Alien Nation

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.

While the eighties was rife with weird sci-fi films and epic films, a simple and biting film about alien visitation made a nice little landing in 1988. Alien Nation was one of those films that expertly grasped the the sci-fi/mystery sub genre with a decent story and good visuals.

The casting in the film was rather perfect, with the subdued Mandy Patinkin playing Francisco while the normally hotheaded James Caan got his licks as a racist cop named Sykes. Either way, their polar opposites worked perfectly in the film, showing a growing bond between the two as they shook off their differences and made a rather capable team. What I especially liked was how each player sincerely became their character, which is something that is pretty rare in many sci-fi films. While I do wish the movie was a little longer and put some more scenes of George integrating into his new position at the beginning, the film was good as it was.

Alien Nation proved to be one of the last good non-CGI sci-fi films. While Gattica is one of the few films that followed this ideal, at least we can look back at the genre before it became nothing more than an excuse to show off pretty effects.

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 film begins in the future with a giant spacecraft hovering over Los Angeles and it's filled with alien beings who have come to Earth hoping to find a better life than the one they left behind. As it so happens these "newcomers" were genetically bred for hard labor and as such they are an extremely adaptable species to just about any environment. Yet in spite of the advantages of having a docile and hard-working group of workers like these many Americans are fearful and intolerant of them. Such is the case with a Los Angeles police detective named "Sergeant Matthew Sykes" (James Caan) who has just lost his partner during a shootout with two of these aliens. Yet rather than distancing himself from these aliens he volunteers to accept a brand new partner by the name of "Sam Francisco" (Mandy Patinkin) who just happens to be one. But there's something about these "newcomers" that even he doesn't know and it's going to make his life much more difficult than he ever would have dreamed possible. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this movie was heavily advertised when it first came out and because of that I was somewhat disappointed with it at first. However, even though it may not have been the blockbuster I was expecting it was still entertaining enough due in large part to the acting for James Caan who played his role in an excellent manner. That being said, I liked this film for the most part and I have rated it accordingly.

An enslaved alien race in a spaceship lands in the dessert. A few year later, the aliens called Newcomers are being incorporated into human society. L.A. police detective xenophobic Matthew Sykes (James Caan) and his partner Bill confront an alien holdup gang. Bill is killed by advance weapon. Sykes gets a new partner in Newcomer Sam Francisco (Mandy Patinkin). Their investigation leads to Newcomer William Harcourt (Terence Stamp) and his scheme to distribute an alien drug.

This is actually a very simple buddy cop movie. They don't get along until they start getting along. The bad guy is literally a drug lord. The problem for so many people seems to be that they're expecting something else. I really like the idea of the alien being incorporated into society. It doesn't mean that all of a sudden the world has flying cars. It is in the everyday things that is interesting. It is what they eat, what they drink and what jobs they get. That's what this movie is doing.