After years of reluctant white-cop/black-cop buddy teams, who learn to give each other grudging respect despite their different backgrounds, the racial angle of the buddy-cop movie was pretty much played out. But Alien Nation figured out a way to revive it by making the white cop’s partner an alien. The movie takes place in an alternate Earth where the integration of the alien “Newcomer” race has long been a fact of life, albeit one that makes many native Earthlings resentful.
One such earthling is James Caan, who finds himself teamed with Newcomer Mandy Patinkin after his human partner is slain by a Newcomer. It’s no District 9, but the movie does a decent job of using the alien metaphor to explore issues of immigration and discrimination, while also delivering a taut police-thriller plot. In fact, the movie worked so well that it spawned a Fox TV series that ran for a season (1989-90) and spawned five follow-up TV movies.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4aGxG-SBSE]