They Live

I totally met Roddy Piper. He told me I was beautiful. And you know what?

I fucking am.

Back then, I hadn't actually seen They Live. I was standing in that ugly, smelly line because I'm a good friend. Dan, you understand, loves this movie. And I thought it'd be awesome to get an autographed still. And you know what?

I was fucking right. It was awesome. I'm a great friend. Roddy Piper told me so.

So now, a year and a half later I've finally seen the movie starring the man I stood in line to meet. And it was great! I got right into it. I laughed out loud at the funny parts and even yelled at the screen at one point.

They Live is John Carpenter's answer to Invasion of the Bodysnatchers. Or possibly Invaders from Mars. Aliens are living among us, but instead of taking over our bodies they turn us into mindless drones. The rich, of course, are in league with the aliens having sold out to this higher power. But there's an underground resistance who, try as they might, just can't seem to wake up the general public to the fact that their lives are being controlled by alien beams coming at them through their TV sets. Armed with some awesome sunglasses, the resistance group attempts to broadcast their own pirate signal but it's just not enough.

Enter Roddy Piper, long haired and plaid shirted (which he takes off--twice). Alone in Cleavland with no place to stay, he is befriended by Keith David who takes him to a shanty town. There Roddy Piper stumbles upon the freedom fighters and gets his own pair of cool shades which show him the truth about the alien plot.

After indulging in a killing spree and some carjacking, Roddy Piper tries to tell Keith David about the aliens but Keith David won't listen and whines some more about his wife and kid. What follows is one of the best fights ever in a movie. No faux-fu, no shaky cam, no ADD editing--just a lot of punching and falling down.

I never actually saw the end of the movie. Damn DivX refused to buffer the last minute. So I'm gonna assume that Roddy Piper sends the aliens packing back to Alpha Centauri and walks off into the dawn wearing his magic sunglasses. That doesn't actually make any sense, but I don't really care.

I'll watch it again. And not because I owe anything to Roddy Piper, who thinks I'm beautiful, or to Dan, who thinks I'm crazy. I owe it to myself. I really, genuinely enjoyed this movie. It's no cinematic masterpiece, I mean it's not The Thing or anything. But it works. And you know what?

That's all I fucking want.