Begging for a Remake...
Given the current state the world is in...this movie is begging for an update.
shareI was just thinking that they should only remake old movies if they had a good premise but have room for improvement in the execution. Ghostbusters: no. RoboCop: no. But this movie is an excellent contender, although the disguised alien idea has been done to death already and wasn't exactly original in 1988 either.
shareYes, They Live should be remade, because it is a bad film. Usually, remakes spawn pieces of crap imitations of great films.
But in the case of They Live, since the original film is already bad, then a remake might reverse the usual cycle: a great remake might spawn from the piece of crap original.
the disguised alien idea has been done to death
...but not when they are disguised as capitalists. They Live is the only film that has the courage to do that, isn't it? The world definitely needs more anti-capitalism films. share
Really? The one economic system that has lifted more people out of poverty?
Greed and capitalism are not synonymous.
And capitalism is a word introduced by Marx to hate on the free market. We definitely do not need more anything that rips on free market principles.
Seriously dude? When America has the majority of wealth and our poor are still have more than the middle class in most countries (cell phones, ipads, food, hot water, etc. BTW I actually talk to homeless people on a regular basis), I was once only making $5,000 a year in 2006, now I make $50,000).
I know no other country where you can go from not even being able to afford rent, food, cell phones, or much of anything to being able to pay the bills in a matter of years by sheer hard work unless they are free enterprise or capitalist based. I have been to socialist countries such as Ecuador, and trust me, you can't. Are we flawed? Yes. But we are less flawed than everyone else if we just go back to our founding principles, turning in to everyone else, is not the answer when they are the ones falling apart.
~Amy
But this movie is an excellent contender, although the disguised alien idea has been done to death already and wasn't exactly original in 1988 either.
This movie seems to have a unique take on the disguised alien idea. The one most people are familiar with is V where we know there are aliens, but they are hiding their true self and their motivations. Invasion of the Body Snatchers has a kind of imminent threat about it and much less of the propaganda and mind control.
In They Live, the aliens are already in control, although the increasing unemployment seems to indicate they are ratcheting up their control and oppression.
I've enjoyed this movie in previous viewings, but having rewatched most of it today as recent arrival on HBO I'm struck by how bad it is. My 12 year old son, watching for the first time, laughed out loud at the alley fight scene between Piper and David.
What makes it work is that it's such a good concept in spite of the atrocious acting.
If they ever do remake it, I hope it's heavy on the hidden propaganda and mind control aspects of it, along with the unexplained increases in homelessness and economic troubles. share