Alien Nation
Tags: comedy, neo noir, murder, allegory, violence, thought-provoking, psychedelic, philosophical, revenge

Plot synopsis:
The story takes place in Los Angeles in 1991. Three years prior an alien craft crash-landed on Earth. The saucer housed 300,000 "Newcomers", an extraterrestrial race of hard labor workers. With no way to return to their home planet, the Newcomers were first quarantined and then finally released to live among humans in the LA area.An LA police detective, Matthew Sykes, and his partner, Detective Tuggle, are patrolling an LA Newcomer neighborhood when they spot two of the aliens dressed in long black coats entering a small convenience store. The aliens pull out shotguns and rob the store's owner. Sykes and Tuggle intervene when the robbers emerge from the store and a gunfight ensues. One of the newcomers changes the magazine on his shotgun and begins to fire several powerful rounds that pass through the entire width of the car Tuggle is hiding behind. Tuggle is hit in the chest by one of the shots and dies immediately. Sykes, enraged at his longtime partner's death, takes off after Tuggle's killers.Rushing into a dark tunnel near the store, the Newcomer Sykes chases pulls out a small vial of blue fluid and deposits a small amount on his tongue. The substance is clearly a drug and the newcomer, invigorated by it's effects, furiously charges Sykes. Sykes fires several shots into the alien's chest, who seems unaffected at first but eventually drops. When Sykes is found by the backup that arrives, one of the officers tries to help him to his feet. When Sykes sees that the officer is a Newcomer, he violently pushes him away and hits him.The next day at his headquarters, Sykes joins his company for the morning debriefing. Everyone is saddened by Tuggles' death and their captain announces that they'll be taking in a new officer, someone who happens to be a Newcomer, the 1st one to be promoted to detective. Sykes volunteers to take the Newcomer, Detective Francisco, as his new partner, despite his obvious prejudice about their species. Francisco, having taken a new name because his own alien name is unpronounceable, tells Sykes his given 1st name is Sam. Sykes refuses to refer to his partner as "Sam Francisco" so he dubs him "George."The two go to the coroner's lab where they receive a report about the Newcomer store owner and the alien Sykes shot. While Sykes talks to the coroner, George talks to his Newcomer assistant in their native language. Evidence of a specific condition was found in the murderer but George doesn't share the information with Sykes. George also has an obviously scared look on his face at the news.Sykes and George continue their investigation and find that another Newcomer, Joshua Strader, a nightclub owner, is their next lead. On a stretch of ocean beach, Strader is being beaten by the henchmen of a Newcomer businessman, William Harcourt, while his assistant, Rudyard Kipling (himself one of the Newcomers involved in the convenience store holdup), looks on. When Strader won't accept a lucrative offer from Harcourt, Harcourt orders his men to take Strader out into the salt water, which has the same effect on the alien species that acid would on humans.Further investigation by the pair reveals that Strader was quarantined with Harcourt and two other Newcomers who were chemists. Sykes and George talk to the manager of a factory where Newcomers work in a room filled with methane gas without harm. After Sykes and George leave, the manager looks over a room behind protective glass where Newcomers are working with complex machinery to produce a blue fluid like the one the store robber took a dose of before Sykes killed him.

Review: It shows how hatred and ignorance over race can transform one's personality, like the lead character played by James Caan.Alien Nation asks questions about ourselves as humans.
Alien Nation was one of those films that expertly grasped the the sci-fi/mystery sub genre with a decent story and good visuals.The casting in the film was rather perfect, with the subdued Mandy Patinkin playing Francisco while the normally hotheaded James Caan got his licks as a racist cop named Sykes.
While I do wish the movie was a little longer and put some more scenes of George integrating into his new position at the beginning, the film was good as it was.Alien Nation proved to be one of the last good non-CGI sci-fi films.
What separates this from the usual buddy film is that instead of the difference being ethnic/class/gender, it is human (James Caan) and alien (Mandy Patinkin).The clichéd beginning with the main character's partner being killed is done very well with stylish gunplay and set pieces.
Caan aside, the cast is fairly mediocre, full of average actors except Terrence Stamp who puts on a good show as the bad guy.Something I loved about this film is how similar everything is to The Terminator.
Like Terminator, Alien Nation greatly benefits from the dark, murky feel of the environment, giving it an edge over a lot of Sci-Fi films which suffer from being too 'shiny'.The film does a great job at exploring racism, giving the impression of time repeating itself regarding the Western civilisations treatment of blacks when they were forced in to the country.
Considering that it is little more than your standard cop buddy movie, the slight variation being that the buddies are a tough seen-it-all cop and a by-the-books rookie who is an alien, Alien Nation ends up being a pretty good film.
