Sunday, September 23, 2012

Review of "THEY LIVE"




Aliens disguised as humans are in the process of taking over the world, and only a few people know it.  With the use of special sunglasses, the protagonist, Nada (sorry, that's the only name he gets) is able to see the aliens.  He ends up in the television station where they broadcast the signals used to control humanity and destroys the transmitter so all people can see the aliens and take action.

The name of the film is enough to turn you off, but the movie is actually not bad.  It's described as a combination of horror and dark comedy, which I think is appropriate.  Nada himself is muscular and handsome, but his personality is bland and he's not that brave.  When cops are beating someone up, he doesn't even tell them the man is blind.  And Nada is stupid to an extreme.  When he starts seeing the aliens, instead of opposing them with stealth, he starts killing them, including one disguised as a cop.  What better way to call attention to himself?  Then, apparently in a sulk, he won't loan the magic sunglasses on someone willing to try them, but fights a fierce battle to force his friend to look through them.

As is all too common, people fall from two-story heights and exchange vicious blows with no more adverse effects than momentary unsteadiness. Like in the movie "Where Eagles Dare" (a truly wonderful movie to enjoy even if you aren't working out), the bullets of the good guys always find their targets, but the bad guys, in this case the aliens, always miss.

The humor wasn't that impressive.  The best line was 'Life's a bitch, and then she goes into heat.'

And yet, this movie helped my workout.  There was lots of action, and it was interspersed with periods of relative calm, which made the action more vivid.  There were also some genuine surprise developments.  The music was not inspired, but was stirring.

Rating - ++++ it gets your pulse up as much as a run

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