Alien Nation (movie)
|
|
Alien Nation is a 1988 science fiction movie written by Rockne S. O'Bannon and directed by Graham Baker. It stars James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, Terence Stamp, Kevyn Major Howard and Leslie Bevis.
The movie was made into a television series in 1989 and a book series in 1993.
The movie is set in an Earth in which a flying saucer bearing enslaved aliens (the "Newcomers") from the planet Tecton has crash-landed in the Mojave Desert. Los Angeles becomes a new home for the aliens, who take Earth-like names (such as "Rudyard Kipling"). Caan plays Los Angeles police detective Matthew Sykes, who loses his partner when they try to stop two Newcomers in what appears to be a robbery of a small Newcomer owned store. The next day Sykes' commanding officer informs his squad that they will have to work with the newly promoted Newcomer detective, Sam Francisco, played by Patinkin, and if someone doesn't volunteer to work with him the commanding officer shall choose someone. Sykes volunteers to work with Francisco so that he may investigate crimes involving Newcomers which will give him the opportunity to also investigate his partner's death even though he isn't supposed to.
Sykes tells Sam that the name given him by an immigration official is embarrassing, and calls his partner George. As the pair continue to be assigned cases which mainly deal with Newcomer criminals and victims and as the cases progress, Sykes is able to learn to appreciate his partner.