The movie revolves around aliens who are living on earth...Caan can't stand these aliens, and really takes to disliking them when his partner is killed by one.
During this time being partnered with the alien Caan's character learns to actually like being around him and they end up becoming friends.
This movie has good action and comedy as Caan's character tries to figure things out and learns about his alien friend's different weaknesses and strengths.
Basically it is a buddy cop movie that has an alien teamed with a human..
Tough cop (James Caan) hates aliens, even more so after his partner is killed by one.
The rookie proves to the bigot that people are the same, despite their physical differences and they slowly become friends.Mandy Patinkin is great here, conveying the idea of an outsider who is not totally familiar with his new environment.
The chemistry between James Caan and Mandy Patinkin in this film is amazing.
The narrative ideas are vast: this ancient race struggling against a government where they are not represented; pointed social commentary on the civil rights struggle and of race relations since; these foreign beings coping with the garish culture of the United States; examining the class structures of immigrant populations; something, anything..........What we end up with, however, is ALIEN NATION, a film that is essentially a cop/buddy flick starring James Caan and Mandy Patinkin.
The point is is that ALIEN NATION, other than having Patinkin in outlandish makeup, offers nothing new to the tired clichés of this genre.
Caan plays a veteran detective named Matthew Sykes, who after the death of his best friend/partner sets out to solve the crime himself.
They begin to suspect the involvement of a wealthy "newcomer", William Harcourt, played by Terence Stamp (who, alas, had several more years of films like this before he made a comeback with THE LIMEY).
I'll stop there, but you can see where this is going.........The frustrating thing about ALIEN NATION is that so very little of the "newcomer" culture is explored by the writers.
The musical score by Curt Sobel (who replaced Jerry Goldsmith, after his lively, though weird, music was rejected) adds very little to creating an aural signature for the "newcomers." Stan Winston contributes fine creature makeup, although the incarnation towards the end appears almost identical to the monster from PUMPKINHEAD which Winston directed the same year ALIEN NATION was released.
There were several made for television movies and a series spawned by the film, but from what I understand these continuations offer little in the way of expanding the scope of the original concepts.
The idea of a fleet of spaceships bringing(literal) alien(renamed newcomers) refugees seeking asylum on Earth, and the inevitable culture clashes and problems this would bring is a good one, and the film does have good performances(stars James Caan & Mandy Patinkin as cop and alien partner) but it is such a pity that this is thrown away so that they could be shoehorned into a standard "buddy" comedy/thriller involving both human and newcomer drug lords exploiting a weakness of the Aliens by recreating an addictive drug to hook them on.
Matthew Sykes (James Caan) and alien Samuel "George" Francisco (Mandy Patinkin) have to join up to stop alien William Harcourt (Terence Stamp) from taking over.
L.A. police detective xenophobic Matthew Sykes (James Caan) and his partner Bill confront an alien holdup gang.
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.
A relaxed James Caan and the warm voice his co-star and cop-partner Mandy Patinkin help drive the story.
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..
Mandy Pantikin also did a nice job on the film,, and i'm a big Terrence Stamp fan so I enjoyed the acting,, the premise was excellent to,,, I graduated the year this came out but never got around to seeing it till much later., so the story goes that Caan has to take on a partner,, well he's sorta an alien and Caan resents that and has arguments and bickers with him constantly but eventually the learn to work together get along and eventually become good friends, they go up against some bad guy aliens who wish to do harm to the human race as they are selling some kind of drug that has deadly outcomes for those that inject it,, I think that this movie was ahead of it's time..
a great movie for sci fi lover's and James Caan as well.
Caan has been much better than here (though not much worse) as a cop who doesn't like aliens and is, naturally, stuck with one as a partner.
Not much stretch work here.Not much to the plot, either, as Stamp plans to enslave the aliens with a newfound version of a drug from the old home planet (and when you find out what the drug is, think: would this mean that all the sober aliens walk around in dirty clothes?).In fact, the best thing about this movie, aside from the alien make-up job, is the song "Invincible" from the Temptations, a "golden oldie", according to the movie, from 1988.
Alien Nation takes the timeworn formula of buddy cop movies and puts a little twist on it.
This works better than it sounds but Alien Nation is not the greatest movie.
For all his great film roles he is not the greatest actor and pretty much plays the same character in every movie he is in.
Bottom Line: Unless you have really heard good things and want to check it out, your time may be better spent watching either a better buddy film or a better Sci-Fi film.
