Alien Nation (1988)

You won't be disappointed!

Such a frustrating disappointment

A Masterpiece!

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The first movie cop duo between a human and an alien. James Caan, as usual, makes a cool, charming role. Mandy Patinkin, very convincing, as the alien policeman. Terence Stamp, credible in the role of the wicked alien. It has a special atmosphere, I liked it, a pleasant surprise. The scene in the cabin of the bar, between Matthew Sykes (James Caan) and Cassandra (Leslie Bevis), an extraterrestrial stripper who wants to make love with him, is the most successful and funny scene in the movie.

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.

The cross-culture buddy-cop movie is given a slightly implausible make-over.We've seen 'Red Heat' in which Russian cop, Arnie, is teemed-up with American James Belushi. James Belushi has also featured with a canine partner, as indeed has Tom Hanks. There was American/Japanese 'Black Rain' with Micheal Douglas, and even an item called 'Haven' in which one of the cops was an android. I cannot find that movie referenced on the IMDb, though it was quite fun. 'Robocop' pursued the theme with a human, female partner. There has also been '48 Hours' whereby a white cop teemed with a black crook, slob versus slick. This time the aliens really are alien, though sufficiently humanoid to be un-challenging. Apart from a lack of ear-lobes and a tendency to liver-spots on the scalp, they might pass for human beings. And, of course, white ones. Their appearance certainly didn't tax the special-effects department. If one were to cast about, stranger-looking humans could be found. It's a pretty lacklustre effort crammed with clichés, but is lifted out of the ordinary and given serious intent by the choice of James Caan in the starring role. Caan is a man who knows how to act, and he can be very expressive in an oddly undemonstrative way. It's all done with facial expression and body language. His scarcely concealed racism and contempt for cultural nicety is executed with aplomb, and as the aliens are not even humans, the subject is a ripe field for harvest. The chemistry between himself and his alien partner develops well. Both actors deserve good marks. It could hardly have been easy working with that sweaty cranial prosthetic. The other actors play their parts without express merit or criticism. A barely-recognisable Terrence Stamp has a lot more to offer than he was required to give here, and I wonder at his inclusion in such a limited role. I thought he was wasted. But his gravitas and slightly unplaceable English accent helped highlight his alien persona in such a manifestly American movie.Otherwise, you've seen it all a dozen times before. I was disappointed that the aliens brought no new technology. And nothing of any original value appeared to have been scavenged by either them or us, from their downed spaceship. That seemed highly unlikely. Even damaged technology can be understood and replicated. And if they survived, the ship must have been more-or-less intact. The species vive-la-difference routine was - well, routine, and unsurprising in its surprises. The aliens' favourite foods prove disgusting to human sensibilities. Gosh; that's clever. They drink sour milk rather than fresh. But apparently not cheese. They eat raw meat rather than cooked, and so on. They are soluble in sea-water, but not drinking water. Presumably, they themselves do not contain salt then. In a world so dangerously briney as ours (2 thirds of its surface are ocean) perhaps they would be happier and safer on the moon. There's a humdrum joke about the purpose and size of condoms - oh-dear. And - surprise, surprise - their females are vain and bitchy, and play the same 'seductress' card that human females have played since time immemorial, even having jobs as pole-dancers etc. I mean, come on! It's not exactly imaginative, is it? The plot is about the control of dangerous drugs. This time they're dangerous to aliens. And in an inevitably predictable turnaround of learning-curves, the hide-bound, by-the-book, alien side-kick starts to break the rules; the laissez-faire human cop learns to kerb his chauvinism; and in due course there is reconciliation and mutual respect all round. To describe this movie as science fiction is just a pose. There is no scientific/cultural prognosis whatsoever. Any study of our conflicting and contrasting aspirations is barely touched upon, never mind explored. The idea that these people would be allowed to wander freely amongst humans and develop their lives without the most careful scrutiny is quite absurd. Such liberal thinking certainly wouldn't have outlived 9/11. It is irrational socialist twaddle to suppose that two species of intelligent organisms could thrive side by side on the same planet in some sort of harmonious ideal. Just look how often things break down with our own species. Consider how the indigenous American Indian is still treated today. There is no reason to suppose that we would regard them any differently from a mutated chimpanzee, and exploit them for medical and pharmaceutical advantage. After all; even a normal chimp is intelligent, communicative, self-aware and has theory of mind. It is certainly more cognitive than a human with advanced Altzheimer's disease, and yet still no-one would ever dream of elevating its simian status above that of the vegetative human being. And this despite the fact that we have a common ancestral thread. We are, in effect, their animal cousins. Are we going to usurp them then, and confer equality to beings with which we share no heredity whatsoever, whilst still treating our nearest evolutionary relatives as 'animals'? That is neither rational nor just. Besides; Darwinian logic suggests that one species must otherwise out-compete the other, sooner or later. This happened on Earth many times before. Why should things be any different because one species has spotty heads and drinks putrid food? These 'newcomers' were just a ticking time-bomb.As an intelligent evaluation of inter-species relationships, this item was just vacuous and juvenile. Check-out 'The Day Of The Dolphin'; that was streets ahead. On the other hand; taken for what it actually is - a cross-cultural cop movie - it's an entertaining though predictable romp. James Caan alone redeems it from the ordinary. A TV series followed without him, and cemented its formulaic mediocrity for ever.

