Alien Nation (1988)

Very disappointing...

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Blistering performances.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

James Caan, Mandy Pintinkin, Terrence Stamp, a great story and production make for a great movie

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.

The idea for this movie is brilliant , yet sadly wasted . This movie is basically your typical cop thriller only with aliens in it . The story isn't too interesting and it's a cliché one . "District 9" made a better use of the "aliens living with us" idea . Here it seems half-baked. You could easily imagine this story without them.It's bizarre enough to keep you interested , it's funny at times . James Caan ("The Godfather") is nice in the main role. The idea here is pretty great , too bad it's wasted on such a conventional thriller. It's so cliché it almost hurts . Done by the numbers , there is nothing new here that you haven't seen in thousands other cop thrillers , nothing stands out. Such a shame.A cheesy , rather routine cop thriller dressed up as science fiction movie . A simple story about tolerance and buddy-cop movie all in one. Nothing more , nothing less. I give it 3/10.

The buddy cop movie was a popular and short lived genre from the late 1980s early 1990s . It was obvious why it was so short lived because it followed a standard formula of a hard bitten veteran cop getting teamed up with an innocent or unlikely partner . Veteran doesn't like innocent partner but they bond and innocent partner wins veteran's respect as they crack the case together ALIEN NATION brings a gimmick to this formula and that is one of them is an alien ! You see an alien race have come to Earth and Ronald Reagen allows them to stay and a few years later the aliens try to assimilate to Earth ways . James Cann plays tough cop Matthew Sykes whose partner is killed in a shoot out and gets partnered by alien newcomer Sam Francisco One can't help noticing the potential to ALIEN NATION . We don't learn much about the aliens and perhaps mindful of this the producers thought there'd be a lot of mileage in bringing out more sequels expanding upon the aliens culture . As it stood the film didn't do very well but a television series was quickly commissioned and just as quickly cancelled but did lead to a continuation via a series of made for television films It's easy to understand why ALIEN NATION wasn't a big box office success . Film makers like Paul Verhoeven were really pushing the boat out with violence round about this time and even when it was released ALIEN NATION seemed slightly tame . It's also a film that tries to bring a bit of satirical humour such as a scene where RAMBO 6 is advertised at the cinema and the humorous names of the visitors " Rudyard Kipling no sh*t ! " but there isn't enough of this in the film