They Live - Limited Edition Steelbook 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray [4K UHD]

I always liked this movie. It has a slow start but it's worth it if you stick with it. When you think about it, the only parts that are kinda far-fetched is the whole alien thing and the frequency being transmitted that keeps people from seeing what's really out there. But these 2 things are metaphors for what's really going on. I remember thinking back in the day that Rowdy Roddy Piper was a strange casting choice, but the look on his face when he first sees a disguised alien through the sunglasses proves that he was perfect for the role.

Great cult classic sic-fi film. I think this film was ahead of its time, but also timeless in many ways. The overarching plot, themes, undertones, and overtones all match up with things people are just beginning to piece together now, in fragments. At the same time, there are very memorable segues containing action and very classic one-liners that have been paid homage to in many TV shows and Hollywood films ever since, but you probably didn't realize they came from this film. With such a low budget, they had to be very creative, and you would never guess this from the visual/AV production, which looks as good as anything big budget. But through that creativity a lot of novel ideas appeared in this film before their times. A film, "Branded", which fell through the cracks and received poor reviews, did similar things, nearly 25 years later. And yet, this film was on average highly praised by critics. Like most great films, it's best watched if you don't watch trailers, don't read about it on the internet, and don't spoil it for yourself; just go wit the flow. And a great flow it has. In some ways, perhaps in another universe, you can easily see from his sci-fi work that Carpenter would have been a top notch director for big budget films of the time, like Terminator 2, etc; but he stuck to what he wanted to do and the messages he wanted to get across. One other analogy that comes to mind when watching this film, not so much in content or plot, but conceptually, is Idiocracy. If you enjoyed that film, you will probably dig this a lot. Idiocracy made such great social commentary that it was well finished, and a great film, but ultimately the studio dropped all marketing money and efforts, because they feared alienating their core (masses) base of TV viewers. In other words, they thought the film was too intelligent to show. You get that feeling here; the film did well (made a profit), got great reviews, etc, but is scarcely heard of. Definitely worth a watch if you are a sci-fi fan. Some of the best stuff came out of the very late 80s going into the big progressive world of the 90s (especially for sci-fi; Star Trek: TNG, anyone?); a time which is only really paralleled in recent history by the 60s. This film may have fallen through the cracks, but thankfully, Amazon has it available in its catalogue for rental!

It was a cool movie

Great movie.

The movie lulls for the first half-hour, but improves. For example, one of the first disappointments was how much time the director used to establish the fact that being down and out in the late 1980s was almost hell. Obviously, John Carpenter wanted his audiences to care and relate. So, following this extended character development, when the plot turns to a scene in which city authorities openly escalate their crackdown on the homeless camp with bulldozers and helicopters--he expected that we should be appalled at the callousness shown these many victims that we now know--and we are. Further, Carpenter established those hopeless conditions as a backdrop for a strong friendship between the two main characters (Piper and David)--this relationship needs to be solidified because things will get worse from that point. Once the film begins moving, however, it tends to keep the intrigue/suspense level high. After an epiphany (involving the infamous glasses) and a decision to directly confront the "bad guys" (no spoilers here), Roddy Piper delivers easily the best line of the movie. Soon after, you hope Roddy has a few more brilliant deliveries to give--but, the movie writers fail to provide a follow up. The rest of the movie has action (ex., wrestling moves!), suspense, reversals in fortune, and a final plot twist. Hence, it is still watchable all the way through. An interesting, primary theme of this work is the constant tension between freedom and control--the question: is the more perfect society the one that offers the most freedom (but more chaos and more poverty), or the one that establishes order and peace (at the cost of independent thought and action). How the director visually presents these themes and what the characters representing each side say (and how their statements provide clues into whether those allegiances are motivated by self-interest or altruism) are redeeming qualities of this film. That and other themes present like alienation and belonging, social stratification, etc., make this movie hard to place in a particular box. "They Live" is often classified into the horror genre because Carpenter directed it, but it is much more than that. I thought "they" were not intimidating, but kind of funny; my wife, on the other hand, was very grossed-out by the appearance of "them", but she enjoyed the fighting and gun play (she's a Bruce Willis fan). Then, there was an unexpected and brief gratuitous sex scene of a few seconds long (well, that may seem to move it back toward the modern horror flick class); it occurred near the end of the story and it seemed somewhat out of place compared to the rest of the film--IMO, it should have been cut and left on the screening room floor even though the scene was an attempt to lighten up the mood--or to ensure an "R" rating. Anyway, after writing this much (too much), I think I will stop and go watch the movie again.

Muito bom

Great movie. Even more relevant today than when it came out.

日本版ブルーレイの特典内容があまり良くないと思っていたので今までパイオニア版DVDとWOWOWで放送された物で我慢していましたが今回このアメリカ版ブルーレイセットを購入しました。特典映像は2012年発売のアメリカ版ブルーレイとほぼ同じ様ですが音響が7.1サラウンド化されてます。UHDがドルビーアトモスで通常ブルーレイはDTSマスターオ－ディオ7.1サラウンドと言う商品アナウンスでしたが再生したら通常ブルーレイもドルビーアトモスでした！前作「パラダイム」の商品よりは低音の響きは控えめな印象ですが少し高額な日本版ブルーレイセットよりこちらのアメリカ版を選んで良かったです。だけど海外版は商品の表示間違いがたまにありますよね。予めお断りしておきますが、この商品には日本語字幕はありません。私の様なマニアの方にお勧めします！

Loved this movie on dvd. I bought the 4k as I wanted to see if 4k movies were actually better than dvds or blu rays. I gotta say that I was blown away by the look, feel and sound of the movie. It was like watching a new movie and my wife and I are now hooked on 4k movies. They Live is a wonderful 4k movie. Highly recommended :)

Carpenter flingue encore une fois la société et les USA en particulier. Ici il s'en prend aux médias, à la police et aux dirigeants, présentés ici comme de vils extra terretres.. Veritable plaidoyer sur la liberté de pensée sous couvert de science fiction serie B il nous livre encore une oeuvre majeure. Avec peu de moyens il parvient à realiser un film personnel et jamais ridicule. Honnêtement interprété par un Roddy Piper ( ici clone de Kurt Russel), avec une narration des plus fluides, et dotées de scènes on ne peut plus ironiques, Carpenter retrouve sa verve de '' New York 1997''. Le final à ce titre est une très grande réussite. A la fois drôle et dramatique il constitue le point culminant du film. Toujours très fin dans son propos en voilà un Carpenter qu'il faut redécouvrir. Sans vf ni sous titres mais avec sous-titres anglais pouvant aider les anglophones les plus lambdas, le bluray est superbe avec un piqué terrible. L'image sans coulure ni salissure est du plus bel effet. Bonus sympas avec Making of et interview de Carpenter. Attention Zone A.