Alien Nation
ALIEN NATIONÂ (18)
D: Graham Baker
20th Century Fox (Gale Anne Hurd & Richard
Kobritz)
USA 🇺🇸 1988
94 mins
Â
Science Fiction/Crime/Thriller
Â
W: Rockne S. O'Bannon
DP: Adam Greenberg
Ed: Kent Bedya
Mus: Curt Sobel
PD: Jack T. Collis
Â
James Caan (Matthew Sykes) Mandy Patinkin (Sam 'George'
Francisco), Terence Stamp (William Harcourt), Kevin Major Howard (Rudyard Kipling), Leslie Bevis (Cassandra), Peter Jason (Fedorchuk)
A mismatched cop thriller with a sci-fi
twist.
Mandy Patinkin plays a detective of an alien race who
have settled on Earth in the future and is partnered with a bigoted human cop (James Caan) to solve a murder investigation. Â
The movie begins as an interesting take on racism
issues, but soon becomes a cliche-ridden action vehicle full of the usual tropes, most of which beg the question whether or not the alien thing was tacked onto the script retrospectively
to make it more attractive to big studios. It also didn't help by setting the action in 1991, practically dating the film straight away upon its 1988 release.
A moderately successful TV series
followed.
6/10
Did You Know:
The October 1987 draft of the screenplay credits a
re-write to James Cameron, but Cameron is not credited in the final film.
Award Wins & Nominations:
MILSTEAD MOVIE AWARDS:
Wins: none
Nominations: 1 (Best Makeup Design)
OSCARS:
Wins: none
Nominations: none
BAFTAS
Wins: none
Nominations: none
OTHER WINS:
Saturn Award (Best Science Fiction Film)