Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: A vagrant stumbles upon the truth that the world is secretly controlled by aliens who have brainwashed the masses.
Review: You know I hate pretentiousness, but bare with me for a moment. This is easily one of the most misunderstood and underrated films of all time especially when critics originally took a shot at it in 1988. Some may find this absurd, but I would put the warnings of this film right alongside a work like "1984," for example. And similarly to "1984," the themes presented continue to be more relevant as time goes on. Sure, this film is loaded with a ton of camp, due mostly to the '80s, but the best description I could give is that this is social commentary at its finest hidden within a B-movie setting. You've got ridiculous action scenes, over the top moments out the ass, and a farfetched premise with many holes. However, none of this hurts the presentation or changes the fact this film accurately depicts how pitiful, shallow, materialistic, and brainwashed society has become while still managing to be highly entertaining. You can substitute the aliens in the film for whatever you want: corporations, politicians, the UN, etc. Alternatively, you can take the film at face value as nothing more than a what-if type scenario and a, sort of, forerunner for "The Matrix." It just works on many levels as a fair critique of the apathetic slumber of the masses. The public back then wasn't ready for this kind of message, and, hell, most still aren't able to handle it. For these many reasons, and more, I have to go into the realm of pretentiousness and simply say: people don't get it. Thankfully, a cult following has been amassing for years, and a growing number of people are recognizing the subtle brilliance; it also helps lend credence that society really has turned into the abomination portrayed in the film...minus the aliens (or maybe they really are in control!).
The movie begins with the introduction of the main character, John Nada, played perfectly by Roddy Piper. I know a lot of critics believe Kurt Russell was probably meant for the role, but I agree with John Carpenter's claim that Mr. Piper had a more worn out look to him befitting of the character. Anyway, John is a vagrant roaming around the country looking for work or probably a meaning to his life at this point. Early on it's established that the poor are rising as the rich are getting richer with nothing but apathy in between. At the time, I can understand critics thinking this outlook of the country was an exaggeration but look at this world nowaday, son! John comes across a construction job where he meets Frank, who is also played perfectly by Keith David. Seeing something of a kindred spirit in John, Frank leads him back to a tent city, so to speak, where he can stay. The two have interesting philosophical banter as both have different reasons for trying to get their lives back together. At this point we also get an idea in regard to the brainwashing of the public through useless advertisements for junk, obsession with fame and narcissism, and that kind of yuppie mentality of frivolous want. While a few people watch TV, John notices a hacker cutting into the transmissions and warning about the film's premise that "they" are controlling and dumbing down the masses to be malleable to their aims. One thing you'll notice that was not subtle at all, yet went over the heads of critics, was that brainwashed people get headaches when they hear the truth and can't stand to hear anymore. Sound like people in real life? Another theme is the commonly used mantra: they live we sleep. I think this concept is applicable in most any situation. In our era specifically, the public is certainly sleeping in apathy while the corrupt governments of the world quite literally get away with murder and incalculable theft. Wait, did I go back to reviewing "The Conspiracy?"
John notices that a blind preacher is mouthing the words spoken in the transmission despite his distance from the TV and suspects he knows something. The preacher is taken within a nearby church that sponsors the tent city residents. The next day, John checks out the church and realizes it's set up more like a laboratory with only an audio recording keeping up the image that it has a regular congregation. John accidentally discovers a hidden wall with boxes, but he runs away after the blind preacher confronts him. That night, the police, in riot gear, attack and burn the church while simultaneously destroying the tent city and scattering the people. When things have calmed down in the morning, John sneaks back into the church to see if the boxes hidden in the secret wall are still there and, sure enough, they are. Unfortunately for John, the boxes contain nothing more than mere sunglasses; it's never completely clear what he thought would be in the boxes, but we can assume he was curious what would someone hide in a wall. Keeping a pair of shades for himself, John chucks the rest in the trash and moves on. Only moments later, John realizes that the sunglasses show the world in black and white and reveal subliminal messaging hidden under advertisements (which are littered everywhere). For example, a sale sign really says "consume," or you have billboards saying things like "obey." Most notable, in relevance, is that on the dollar bills it really says "this is your god." It doesn't get any more true than that. Essentially, John can see the real world under the bullshit facade that is maintained; you can take this figuratively or literally if you so choose. And let me tangent real quick toward advertising. Years ago, they claimed research studies showed no connection between subliminal messaging and advertising or that advertising in general had any influence over someone's buying tendencies. Yet, advertisements have increased exponentially over the years and have become incorporated and forced into virtually every facet of life. If they don't do anything, and are a waste of any company's money, why would this be the trend? Just throwing that out there.
As John tries to rationalize this horrible reality, he notices that some people, usually the yuppie types, are monstrous looking when he wears the sunglasses. Once more, the movie presents the notion that aliens are the rich while the regular and poor people are the humans. And when a normal person is in a rival position to an alien, it is the alien that gets priority to move ahead. At a grocery store, John makes his ability to see the truth too apparent and the aliens realize he knows and call for backup on hidden communication devices within their watches. Fighting some alien cops, who confirm the infiltration within humanity, John manages to beat their asses and get some guns. Although it is an admittedly fast transition, he wanders into a bank and starts to blow away any aliens right after delivering the movie's most famous line: "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubblegum." Love it. One alien shows off that those communication watches also possess a kind of escape teleporter that will have a use later. Fleeing the scene, we get a very important moment as the aliens have invisible drones that spy on the humans. Hmm...drones...spying...I feel like there's a connection there!
