They Live: Collector's Edition [DVD] [1988] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

A great movie with one of the best fight scenes ever witnessed on set, a true must watch…

Great to see again. Classic!

They Live is directed by John Carpenter who also adapts the screenplay form the short story Eight O'Clock in the Morning written by Ray Nelson. It stars Roddy Piper, Keith David and Meg Foster. Music is by Alan Howarth (and Carpenter) and cinematography by Gary B. Kibbe.Unemployed drifter Nada (Piper) wanders into the city looking to find work, but upon finding a unique pair of sunglasses he sees a different world to everyone else. It's a world frequented by an alien race who are using the Earth for their own nefarious means.See The Truth!Carpenter does subversive sci-fi and it's a whole bunch of fun. Stripped back it's evident that They Live is Carpenter's wry observation on the politico posers who endorse the rich getting richer and everybody else sliding down the pole; to where they stop nobody knows! It's also a blatant paean to the glorious years of the 1950s when paranoia based sci-fi schlockers and creaky creature features ruled the air waves. It's also a wonderfully macho driven action movie, laced with comedy as well. You can rest assured there will be plenty of shooting, punching, dodging and spoken lines to make you smile.Piper is no Kurt Russell, but we shouldn't hold that against him because he fills the role nicely. With muscular frame, 80s hair and a quip on the tongue, he is most assuredly a Carpenter leading man for the 80s. Alongside him is the reassuring presence of Keith David, himself a beefcake and also one of the coolest muthas on the planet. It's easy to believe that these two can save the planet, even after nearly beating each other to a pulp during a prolonged side-alley fight sequence, where Carpenter doesn't miss a chance to parody professional wrestling. While away from the beef, Meg Foster gets the lead lady role, with those amazing eyes nestling in perfectly with the world Carpenter has created.Carpenter does political? Yes, but it's not the be all and end all of his intentions. He wanted to make an action sci-fi schlocker with sly politico undertones as motives. And that's exactly what he did. Joyously so. 8/10

John (thee "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, WWF Wrestling Legend) is a drifter in a new town looking for Construction work and a place to stay. A work buddy offers him a spot at a close-knit homeless shelter, which is all well and good until he notices that when his new found friends are watching TV, wierd "preachy" Broadcasts about "They" dominating us as a society and making us watch TV and buy stuff we really don't need keep coming up in a static haze through the clean-cut, regularly broadcast programmes. After Johns suspicions are already aroused, John wanders over into the local Episcopalian Church to discover some seriously shady goings-on after one of the people in the shelter goes into the Church looking just a bit shifty! There is no-one except about 4 men in the church, and all the singing and praise that can be heard outside is all recorded. One of the men notices John and argues with him about being in the Church uninvited and as John goes to leave he bangs into a wall which becomes loose, uncovering Boxes upon Boxes of what appears to be just... Sunglasses!However, Johns life is changed forever when he puts these Sunglasses on, as they uncover what the Hacker TV Broadcasts have been saying all along, now John can see clearly that all the subliminal "Watch TV", "Obey" messages underneath all the clean-cut adverts and magazines. John also gets more than he bargained for when he notices some of the public are... ALIENS!! Will John get anybody to believe what he's seeing? Where will he go from here knowing what he now knows? Prepare for the kick-arse adventure that is They Live!This is a great Movie, written by none other than John Carpenter (msny of us know him for the Horror Classic "Halloween"!) It has a great message, and tackles issues that were happening at the time with wit, intelligence, humor and plenty of action! Roddy Piper is absolutely fantastic as John Nada, and is abley backed by an all round brilliant Cast. There are some brilliant fighting moments (one of the Longest Fist Fights in Cinema History takes place in this film) and John has some great one-liners!The Disc is great because it also has a fair-few special features, such as a Featurette: The Making Of, Cast Profiles and the Original Trailer, so you'll be suitably impressed with this! They Live, We Sleep.