Alien Nation
A prejudiced Los Angeles detective and his alien partner confront murder, organized crime, and institutional discrimination in a gritty buddy-cop science fiction thriller.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Moderate
- gritty
- tense
- sardonic
- 1980s movie night
- science fiction double feature
What critics said
Critics broadly found the premise and lead performances promising but felt the film reduced its intriguing alien-society allegory to a conventional, predictable buddy-cop police procedural.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Newcomers face quarantine, discrimination, and social exclusion while Sam Francisco partners with a prejudiced human officer.
Matthew Sykes and Sam Francisco begin with animosity but must cooperate while investigating murders and the Newcomer underworld.
The extraterrestrial premise is organized around an LAPD investigation involving criminal networks and William Harcourt.
The Newcomers are realized through extensive makeup effects alongside car chases and police-action imagery.
Films like Alien Nation, and why
In the Heat of the Night
shared buddy-cop structure, police investigation, racial prejudice themes, and crime-action plotting
48 Hrs.
shared mismatched detectives, urban crime procedural, cynical tone, and action-oriented partnership
District 9
shared science fiction premise, extraterrestrial integration, social discrimination, and thriller elements
Blade Runner
shared police procedural framework, alien society, social commentary, and noir-inflected science fiction
Movie Details
- Director
- Graham Baker
- Release Date
- 1988-10-07
- Runtime
- 91 min
- Rating
- 6.1 / 10 (350)
Cast
- James Caan
- Mandy Patinkin
- Terence Stamp
- Kevyn Major Howard
- Leslie Bevis
- Peter Jason
- Conrad Dunn
- Jeff Kober
- Roger Aaron Brown
- Francis X. McCarthy
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Alien Nation about?
- A prejudiced Los Angeles detective and his alien partner confront murder, organized crime, and institutional discrimination in a gritty buddy-cop science fiction thriller.
- What is Alien Nation like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Alien Nation as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Alien Nation violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Alien Nation as moderate.
- What did critics think of Alien Nation?
- Critics broadly found the premise and lead performances promising but felt the film reduced its intriguing alien-society allegory to a conventional, predictable buddy-cop police procedural.
- Which films are like Alien Nation?
- Films with a similar feel include In the Heat of the Night, 48 Hrs., District 9, and Blade Runner.
- How long is Alien Nation?
- Alien Nation runs 91 minutes.
- Where can I watch Alien Nation?
- In United States, Alien Nation streams on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads.
