Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Steineded How sad is this?

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

jimbo-53-186511 When his partner is killed, racist and prejudiced cop Matthew Sykes (James Caan) teams up with an alien newcomer cop Sam Francisco(Mandy Patinkin) to try to find those that were responsible for killing his partner. Animosity is rife between the two cops almost immediately as it was one of Francisco's 'kind' that was responsible for his partner's death.For the first 5 minutes or so this film was great and it reminded me of the sort of thing that Paul Verhoeven might have directed - it suggests that there is going to be some satire between aliens and humans and humans being forced to integrate with the aliens, but this seems to have been established for no real reason other than Baker ripping off Verhoeven as this has precious bearing on the story....And what a pity because had Baker gone down this road then it certainly would have made the film a lot more fun. The problem with this film is that it is silly and daft, but when watching it I couldn't help but feel that no-one had let the director in on the joke? The whole film is dull and lacking in energy and it seems as though Baker was on Prozac when he directed this film. It is also drab and cheap looking (although this may be due to budget constraints). Baker isn't entirely to blame for this picture as the script doesn't have much to it either - given how daft the film is I didn't expect a lot of depth, but it perhaps would have been fun or interesting to show some of the cultural differences between the aliens and the humans or anything that might have made their co-existence together amusing.The really sad thing about this film is that it doesn't even get the best out of what can be considered as generally 'talented actors' - James Caan looked bored and mildly embarrassed throughout the film as well as putting in a pretty poor performance. Terrence Stamp (under heavy prosthetics) is playing the villain (again) which is something that he can do in his sleep, but even he isn't as effective or menacing as he normally is - although he still gives the best performance by a country mile. The chemistry between Caan and Patinkin is weak with only the odd exchange being amusing.Effectively what you have here is a reasonably good concept which is wasted on a director with no vision and a screenwriter with no imagination. Had it been a bit more fun and had the story been slightly more developed then it might have been passable, but in playing it straight as a 'buddy cop' film with next to none of the redeeming qualities of a good 'buddy cop' film Alien Nation simply doesn't work.

SnoopyStyle 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.

deanlach 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.

Paul Andrews 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.