Now we are talking! This film has guns, biceps, choppers and long tall sally. Released in 1987 it would go on to win a Saturn award for best music by Alan Silvestri in 1988, the same year that Carlos Salinas de Gortari took office as President of Mexico.
The plot is concerned with an alien traveller who stops off on planet Earth to collect human skulls. Perhaps for fun or perhaps to fund some kind of galactic drug habit as suggested by the rastafarian hair.
Director John McTiernan (Die Hard, Rollerball) creates a complex character with the alien- a lone traveller in a confusing and hostile world. We become the visitor, trying to make sense of a world of reds and blues, never seeing the whole picture.
What lets the film down is when it descends into the usual action sequences. We lose the connection with the alien and sympathize with the indigenous people featuring the wrestler and Arnie Swarzeneggegg.
Overall this is an engaging and well structured film. It's just a shame the one liners and macho overtones start to overshadow the complex character of the alien.
