A fantastic mixture of science fiction, suspense, comedy and action. A genre-bending classic that you cant help but love. A wonderfully entertaining winner that's just a great buddy-cop movie with lots to offer. A great new twist on a familiar background. A smart, funny and action-packed thrill-ride with solid performances and great special effects. James Caan and Mandy Patinkin are excellent together with their unique and effective chemistry. One of the coolest sci-fi tales of the 80's decade with Terminator and Aliens.

Tough cop (James Caan) hates aliens, even more so after his partner is killed by one. His new partner, wouldn't you know it, is also an alien (Mandy Patinkin). In trying to track down the killer of Caan's former partner, the two uncover a larger conspiracy.Had this movie been made in the '50s or '60s, it would have been pretty strong. But by 1988 was it really necessary to do a movie dealing with race relations by using aliens as a metaphor? Rockne S. O'Bannon's unchallenging script hits on all the familiar racial conflict themes that had been played out long before this was released in many, many movies. If you take the racial component out of it, you're left with a by-the-numbers odd couple/buddy cop drama. Enjoyable enough, thanks to the likable performances of Caan and Patinkin, but it's still routine stuff.

The idea for this movie is brilliant , yet sadly wasted . This movie is basically your typical cop thriller only with aliens in it . The story isn't too interesting and it's a cliché one . "District 9" made a better use of the "aliens living with us" idea . Here it seems half-baked. You could easily imagine this story without them.It's bizarre enough to keep you interested , it's funny at times . James Caan ("The Godfather") is nice in the main role. The idea here is pretty great , too bad it's wasted on such a conventional thriller. It's so cliché it almost hurts . Done by the numbers , there is nothing new here that you haven't seen in thousands other cop thrillers , nothing stands out. Such a shame.A cheesy , rather routine cop thriller dressed up as science fiction movie . A simple story about tolerance and buddy-cop movie all in one. Nothing more , nothing less. I give it 3/10.

Caan stars as Sykes, a cop who having seen his partner he has known for years get blown away, gets over him very quickly and takes on a 'newcomer' as his partner.the thing is about this newcomer, it's the club singer from Dick Tracey with some really bad make-up on.together, they must foil a drugs ring led by General Zod and Rudyard Kipling, come to terms with a little diverting sub-plot about race, creed, and the effects it has on society, and of course, realise that at this point in his career, Caan would do almost anything to back into the movies after his little 'problem'.it starts off really well. your typical cop-buddy movie, with all your clichés thrown in from way back since cop movies begun.Sykes hates all newcomers, obviously some sort of xenophobe as he hasn't even left his country, but he teams up with Francisco, not just to get revenge for his partner, but maybe because he wants to get 'one-up' on these aliens, as they are more intelligent than humans.there are some humorous moments and a lot of effort has been put into the story and the script, it's just too short for it's own good. We never get to feel the struggle Sykes goes through, apart from him putting a tape in his pocket, and wearing the same clothes all the time. His relationship with Francisco, evolves too quickly and they become friends too soon, so it makes you care less about what is going on in the film.Stamp is on villain duties, as every English actor at the time played a villain, he is throwaway and not very interesting. the effects are bad, and all in all, it does fail on many levels.