Alien Nation

Alien Nation

A few years ago, in the year 1991, an alien spaceship crashed landed on Earth and left 100,000 extraterrestrials behind after it wandered off course. These visitors are called the Newcomers and they were genetically engineered to be good slaves smart, strong and adaptable. But there is no slavery here so over time they have melted into Southern California society where some of them become policemen while others turn into criminals or start running convenience stores.

Naturally there is some prejudiced against people who look different from us especially with their heads shaped like light bulbs but generally speaking they blend quite nicely even though we can’t help asking ourselves; are those guys hiding anything? Everything in this plot hints at having potential for something more exciting than what it eventually becomes when it settles into recycling an absolutely typical story after having done very little else with its fantastic premise which therefore tends to get on one’s nerves.

I would have enjoyed the movie if it had confessed being a Creature Feature outright. Given that this film boasts high technical values plus a star-studded cast list, during my initial viewing moments I simply couldn’t bring myself to accept that all I was getting treated to once again happened simply because someone wanted another police action potboiler made cheaply under false pretenses. What were those deeper meanings? Where were those unexpected twists lurking beneath surface level perception? They didn’t exist since this is sea-level filmmaking: What you see is what you get.

James Caan stars as a detective who has lost his partner many times over (as often portrayed) following shootouts between themselves and stickup men amongst Newcomers before chiefs request he receives new partner obviously another Newcomer. At first he declines but then realizes that through him can gain access into their criminal world thus enable him avenge death of former comrade in arms.

We’ve been through such stories countless occasions hence by now even characters’ lines are predictable although at back mind there lingers hope aliens may offer fresh twists. However, such thoughts never came across creators’ minds thus let me propose few: (a) these creatures have hidden program designed not for us; (b) it is just another Invasion of Body Snatchers except this time round pod people operate openly; (c) those who bred them as slaves send warships here to recapture while humans together with other Newcomers fight side by side defending against same; (d) a political satire on minority groups involvement within Los Angeles.

None of the above suggestions nor any other interesting one finds place in “Alien Nation” because contentedness lies within itself due to having almost embarrassingly slight starting point. As soon as we learn about near future setting populated by integrationist extraterrestrials everything else becomes generic cop stuff.

What they did was simply applying some additional make up job onto the usual buddy-cop-drug lord formula since none of them could be bothered coming up with anything new or different for these guys. The Newcomers are very boring which is disappointing given that Gale Anne Hurd, co-producer this movie, showed she knows how to make aliens more than just interesting when producing such works like “Aliens” and “Terminator”; therefore compared those two films, alien nation seems like child’s play.

For instance, “Alien Nation” presents a villain, played by Terence Stamp as a Newcomer. How do we know he’s such right away? Because he is speaking at a charity dinner in his honor for good deeds; but it is strange how coldly he speaks and how unamused he looks when laughing.

Since we all know the Law of Economy of Characters too well, there’s no way this man can be really honored for anything civic mindedness because that would take too long onscreen besides being boring! No, sir; apparently respectable businessmen like him actually make drugs which their people use to get high. Every person sitting through this could have written every single twist and most likely did.

They try to give some interest to the Newcomers by having them drink spoiled milk instead of alcohol and taking away their sense of humor entirely. Mandy Patinkin does what he can with a role that doesn’t ask for much playing Caan’s partner “Sam Francisco”, who must drink the stuff and scratch his head over jokes none will ever be able to explain. By the way: all these extraterrestrials were given American names by US immigration officers unaware (or maybe just ignoring) what’s called The First Rule About Comic Surnames: “If you need one then your script sucks.” It wasn’t cheap making “Alien Nation”.

The makeup was difficult enough; so was shooting everything perfectly; additionally both cast and crew boast top-tier talent across board. So then where did things go wrong? The answer is simple lack of imagination: nobody bothered looking at the screenplay long enough to say “Hey wait a minute here this doesn’t cut it” or noticing its complete absence of twists which might have made viewers enjoy even an already known by heart story more. It feels like something put together by those who’ve watched many films themselves but don’t believe others have.

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