Alien Nation
October. 07,1988 RA few years from now, Earth will have the first contact with an alien civilization. These aliens, known as Newcomers, slowly begin to be integrated into human society after years of quarantine.
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Reviews
Absolutely Fantastic
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
The first must-see film of the year.
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
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
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.
I give this one an eight because I think some good creative thought went into its making. It is not an overly heavy handed movie-the characterizations are realistic and the aliens are believable and interesting. I was impressed by the idea of a group of aliens attempting to blend themselves into human society in this film, with some fairly hilarious results. Many film makers have dealt with the same subject matter and not done it so effectively. I did see the television show it had as a spin off, but I didn't think the television show was all that good. Using James Caan to play a hard nosed detective was a good idea, and I think the film is probably better off for it.I have heard people criticize using him in the film. I think that is the whole point of it, the contrast between the human and the alien personality. The opening scene in the film is great. A treat for SF fans, at least, it was for me. I think newer film makers tend to shy away from trying to make originals like this movie, perhaps going for something that avoids the whole concept of alien societies. I wonder why. Maybe it is just too much work for most of them. Films like this are few and far between.