OMM2024 - Night 12: They Live (1988)

 Night 12 of the #OctoberMovieMarathon, a movie that Larry's been wanting to see:

They Live (1988)

2/10

A man travels to the city for work and learns the terrible truth- THEY walk among us, controlling us.

 

Bad movie. I expected more from the same director as "The Thing" but this movie was boring. A slow start, hardly any excitement after the reveal, and a mediocre ending. I think Larry summed it up best as "they're trying to bring a muscle head aesthetic to a conspiracy movie." And that just doesn't gel for me. And again, we get very few names/backstories to the characters. Perhaps that's a John Carpenter thing and not an 80's thing after all...

 

Also this movie was not spooky at all. Not Halloweenish or scary at all. It should not have been on this list >.<

 

Clearly my dislike of the film shows that the aliens have gotten to me. xD

SPOILERS BELOW THE POSTER!

SPOILERS START HERE!

Here's what happens: a guy moves for work, gets a construction job, goes to a homeless camp and across the street there's a church that's a front for a resistance because there are aliens controlling the whole world. Our main guy discovers this through sunglasses that let him see through the... illusions? Mind control?

On the way, he shoots up a bank, kidnaps a woman at gunpoint, gets into an entirely unnecessary and drawn out fist fight, gets guns from the resistance, goes to the bunker and kills a bunch of aliens, and takes out the disk sending their signal around the world. We end on a naked woman (full boobs) having sex with an alien who asks "What's wrong babe?"

It's like the movie is trying to be serious, but also is just very silly. There are a bunch of one-liners that do not land at all. Did you know the "I'm here to chew bubblegum and kick some ass, and I'm all out of bubblegum" comes from this movie? Did you know it's delivered like wet cardboard? It's almost like the characters walk into a scene and think "I should say something cool" then blurt out something ridiculous.

It's astounding how good "The Thing" was and this movie came from the same director.

But I can believe it because I also can't get behind the theme of this movie either. A big idea is that all the commercials/shows/magazines/etc are there to keep everyone complacent and docile. And yet, a large majority of the things shown as examples of this are aimed at women. Fashion shows, press on nails, Lamaze class, who served what at dinner. We do see an alien talking to another guy about getting a promotion and just waiting for it to come- but do you see the disparity here?

And our main character (who isn't actually named in the movie) is just... some white guy? Perhaps it worked better in the 80's, but from a 2024 lens, I just can't buy the idea that he's supposed to be the everyman we can all relate to. Especially when he kidnaps Holly- YIKES. I couldn't even get behind his struggle to be unable to tell her what's happening because- you just JUMPED a woman in the parking garage with a GUN and made her drive you to her house after learning that she lives ALONE. That's the start of so many horror stories I cheered when she hit him and threw him out the window. I think maybe I was supposed to intuit that she was under the alien's control and that's why she was so calm about it? But that doesn't translate well, and especially not 40 years later.

Another idea is that it feels like the movie is clinging to the idea that all the problems in the world are "someone else's fault". In this movie, it feels like it's saying if the aliens weren't here things would be great. But if this movie were made today- there would be more about the people "selling out". There'd be something about profiting against your own people. Maybe even an insinuation that systemic problems may have started with aliens- but were perpetuated by people trying to game the system. I don't think the "one boogeyman" works as well as it once did. Or at least, it doesn't work for me. I have been reading a lot of books that challenge the ideas of revenge/getting even and if it's even possible... but that's a different post.

I think the memes that are lifted from this movie are funnier. This movie was terrible. Skip it.