Review of The Fourth Kind (2009) by Kevin G — 17 Aug 2011

Before I get to bashing this one, I just want to say that it did freak me out a few times. The idea and premise behind this film is actually very strong. They take a recent trend (found/archived footage) and put it to innovative use. By mixing in the supposed real life footage with the fake footage it actually makes a been-there-done-that story kind of refreshing at first. However, it wears off pretty fast and it gets really old when you realize that they story is going nowhere.

The movie just plods along trying to be mysterious with what is really going on, but there is no payoff and no big reveal. Nothing really happens for the first 45 minutes of the film. We see patients of this supposedly real Dr. Abby Tyler going crazy during sessions about some owl and visitors during the night. It gets so bad that one patient even commits a murder homicide. It's not until Abby (played by Mila Jovovich) contacts a professor of languages and it's then where the film hints that is might be aliens.

One major flaw here is that the "fake" footage feels like it was taken from a direct to DVD release. The acting is pretty subpar and some of the dialogue is painful. Even a solid actress such as Mila Jovovich seemed like she was just phoning this performance in. The "real" was actually more compelling. It featured lesser-known actors that were pretty convincing. If they had stuck with the archived footage approach then this would have been a really creepy movie.

What also hurts any power this film could have is that Jovovich comes out in a PSA-like announcement that "what you are about to see is real." Right after that they say "believe what you want" almost as if to mock the nay-sayers. However, a simple five minute google search will show that none of this ever took place. The "archived" footage is staged and there was no Dr. Abigail Tyler. In fact, in the real footage, she is played a small-time actress named Charlotte Milchard.

What's even worse is how the director, Olatunde Osunsanmi, sticks himself in there like this is some documentary film by a college professor. I give him kudos for trying a few things new, but if he had made this a straight-up "found footage" movie, it would have been more effective. As it is this feels more like a cheep Discovery channel special. And trust me, there is nothing in here that you can't find on those shows. Also, had there actually been some sort of payoff at the end, I wouldn't have minded this so much.

During it's small run in theaters, I would not have recommended this. If this is your thing then go out to Red Box and get it. You might get a few scares, but don't expect anything groundbreaking.