Alien Nation (1988)

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

Alien NationThe hardest part of recovery for an alien drug addict is not annihilating everyone at the intervention.So, hopefully, the cops in this sci-fi movie can keep a new drug off the streets. Homicide detective Sykes (James Caan) is assigned a new partner, but is hesitant on account he's a Newcomer (Mandy Patinkin), an alien race that came to Earth three years ago. Sykes finally agrees, hoping it'll lead to his partner's otherworldly killer.Their unconventional coupling instead uncovers a scheme by an extraterrestrial kingpin (Terence Stamp) to flood the market with a space drug that has violent effects on Newcomers.A high-concept analogy on immigration that is reduced to a buddy-cop comedy thanks to its by-the-numbers mystery and hammy leads whose banter is painful. So, it's no surprise that this concept was later developed for television. The biggest problem with alien cops, however, is all their unwarranted anal probing. Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

A relaxed James Caan and the warm voice his co-star and cop-partner Mandy Patinkin help drive the story. I recognized one of the bad guys from the Death Wish 2 movie. Kevyn Major Howard was also in Full Metal Jacket.The Aliens (Newcomers)were given funky names by their homeland hosts. This is kind of a wink to the old immigration standards of Ellis Island. I'm sure the writers had fun assigning names to their Alien Characters, like the infamous writer "Kipling."The choice of names in the film was a light-hearted effect throughout the film. For example, Sam Franciso was Patinkin's given name. Effects wise, this movie was good for an 80's film. But I wasn't entirely happy with the Alien makeup, which reminded me of a hair-cap.I do like this movie much more than the TV series.

Alien Nation is based on a simple premise - 300,000 humanoid aliens land on Earth and are offered sanctuary and their assimilation into society is inevitably coloured by racial prejudice. A prejudiced policeman is teamed up with an alien partner to investigate criminal activity within the alien subgroup.The joy of this movie is that it makes no big deal out of the aliens - they are treated, for the purposes of the film, like any other racial subgroup might be, and the racial prejudice allegory (and the dramatic thrust of the movie overall) is that much stronger as a result.This is effectively a relatively straightforward police crime thriller with scifi trappings and an intelligent subtext, and it succeeds well on all levels.The alien makeup is simple but effective.James Caan's weary detective is among his best work and Mandy Patinkin, unrecognisable beneath the latex prosthetics, is excellent as Sam Francisco (yes, really).