes slugging it out in a back alley trying to beat each other to a pulp. Maybe we would be better off if we were ruled by an alien force after all.

The film has clearly influenced culture, especially video games. As someone that grew up playing first-person shooters like Duke Nukem, it was amusing to hear his phrase on kicking ass and chewing bubblegum predating the game by almost a decade. Piper is the perfect embodiment of Nukem, with the blond hair, muscled physique and not a lot going on between his ears. Some scenes of the film play out like the game, with one featureless corridor after another birthing nameless goons that are spawned only to be gunned down moments later.

When I was at uni, we had the concept of a film that was "so bad it's good". We would revel in the bad acting, the corny script and the low budget effects. We would quote lines from them to each other endlessly. If we'd watched this film then it may have made the grade, but these days I'm far more protective of my free time, so it just registers as a bad film and life moves on.