Alien Nation (1988)

Alien Nation is a 1988 American science fiction action film directed by Graham Baker. The ensemble cast features James Caan, Mandy Patinkin and Terence Stamp. The film depicts the assimilation of the Newcomers, an alien race settling in Los Angeles, much to the dismay of the local population. The plot integrates the buddy cop film genre with a science fiction theme, centering on a union between a veteran police investigator (Caan) and an extraterrestrial (Patinkin); the first Newcomer detective. The duo probe a criminal underworld attempting to solve a homicide.

The film was a co-production between American Entertainment Partners and 20th Century Fox, which distributed it theatrically. Alien Nation explores murder, discrimination and science fiction. In 2005, the original motion picture soundtrack was released by the Varèse Sarabande music label. The soundtrack was composed and orchestrated by musician Jerry Goldsmith.

Alien Nation was released in the United States on October 7, 1988, and grossed over $32 million worldwide, becoming a moderate financial success. The film was met with mixed critical reviews before its theatrical release, although it has since gained a cult following. Its initial popularity inaugurated the beginning of the Alien Nation media franchise. The motion picture spawned a short-lived television series, five television films, a set of comic books, as well as a number of fictional novels, all in an attempt to continue the character development surrounding the fictional alien culture.

Synopsis

The year is 1991; three years since an unidentified flying object bearing 300,000 enslaved aliens, the Newcomers, landed in the Mojave Desert on planet Earth. Los Angeles later becomes their new home. Matthew Sykes (Caan), a police detective, loses his partner Bill Tuggle (Brown) in a shootout. The detectives were trying to stop two Newcomer criminals murdering another Newcomer named Porter at a grocery, in what appeared to be a robbery.

Actors