John Sayles, in his script contributions to things like Alligator and The Battle beyond the Stars, has shown his allegiance to grade-Z science fiction. But in this, a tale of a black extraterrestrial hiding out in Harlem from two white pursuers (one of them played by Sayles himself), his allegiance to the type extends all the way to total responsibility: writing, directing, editing. It isn't just a matter of cheapness, with the attendant sound problems and image problems. It is also the deliberate dumbness (and undeliberate dullness). The liberal sentimentality, never an incompatible element in science fiction, doesn't raise the level a single notch. With Joe Morton. (1985) — Duncan Shepherd