Apr 1, 2012 | Movie Review: They Live (1988)

Runtime: 93 minutes
Featuring: Roddy Piper, Keith David

I rewatched They Live because a particularly memorable scene surfaced on Reddit recently, where the protagonist picks up the famous sunglasses that gives him insight into a world driven by aliens bent on reducing humankind into slaves to consumerism. As a fan of dystopian futuristic movies, They Live is particularly appealing in this day and age where rampant consumerism is finally being questioned. While the 5-minute 20 second fight scene between Nada (Piper) and Frank (David) was decidedly excessive and boring (not to mention completely needless), the movie does have a compelling story and a decent delivery, in a sort of sinister H2G2-kind-of way. Now, if only I had a pair with me to see what things are being broadcast silently into our brains?

Score: 7.5 out of 10 for a sinister and clever plot but some unimpressive fight scenes