“What if humans found out what we are capable of becoming?”

Justin’s rating: The ’80s never met a cop buddy pairing it didn’t like, eh?

Justin’s review: Toward the end of a very alien-obsessed movie decade came a scifi film that flipped the script in a thoughtful and relatable way. Instead of making extraterrestrials our saviors or enemies, it would be a story that would ask, “How well would we, a largely biased and bigoted species, integrate with off-world immigrants? What would that realistically look like?” Thus began Alien Nation, a small but notable scifi franchise that spanned a movie, one-season show, five TV movies, and numerous books and comics.

In an alternate 1991, it’s been three years since a genetically modified alien slave race landed in the Mohave desert and were added to the great American melting pot. These Newcomers, as they’re called, look somewhat human but have significant differences such as finding ocean water acidic, sour milk alcoholic, and non sequitur names appealing. For the most part, however, they acclimate into society as lower class working schlubs and find themselves the target of the ire of many humans around them.

L.A. detective Sykes (James Caan) is no lover of Newcomers, but when his partner is killed in a robbery gone wrong, Sykes finds himself saddled with a new partner: Sam “George” Francisco (Many Patinkin).

So yeah, Alien Nation is a buddy cop flick, but it’s one with a great deal of world-building and imagination. Sykes and George’s case is a catalyst to send us through this unique setting and toward a secret that has serious implications for the Newcomers and their host race.

As immigration and racism still tend to be relevant — and hot — topics, Alien Nation has aged incredibly well as an allegory. Practically nobody in this movie looks at the Newcomers with awe or fascination, as the standard stance is to treat them like crap, call them derogatory names, and resent their very presence. Sykes doesn’t even want a Newcomer partner on principle, electing to take George on as a way to get to the bottom of this case.

The usual cop buddy beats are hit, as the partners end up bonding, learning from each other, and sticking up for each other. The journey to get there may be predictable, even if the sights are a little strange. Sykes is an admitted bigot, but he’s a half-hearted one if that. It doesn’t take much for the good-hearted and soft-spoken George to scrub that out of his system and start sticking up for these foreigners.

Alien Nation may be the last scifi franchise starter from the ’80s that I’d yet to check off, and I’m glad I did. It doesn’t have the high tech or fantastic adventures from contemporaries, but it makes up for that with a lot more thought put into an alien race than these movies usually do. I really liked spending an hour-and-a-half with the chemistry of Sykes and George, getting a few thrills and chuckles out of the deal in the process, even if all this imagination is kind of squandered on a standard crime plot.

Intermission!

• Those are some amazingly big sunglasses
• Ronald Regan cameo!
• The Pepsi Newcomer billboard
• Newcomeers get soused on sour milk
• “Rambo 6” marquee
• Those are seriously big guns
• If you’re a movie cop, you have some seriously disgusting leftovers in your fridge
• George comes prepared for the first day of partnership: “That is a car deodorizer.”
• And that’s a seriously big handgun
• Newcomers have two hearts
• The condom talk
• “It’s beaver. Tasty.”
• “Don’t take it personally. I’m a bigot.”
• Chunky milk!
• Don’t try to rig a cop’s car to explode while the cop is in the back seat
• ET PD on the car
• “Here, detect THESE.”
• Don’t play chicken if both sides won’t flinch