Rama's Screen

When you have a supernatural suspense/thriller like THE FOURTH KIND that opens not too long after the box office phenomenon Paranormal Activity, you can’t help but make some comparison between the two but fact of the matter is THE FOURTH KIND falls short on so many levels, it doesn’t come close to being as suspenseful as Paranormal Activity. It’s a fiction based on… supposed real events, insulting the audience’s intelligence and the use of archive footage is more of a distraction rather than a helpful addition.

Structured unlike any film before it, “The Fourth Kind” is a provocative thriller set in modern-day Nome, Alaska, where—mysteriously since the 1960s—a disproportionate number of the population has been reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations of the region, the truth has never been discovered.
Here in this remote region, psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) began videotaping sessions with traumatized patients and unwittingly discovered some of the most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented.

I think the movie makes the mistake of trying to depict ordinary people going through extraordinary situation by using familiar actors. Films like Paranormal Activity and Blair Witch, films with shaky hand held camera work, were huge success partly because the audience can relate to the unknown actors they see on screen. Even though they’re faux documentary style, the fact that the audience never had a history of seeing them in any other movie before becomes that bridge, that connection which would result in a more engaging movie watching experience. On top of that, I gotta be honest with you, whoever thought that Milla Jovovich could play a convincing psychologist must’ve smoked pot because Jovovich is only perfect for kicking some zombie’s ass. You put her in a room with a patient, attempting hypnosis and you have yourself a comical scenario waiting to happen. Jovovich is too much of a tough femme fatale/pretty supermodel to be a psychologist. Huge miscast.

One of the lamest characters ever created in cinema has got to be Sheriff August played by Will Patton. Blaming hypnosis for suicide, paralysis and murder is about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. He’s stubborn, ignorant, got anger issue, what a nuisance. Which brings the fault ultimately to writer/director Olatunde Osunsanmi for crafting this big joke he calls supernatural thriller.
He also plays the interviewer chatting with supposed real Dr. Abigail Tyler and there’s a plug in ad for Chapman University, I’m sure by now every college would wish they could get an exposure in that capacity or maybe some are thankful that they don’t. By the way, if the characters don’t drive you nuts, this movie’s addiction to Owl references will.

What’s going to be the talk of the town of course is the split screen method to give you the depiction and the archive footage at the same time. It’s hilarious to see that the guys in the archive footage give better performances than the actors themselves. The movie expects that this style would give a more intense and haunting effect that stays with you long after it’s done. Hearing aliens speak in Sumerian language, claiming to be god or staring at Abby’s whacked jaw. But once again, there is that gap that separated the movie from the audience whereas Paranormal Activity makes it seem like could happen to anyone of you at anytime anywhere, not just in a small town called Nome in Alaska and under hypnosis.

THE FOURTH KIND is basically an alien abduction movie that plays on all the urban legend and myth surrounding aliens including ones about them visiting our ancestors years ago as evidenced by some of the prehistoric ancient writings and images that resemble modern technology. Once again, it’s the movie’s attempt to send chills and creep right down your spine but unfortunately the terrible acting, the dreadful dialogue, and trying too hard with the ‘based on real events’ scenario basically ruin or kill any chances that this movie’s got to be more than just some hypnosis gone chaotic.

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