Alien Nation

Tough cop (James Caan) hates aliens, even more so after his partner is killed by one. His new partner, wouldn't you know it, is also an alien (Mandy Patinkin). In trying to track down the killer of Caan's former partner, the two uncover a larger conspiracy. Had this movie been made in the '50s or '60s, it would have been pretty strong. But by 1988 was it really necessary to do a movie dealing with race relations by using aliens as a metaphor? Rockne S. O'Bannon's unchallenging script hits on all the familiar racial conflict themes that had been played out long before this was released in many, many movies. If you take the racial component out of it, you're left with a by-the-numbers odd couple/buddy cop drama. Enjoyable enough, thanks to the likable performances of Caan and Patinkin, but it's still routine stuff.

"Alien Nation" portrays the future, when aliens have come to the Earth and become the second class citizens, so to speak. Then, human Det. Sgt. Matthew Sykes (James Caan) and alien Samuel "George" Francisco (Mandy Patinkin) have to join up to stop alien William Harcourt (Terence Stamp) from taking over. Much of the movie seems kind of silly (namely Sykes' one-liners), but they know how to pull it off without letting the movie get ridiculous. I think that my favorite part was when Sykes and Francisco learn what each other's names mean. The movie is a little strange, but definitely worth seeing. You might say that the aliens replace African-Americans as second class citizens.

I must admit the whole racist thing again an alien species does get on the annoying side at times, but this is more then a science fiction, it's a rare Sci-Fi buddy picture. A missed match pair who hate each other but find a common ground to fight for. I must admit I didn't recognize Terrence Stamp in this movie, I thought the voice sounded familiar but didn't see it under all that make up. The make up effects were excellent and if that alien ship wasn't real I pat the back of whoever created it. ALIEN NATION is a modern classic and everyone should see it. It's a buried treasure for younger kids and I think they should watch it. I mean teens that were too young in 1988 to watch it. But now are old enough to enough it. That's ALIEN NATION and I'm giving it...9 STARS.

This is like a lot of movies where the premise is more interesting than the plot. The arrival of the "Newcomers" seems to be a metaphor for the immigrant experience in America, but this is not followed up. It goes from a sci-fi movie into a cop-buddy movie, and it's really not bad on that level. It seems, however that the filmmakers passed on an opportunity to make a really significant commentary. One wishes for the film that got away.

This is the film that inspired the excellent television show and the many specials that followed its cancellation. This film has good performances by James Cann and mandy Patinkin, that elevate it above the norm. It is a combination buddy film, crime drama and science fiction story. Surprisingly it comes together very well. This film is not the best of the genre, some of the television shows surpass it, yet it worth a watch.

The reason I liked the movie and hated all the subsequent tv stuff is the movie had James Caan. He is what I enjoyed most about the movie and he was not in any of the tv stuff as far as I know. The interplay between him and Patinkin was great. The movie revolves around aliens who are living on earth...Caan can't stand these aliens, and really takes to disliking them when his partner is killed by one. He volunteers to be the partner of one of the aliens so that he can use the alien to find out what and who was behind his partner's death. During this time being partnered with the alien Caan's character learns to actually like being around him and they end up becoming friends. This movie has good action and comedy as Caan's character tries to figure things out and learns about his alien friend's different weaknesses and strengths. Basically it is a buddy cop movie that has an alien teamed with a human.

Considering that it is little more than your standard cop buddy movie, the slight variation being that the buddies are a tough seen-it-all cop and a by-the-books rookie who is an alien, Alien Nation ends up being a pretty good film. You can give a lot of credit to James Caan and Mandy Patankin for that. They have great chemistry as the partners. Both are very accomplished actors, and they make a very cliched script into something well worth watching. 7/10