Alien Nation is set in Los Angeles several years after we make contact with a genetically engineered race of slave aliens whose spaceship has landed in the Mojave desert during 1989 & cannot take off again, these humanoid shaped aliens known as Newcomers are given the same rights as any human being & start to live & form a community in Los Angeles alongside us humans. Detective Sergeant Matthew Sykes (James Caan) & his partner Detective Bill Tuggle (Roger Aaron Brwon) stumble upon an armed robbery involving several Newcomers, during a shoot-out Tuggle is shot dead by a Newcomer. Determined to find his partner's killer Sykes volunteers to partner the first Newcomer (Mandy Patinkin) to make detective & use him for his own vendetta. However the situation becomes critical when the mismatched duo discover a prominent Newcomer named William Harcourt (Terence Stamp) making & selling a dangerous drug that is as addictive to Newcomers as Heroin is to us...Directed by Graham Baker this is an odd film that on the one hand is so clichéd it's untrue but on the other feels like no other film I have ever seen. The script by Rockne S. O'Bannon at first glance would pass for a generic Lethal Weapon (1987) or any other buddy buddy cop film rip-off, the two films are incredibly similar including the mismatched partner's (one of whom gives the 'we ain't pal's or friends' line to begin with), the plot revolving around drugs is almost identical to Lethal Weapon, there's a car chase at the end, the final bad guy confrontation, the two partner's using their unique styles to question suspects, the fact that one hates the other at first but then grow's a mutual respect for them by the end & if you take away the sci-fi alien aspect of Alien Nation then the two films are virtually identical. However what saves Alien nation is that sci-fi element, in Lethal Weaopn there were racial tensions because of differing ethnicity but here in Alien Nation the idea is taken to the absolute limit as having two cops teamed up who aren't even members of the same species! This is where most of the interest in Alien Nation comes from, there are some really good character driven scenes including Sykes trying to tell a joke to his partner or explain what a condom is for instance while his Newcomer partner tries to present his people's side of the situation. This angle of the film isn't as deep or throughly explored as it might have been but that's another reason I like Alien Nation, all the obvious allergies to racial hatred & tension aren't too heavy handed, too forced, preachy or totally drown out the thriller aspects of the film.Director Baker does an OK job here, he keeps things moving along at a decent pace although I'd have liked a bit more sci-fi in it. I mean the film isn't even set in the future & as such it has dated a little bit. There's a pretty cool car chase at the end & a couple of good shoot-outs but the appearance of an alien monster at the end felt a little out of odds with the rest of it. The alien make-up is OK if a little unimaginative, they just look like bald people with a mottled pattern on their scalps. I am not sure about this but apparently there are two versions of Alien Nation floating around, one with subtitles for when the Newcomers speak in their own language & one without the subtitles. I saw the version without subtitles & it did get quite annoying not understanding what they were saying to each other. The original musical score for Alien Nation composed by Oscar winner Jerry Goldsmith was rejected in post production for being 'too weird' even though it was complete to be replaced by the Curt Sobel soundtrack now heard on the final edit.With a supposed budget of about $16,000,000 Alien Nation didn't have a huge budget but it does look good with good production values, special effects & Los Angeles location filming. The acting is good especially from James Caan who is great in this (did he have his gas cut off in the end?) while Terence Stamp is unrecognisable under all the make-up.Alien Nation is an odd film since it is so clichéd & by the numbers except the alien angle which really does transform it from an average buddy buddy cop film to a throughly decent sci-fi thriller. Followed by the Alien Nation (1989) TV series which ran for twenty three episodes & the made-for-TV film Alien Nation (1989) before another five made-for-TV films including Alien Nation: Dark Horizon (1994), Alien Nation: Body and Soul (1995), Alien Nation: Millennium (1996), Alien Nation: The Enemy Within (1996) & finally Alien Nation: The Udara Legacy (1997) seem to have rounded things off.