Alien Nation

Patinkin plays a member of an alien community which, having crash-landed in the Mojave Desert some years earlier, has now established itself in California. The aliens are called 'newcomers' by those who like them, 'slags' by those who don't. Hard-nosed cop Caan is one who does not, since his partner got blown away by a newcomer robbery gang; he nevertheless volunteers to take on the inexperienced Patinkin as his partner, figuring to use the alien's inside knowledge to find the killer. Their investigations lead to ruthless businessman Stamp, another newcomer who seems to be the brains behind a drugs operation. Played hard and fast, the film might just have worked, but the decision to soft-pedal the violence merely emphasises the obviousness of the liberal point-scoring (parallels with Vietnamese or Nicaraguan refugees are so facile as to be crass). Worthy, predictable, and dull.