Alien Nation (1988)

Title: Alien Nation
Director: Graham Baker
Genre: Sci-Fi
Highs: Innovative idea for a cop drama
Lows: Same old cop drama
RhynoBot Grade: C+

I started to watch this movie when I was younger, back in the late 80's, but didn't care for it back then for some reason. I guess I thought it was too slow. I did however really enjoy the short lived TV series of the same name so I figured I would give the movie a second chance to see if my initial opinion of it would change. I'm sorry to say it has not, I still found the movie a little slow. To make matters worse, since I had watched the TV series before the movie I found myself think that this is just a re-hash of the same events covered on the TV show, forgetting this movie was the source material.

This movie is basically your typical cop drama with a Sci-Fi twist. In a nut shell - alien ships land on Earth in Los Angeles in 1991 (that's funny to see since we are almost 15 years past that now). The ships were slave ships carrying genetically engineered super workers. With no way to leave Earth the aliens must be integrated into Earth (a la Los Angeles) society. So with much resentment and bigotry in place toward the aliens thus begins the cop drama. Detective Sykes (James Caan) partner is killed on the job by alien thieves. He is partnered with the first alien to ever make detective, Detective Francisco (Mandy Patinkin). The pair uncover a drug manufacturing and distribution ring targeting the alien residents, blah, blah, blah, the cops win in the end and everyone is friends. Think "Lethal Gun" but with an alien partner instead of crazy Mel Gibson.

Anyway, the movie is worth a look especially if you have never seen the TV series but skip it if you have seen the TV show since nothing new is gained by watching the movie.

It's an OK movie but nothing you haven't seen before, take it or leave it.