[Inspector Abberline]

Alien Nation.(1988)
Coming some where between the series V and the film Lethal Weapon,Alien Nation takes every well worn cinema cliche and hammers them together,fish out of water,buddy cop movie and a alien race assimilating it self on to the planet earth,and of course all this having hilarious consequences..One thing which does seem clear is that like us humans aliens love drugs as well,as also experienced in that knock about Sci-fI romp Dark Angel or as some folks like to call it I Come in Peace (1990). Misery for hire James Caan as Matthew Sykes loses his bestest buddy in a shoot out with some slag's...(no not those kind you see hanging around street corners in the dodgy parts of cities,but a race of aliens,although im sure Caan is no stranger to those either)...Well Everything falls nicely into place plot wise when Caan now without said buddy volunteers to have a newcomer as his new partner in the guise of Mandy Patinkin as Sam Francisco or (George)..So off the pair go trying to solve a fairly thin plot which doesn't really hold up to much scrutiny or make any real sense.So its a bloody good job that Caan and Patinkin make for such a great double act other wise you would switch off after the first 30 mins.There is absolutely nothing new at all in any of this,especially since the far superior The Hidden directed by Jack Sholder came out 1987 and done it all so much better and more violently back then...I Know Terence Stamp is no stranger to appearing in science fiction movies,but really what's the point of using such a great actor under a ton of make-up,you can emote as much as you like but when your wearing the equivalent of what basically look like a penis on your head then you are really onto a loser,im sure this has its fans but it never really gets going.