They Live (1988) * 1/2

Directed by:  John Carpenter

Starring:  Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster

They Live is a title which suggests an amusing harkening back to the 1950's B-movie sci-fi flicks, but we get the opposite.    It is a plodding, sluggish action film without the spirit of the films it is paying homage to.    The premise is compelling, but the execution of it is all wrong.   We meet drifter John Nada (Piper) who wanders Los Angeles with a large backpack looking for work at local construction sites.    He then settles into a Hooverville-type of outdoor dwelling in which the homeless live in tents and are fed by the local church.    Because of some odd actions by the church's blind pastor and strange speeches of doom which break in during local TV telecasts, Nada discovers the church is the focal point of the resistance against aliens whose messages and likenesses can only be seen through special sunglasses.

When Nada puts the glasses on, he sees alien beings within otherwise normal looking people (although not everyone is an alien) and subliminal messages such as "Obey", "Stay Asleep", and "Money is your God", etc. which lie apparently underneath billboards, magazines, and TV broadcasts.    The world with the glasses on is gloomy black and white, while the world without them appears normal and unassuming.    The aliens plan to subdue humans into becoming compliant, apathetic slaves through subliminal conditioning and a signal from a TV station.    Once Nada sees what he sees, he leads the resistance against the aliens.

Nada enlists the help of fellow construction worker Frank Armitage (David), which is also the name of the screenwriter (who is actually John Carpenter himself), but only after the two engage in a lengthy fistfight which grinds the already slow starting movie to a halt.    Piper, the famed heel wrestler with the big mouth who wore a kilt to the ring, is more jacked physically than he ever was in the squared circle, and his acting style resorts to his ring persona.   ("You are a formaldehyde face, man") he tells a woman who is actually an alien.    Despite Piper's best efforts, the film has the feel of trying to escape quicksand.  

Carpenter's career has been a mixed bag of very good films (Halloween and Escape from New York) to duds like this one, The Thing, and Escape from LA.    His better films are more original works, while homages and remakes of the sci-fi films of his youth aren't as successful.    They Live and The Thing have palls cast over them and aren't permitted to sneak in any fun or goofiness.    It's as if Carpenter knows the words but not the music.