Villainous Vehicles

(22:40)

The demolition of Justiceville is more than a tableau of urban renewal in fast-forward—it takes on the quality of sci-fi nightmare. The filmmaking methodology is in the spirit of the Jean-Luc Godard of Alphaville, or the George Lucas of THX 1138, who forged their “futures” out of alienated modern urban spaces. Who needs Terminators when your wide-angle lens can frame helicopters and bulldozers for maximum techno-angst? Riot gear turns the phalanx of L.A. cops into another kind of machine, a collective chewer or thresher, before the battle breaks down into sporadic commando sniping. Score-wise, churning synthesizers now overrun the homely bass-and-harmonica blues, reinforcing the John-Henry-versus-the-Steam-drill feel. Remember Mario “put your bodies upon the gears” Savio? Tonight, the gears are winning.

Carpenter, who directed Stephen King’s Christine (a murderous 1958 Plymouth Fury) shows a special relish for the menace lurking in mechanical transport. His favorite villainous vehicle is the helicopter: Nada will later be killed by a sniper shot from one. Helicopters hound the noble alien visitor in Starman and the Invisible Man in Memoirs of an Invisible Man, and they usher in the Thing’s arrival in that film’s opening sequence. But there’s a twist: Carpenter himself is a helicopter buff, and he rarely missed a chance to climb aboard. He’s credited as “Man in Helicopter” in several of his films. So, in They Live’s ironclad us-versus-them scheme, the director’s affiliation with his persecuting machines points to a subliminal ambivalence, or even complicity. So far as helicopters go, John Carpenter’s one of them.