Alien Nation

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Alien Nation

R

Released Oct 7, 1988

1h 30m

Sci-Fi

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Popcornmeter

52%

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33 Reviews

43%

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10,000+ Ratings

In Los Angeles circa 1991, humans live alongside extraterrestrial humanoid beings whose spaceship crash landed three years earlier. This coexistence is not always harmonious, as exemplified by segregated slums and the uneasy partnership of police detective Matthew Sykes (James Caan) with new humanoid partner Sam Francisco (Mandy Patinkin). However, the pair begin to overcome their differences as they investigate a slum drug ring led by the slippery William Harcourt (Terence Stamp).

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Critics Consensus

Alien Nation takes the interesting premise of extraterrestrials living among us and doesn't do enough with it, emphasizing a police procedural plotline over the more intriguing sci-fi elements.

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Jay Carr

Boston Globe

Instead of exploring the differences and strangeness of the aliens, and giving them the kind of interesting particularity that "Blade Runner" did, Alien Nation can't domesticate and demystify its aliens quickly enough.

May 12, 2018

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

This plot contains the elements of a good idea, but it does so little with it, and is so cheerfully willing to recycle an absolutely standard story, that the idea is finally just frustrating.

Rated: 2/4

Jan 1, 2000

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Adrian Martin

Film Critic: Adrian Martin

It quickly becomes a formulaic buddy cop action-thriller with a suspiciously reactionary message about what constitutes bad alien behaviour.

Rated: 2.5/5

Jul 30, 2025

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Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Alien Nation is the height of nonsense, but its not offensive, it moves quickly and it has Terence Stamp. [Full review in Spanish]

Jul 5, 2022

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

Were it not for the thinly-veiled social commentary, little of this would be original.

Rated: 5/10

Mar 24, 2021

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Walter Chaw

Film Freak Central

"... a sometimes-brilliant metaphor for the experience of Asian immigrants in the United States."

Nov 5, 2019

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David H.

This is a fantastic action fantasy with strong acting. It’s not Shakespeare but it’s not trying to be.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/02/25

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Andrew A.

The aliens get wasted on spoiled milk...pretty cool

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

07/09/25

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AB L

interesting ideas but it becomes silly and formulaic. Also the whole idea of the story being a metaphor about race relations is so obvious it borders on offensive.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

08/31/23

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cees t

Ok buddy cop movie if you don't mind the plot holes.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

What should have been a cool sci-fi alien invasion movie turned out to just be a boring 80s cop movie.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

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George M

2.5 bags, so almost by the end of this movie I realized it, "Alien Nation" is also kinda like saying "alienation." So that's one bag. Caan? One more bag. Patinkin in alien disguise? .5 bag. I thot the aliens looked lame, except for the lady alien that came on to Caan I'da been like what's up. This was on prime and even though Amazon is a big evil corp prime has gotten me through 531 and saved me a lot on shipping to kinda like the aliens and themes of this movie whose to say whether that's good or bad. This movie also had Stamp, who was also a bad guy in Wall Street. Another reason I couldn't bequeath it more bags is cause they never say the name of the movie in either form. The score is this movie is likewise really bad, it needed some steel drums. It has some guitar playing in it where all the notes are all bent out of tune and the playing is sloppy AMF, guess the guitarist was on some of the drugs the aliens were slanging! So yeah I won't watch it again. Next?!!!

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

11/17/20

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Graham Baker

Director

James Caan

Det. Sgt. Matthew Sykes

Mandy Patinkin

Det. Samuel `'George'` Francisco

Terence Stamp

William Harcourt

Kevyn Major Howard

Rudyard Kipling

Leslie Bevis

Cassandra

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Synopsis

In Los Angeles circa 1991, humans live alongside extraterrestrial humanoid beings whose spaceship crash landed three years earlier. This coexistence is not always harmonious, as exemplified by segregated slums and the uneasy partnership of police detective Matthew Sykes (James Caan) with new humanoid partner Sam Francisco (Mandy Patinkin). However, the pair begin to overcome their differences as they investigate a slum drug ring led by the slippery William Harcourt (Terence Stamp).

Director: Graham Baker
Producer: Gale Anne Hurd, Richard Kobritz
Screenwriter: Rockne S. O'Bannon
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox
Rating: R
Genre: Sci-Fi
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 7, 1988, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 20, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $24.7M
Runtime: 1h 30m
Sound Mix: Surround

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