Set in Los Angeles in 1991, Graham Baker's 1988 sf-horror-mystery-buddy-flick pairs police detective Sykes (James Caan) with new partner Sam Francisco (Mandy Patinkin), a "newcomer" or, in racist terms, "slag." The newcomers are some 300,000 alien refugees who have blended into L.A. society, and share the same sociological make-up as humans: good, bad and ugly. When Sykes' human partner is killed in a newcomer shootout, he swallows his bigot feelings and teams with Francisco to find the killer, a quest that takes them through the usual nightclubs, drug harems, and wandering-mass-of-humanity (and extraterrestrials) city streets. The anamorphic widescreen DVD transfer is reasonably good, with Dolby Digital 4.1 sound. Two run-of-the-mill "making of" featurettes round out the extras package. Recommended, overall. (R. Pitman)
Alien Nation
Fox, 89 min., PG, $24.98 Vol. 16, Issue 3
Alien Nation
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