THEY LIVE

This 1988 science fiction film by John Carpenter combines elements of 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' and 'The Matrix'.

Unfortunately it suffers badly in comparison with those classics, due to low-budget special effects, mediocre acting, and an under-developed story.

The protagonist is a drifter, George Nada, who finds a pair of sunglasses which when worn reveal the true nature of reality: some humans are really aliens who are controlling us all by the transmission of subliminal messages urging people to sleep, consume and breed.

Even though the total running time barely exceeds 90 minutes, it takes an inordinately long time before Nada puts on the sunglasses. When he does it's fun for a while to see the aliens (which to be fair to the special effects department are effective enough), and to see the subliminal messages plastered over every possible wall. 

Kurt Russell wasn't available to play Nada, so instead Carpenter cast a professional wrestler.  This came in handy for a prolonged fight scene which seemed to go on forever but in fact lasts just north of five minutes.  Some consider it a highlight of the film, but it did nothing for me.

The climax of the film takes place at a TV station, where Nada and a couple of allies (Frank and Holly) are trying to destroy a transmitter.  Nada succeeds but is mortally wounded.  There is I guess an implication that the destruction of the transmitter will expose the aliens so that they can be defeated. If so it's a ludicrous idea which is typical of the half-baked story.  The only element I did like was the plausible idea that the aliens could persuade some people to betray humanity in return for wealth. 

One of Nada's allies is Holly, who quite obviously is helping the aliens but Nada isn't bright enough to realise this, which was another frustrating aspect of the screenplay.

This film quite rightly got negative reviews at the time, but inexplicably has since garnered a reputation as some sort of cult classic.

RATING: x Curb Your Enthusiasm