Review of Alien Nation (1988) by Andrew L — 29 May 2015

This film is a cross between a Scifi film and a cop drama. The Scifi elements focus on a very good idea (the same one from District 9) that aliens arrive from outer space, but instead of villains they're refugees.

The problem is that this immediately blends into the cop drama side of the story, which consumes it utterly without any apparent difficulties. So while the film itself is a pretty good cop drama it's mediocre Scifi.

If you simply replaced the alien with the persecuted minority of the week then you'd have exactly the same film. I know that's the point, but if you're playing with aliens you really need to do something more with them beyond giving them odd traits like an addiction to sour milk and an allergy to sea water.