John-boy comes across a woman named Holly, played by the perpetually evil-looking Meg Foster, as he uses her to drive him away from the army of police now in pursuit. At Holly's home, Johnny tells us that after wearing the sunglasses, for extended periods of time, taking them off is like coming down from a high. Quite crazily, he explains the situation to Holly, but she thinks he's insane and somehow knocks John threw a glass wall when given the opportunity. Narrowly surviving the fall (yet not shredded into pieces), Johnny next tries to tell Frank about the truth, but he doesn't want to get involved at first. Going back to the trash to find more sunglasses, Frank gives John-boy his pay from the construction job. This is when the most misunderstood scene of the film occurs. Frank of John literally have a fist fight for nearly 6 minutes. People always say it's unrealistic and the two guys would be dead or with broken bones or whatever; I've heard all the criticisms over the years. Ugh. Again, I didn't think it was that subtle, but never underestimate the public I suppose. The fight is supposed to be long, brutal, and over the top for a reason! It's meant to symbolize how hard it is to show someone the truth and how hard they resist it; you have to practically beat the shit out of someone anymore to get them to listen. Just imagine for a second someone in your life that is making a mistake and nothing you say, no matter how rational or reasonable, can get through to the individual. Now apply this scene to that struggle to convince that person of the truth. Or fine, take it straight forward as a ridiculous fight pandering to the fans of Roddy Piper...this is why they live and we sleep!
After winning the fight and showing Frank the real world, the two men hide out at a seedy hotel as they try and figure out what their next step should be. Thanks to contrivances, the guy in charge of the tent city spots Frank wearing the shades and realizes he knows about the aliens. John-boy and Franky-baby go to a meeting for resistance against the aliens where they address issues of hopelessness and that they can only win the war by revealing the truth to the masses at large; they're also given contact lenses with the same effect of the sunglasses. One of the people suspects the main signal that brainwashes the humans comes from a TV station, but Holly shows up claiming otherwise since she works there. She and Johnny talk about how she didn't believe him at first but this corny romance is cut short by SWAT units attacking the resistance group and turning the place into a massacre. Amidst the shootout, Holly escapes one way while Frank and John are trapped in an alley. Given one of the alien watches earlier, Franky-baby messes with it enough and triggers that escape teleporter by chance. The two men find themselves under the city as a part of a larger underground city for the ruling class of humans who work with the aliens. Hmm...underground cities...man, Mr. Carpenter was touching on like every conspiracy theory in this film.
So the two guys conveniently meet up with one of the guys from the tent city who gleefully admits to being a sellout to humanity. The best part about this character is that Mr. Carpenter claims a real studio executive said these lines to him and felt compelled to add them to the film. We see that the aliens use a kind of interstellar airport to travel to Earth and that they view our planet as we view a third world country developing--in other words: exploitable. I should mention that it is greatly implied that this underground city mirrors the one above as major buildings connect to it. This includes the TV station they suspect the signal is coming from that Holly works at; in fact, the sellout reveals the signal really is coming from a satellite dish on the TV station's roof. Corporations and the media working together to keep the masses blind to their shenanigans? No way! John and Frank start to shoot the place up in an effort to get to the roof to take out the signal. They run into Holly who shows them a clear path but when John gets slightly ahead, Holly shoots Frank in the head. Damn it, bitch! Well that was predictable. John goes to destroy the satellite, but Holly tries to lure him to the darkside just as snipers are poised to take him down. John says "fuck it" and shoots Holly and the satellite. The snipers presumably kill John, but he has succeeded in taking out the signal...well, at least for the area or maybe the whole world...I don't know. The final shots show humans reacting to seeing the aliens and some chick screaming when she is fucking an alien. Okay, not going to lie, that's really stupid. But that level of corniness is part of the charm.
While it's undeniable that the film was originally intended to take a shot at '80s corporatism and materialism, it has expanded far beyond the original intention and into a horrific warning of the future; a future we are very much experiencing. You've got subliminal messaging, drones, spying, brainwashing, public apathy, rise of the rich and poor and elimination of the middle class, underground cities, trying to wake people up to reality, and an overall sense of hopelessness derived from the realization that humanity could win if only narcissism, materialism, and the worship of fame and money weren't endlessly distracting people. Since these things have become our reality, I would say Mr. Carpenter more than accomplished the goal and vision for the film which is all any director can ask for. There is a degree of corniness that I cannot deny and it does allow for various ways to interpret the film, but come on people. The film isn't perfect, however, as there are a lot of contrivances and ridiculous scenes. Hell, there are a few scenes I couldn't defend no matter what since they're just flat out stupid like the two security guards cheering in the underground tunnels. But if you can focus on the symbolism and appreciate the very open satire of society, you will thoroughly enjoy the film in a whole different perspective. If you feel inclined to think people are looking into things too deeply and that this is nothing more than the B-movie it is on the surface level, well you still have to admit it's a damn entertaining film in all it's cornball, '80s glory. Needless to say, I highly recommend checking this film out as it only continues to be more relevant to our current world. Who knows, maybe there really are aliens running the show and Meg Foster is the gatekeeper. Actually I'm okay with that as long as she dresses as she did in "Masters of the Universe."
Notable Moment: When John and Frank fight of course. Though the scene is often parodied, it has also been greatly misunderstood by those most in need of such an epic level ass kicking.
Final Rating: 8/10
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