Alien Nation (1988)
Directed by Graham Baker
A few years from now, Earth will have the first contact with an alien civilization. These aliens, known as Newcomers, slowly begin to be integrated into human society after years of quarantine.
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What critics compared Alien Nation to
Seamlessly blending the natural and the unnatural, Blomkamp layers visual gags (signs warning "No Non-Human Loitering") with aural (alien conversations that sound like extreme intestinal distress) while advancing a plot rife with references to E.T., The Fly and Alien Nation.
(The core concept — extraterrestrial asylum seekers land on Earth and become second-class citizens — was explored in the 1990s Alien Nation movie and TV series.)
While built on elements from Alien Nation , Enemy Mine , and even David Cronenberg’s The Fly , District 9 transcends its inspirations by focusing on story, character, and the very human disregard for others until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.
Sci-fi fans will spot similarities between District 9’s premise and the 1988 film Alien Nation that starred James Caan and Mandy Patinkin, which was later made into a television series.
Like “Alien Nation” (1988), it begins with the premise of a large alien population being stranded on Earth.
(And it’s as little like the 1988 flick Alien Nation as it could possibly be, even if at the shallowest surface, D9 appears to be aping it.)
Vers, we learn, is blessed with photon-charged hands that can blast an opponent across the room; as a result, she’s a big asset as part of an elite force on a mission to battle the evil Skrulls – wrinkly faced green aliens that look like a cross between a Klingon and the foreigners in “Alien Nation” (1988) – that have the ability to disguise themselves as most carbon life forms they encounter.
Told mostly in an effective, pseudo-documentary style, “District 9" is, like “Avatar,” a film assembled out of other movies to some degree as well: there’s a dash of “Alien Nation,” “The Fly” and several other sci-fi movies here, but the difference is that Blomkamp takes the time to develop its characters and makes its aliens ultimately sympathetic, though at first blush these creatures are more repellant than other-worldly.
As in Alien Nation, aliens live more or less peaceably among us; they make up an underclass of cab drivers, pawnshop owners, and even the odd celebrity or two.