One of the filthy potato head slags kills Detective Syke's partner, he is then forced to partner with another slag, Sam Franscisco (Mandy Patinkin, who never really found his way into much later with the great "Dead Like Me").
While it's not a great film by any means, the acting is merely serviceable (James Caan being the only standout), the plot is VERY formulaic and clichéd.
Bog-standard cop-buddy movie with a run-of-the-mill plot boosted by good work from the two leads.
James Caan, Mandy Pintinkin, Terrence Stamp, a great story and production make for a great movie.
The first movie cop duo between a human and an alien.
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..
This film plays as a basic cop movie only with a sci fi twist.
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.
A wonderfully entertaining winner that's just a great buddy-cop movie with lots to offer.
They did not get on, but by the end of the film they were best friends and there for each other.The aliens were pretty good even though the make up was terrible.
and the noses looked like they could fall off at any point.The film stars James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, Terence Stamp and Kevyn Major Howard.
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 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.
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.
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.
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..
Obvious Buddy Cop Movie Despite The Sci-Fi Gimmick.
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 .
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 is still fairly cheesy, but enjoyable nonetheless.The movie is driven mostly by the interplay of James Caan and Mandy Patinkin.
This 1988 20th Century Fox release would probably later serve as a minor inspiration for the film, "Coneheads." However, "Coneheads" is actually a little better than this sometimes painful to watch sci-fi drama about a group of aliens who land on Earth and ever so slowly learn to be accepted among the "Earthlings" even going so far as to help a group of cops solve a murder.
I must admit the whole racist thing again an alien species does get on the annoying side at times, but this is more then a science fiction, it's a rare Sci-Fi buddy picture.
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)..
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.
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.
This in turn, introduces us to human cop, Detective Matthew Sykes(James Caan).
This in turn, introduces us to human cop, Detective Matthew Sykes(James Caan).
James Caan and Mandy Patinkin make a good team and Terence Stamp is good to as the evil Harcourt.
James Caan and Mandy Patinkin make a good team and Terence Stamp is good to as the evil Harcourt.
It's what gives focus to the relationship between detective Matt Sykes (James Caan) and his 'Newcomer' partner Sam Francisco (Mandy Patinkin).
A good performance by James Caan and a great one by Mandy Patinkin saves the movie from total mediocrity, particularly when the second half totally falls apart.WARNING: SPOILER While it is not implausible the aliens could be severely injured by salt water, can you seriously imagine how impossible it would be for them to survive on a planet with so much of it?
James Caan, Mandy Patinkin and Terence Stamp star in this 1988 sci-fi film.
Soon, we meet veteran cop, Sykes (Caan) who decides to work with an alien detective, Francisco (Patinkin) to stop a corrupt, alien businessman, Harcourt (Stamp) from unleashing a drug stimulant that enhances strength to his kind.
I have seen quite a few science-fiction films where aliens or mutants have become part of the modern world, e.g. Total Recall, and this is a pretty good one.
Matthew Sykes (James Caan), who still has issues about Newcomers.
This movie manages to marry several genres; Sci-Fi, buddy-cop films, and even has a blend of comedy and social commentary to it as well.When the film starts off, we are introduced to a new race of beings whose ship has crashed on Earth.
Sykes uses a partnership with George to investigate the death of his long time friend and partner.Soon, he realizes he in for more than he bargained for as a seeking of revenge as turned into a fight against an illicit drug that if put on the streets, could make the newcomers slaves all over again.
Sykes dispatches Harcourt by shoving him into the water, seeing how the newcomers' bodies react fatally to salt water.This was clearly one of the best sci-fi movies of the 80's and perhaps, one of the best all-time.
Caan stars as Sykes, a cop who having seen his partner he has known for years get blown away, gets over him very quickly and takes on a 'newcomer' as his partner.the thing is about this newcomer, it's the club singer from Dick Tracey with some really bad make-up on.together, they must foil a drugs ring led by General Zod and Rudyard Kipling, come to terms with a little diverting sub-plot about race, creed, and the effects it has on society, and of course, realise that at this point in his career, Caan would do almost anything to back into the movies after his little 'problem'.it starts off really well.
your typical cop-buddy movie, with all your clichés thrown in from way back since cop movies begun.Sykes hates all newcomers, obviously some sort of xenophobe as he hasn't even left his country, but he teams up with Francisco, not just to get revenge for his partner, but maybe because he wants to get 'one-up' on these aliens, as they are more intelligent than humans.there are some humorous moments and a lot of effort has been put into the story and the script, it's just too short for it's own good.
Suffice it to say that his smile looks frighteningly evil !01_Mandy Patinkin in (Alien Nation – 1988) : defines nightmare of a partner and movie !