The Fourth Kind (2009)

The Fourth Kind (2009)
written and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi


Undoubtedly the found footage genre keeps getting ground, and is boosting more careers since the heyday of Soderbergh and Tarantino when 'independent' was in. Now that it is showing far more inexpensive to shoot in this process, except Cloverfield which had very excellent special effects intergrated, the pseudo-documentary is pratically the way to go. Unfortunately by the time Cloverfield hit, and then Rec's remake Quarantine, the genre is starting to show wear and tear.

To start off, I was sporting a minor crush on the idea of documentry half re-enactment of alien abductions, given that I have the penchant to believe, of course, there is the possibilty of life beyond our universe, thats just as intelligent...or just as good at pretending to be intelligent, like us, I know I'm damn good at that. Also, being the movie geek I am, Milla Jovovich is another reason to see any movie. Except for those goddamn Resident Evil sequels.

Anyway...

Fourth Kind starts off with a silhouetted, stylishly shot emerging Milla, as she straight faces the camera and tells us, what you are about to see is real... Yay I love Unsolved Mysteries. It soon goes into an interview with the films director and case study Dr Abigail Taylor, the films center piece of controversy. We are laid out with case study after case study of her patients and their deteriorating states of mind, as one by one under goes unconventional hypnosis to uncover repressed memories of an owl, possible intruders and better yet, no one says it until like an hour in, ALIEN ABDUCTIONS!

The movie does do interesting things, such as archival footage playing side by side the reenactments, we also hear the strange audios, police cruiser footage, which in the course of the movie is unsettling, but not spectacular.

The movie essentially is a bigger budgeted Unsolved Mysteries, with no Robert Stack. I got to say, I read too many glowing reviews before seeing this movie, so I was pumped for something special. Its not special, its not breath taking, and its not even scary.

First of all, nothing is truly explained, granted our subjects on film have had almost all of their names changed and or declined to participate in the making of the film, and second I had problems with the believability. These people are seeing extraordinary things, experiencing them first hand, but treat these experiences as if they were thrift stores, like second hand tales that someone chopped all the detail out of; I wanted more explanation, I wouldn't have cared if they did not even show a glimpse of an alien, for just a little more exposition. To create a story that is purely fictional, hey Blair Witch did the same thing, made a shit load of people believe the story, then come to find out its fake. Yes recently, it was found none of this was true, yay, I guess I can sleep now. I was going to anyway, sarcasm, cough....

From a pure psychological approach though, I would like to discuss the films characters as they are portrayed through their rapid insanities and mental breakdowns. You see, within the first thirty minutes we meet a character who ends up blowing away his family and himself after under going hypnosis. He's big feller, heavy set and looks like he may have carried lumber in the day. After Dr Taylor puts him under hypnosis he freaks out, due to his repressed memory of the night prior, is coming to fruition. His mind can explain what his eyes saw, nor could he possibly describe. We are led to believe that what he saw was so terrifying, he immediately repressed it. Now, I wondered through out the movie, I got to tell you, I watched it with a strong sense of curiosity, I love stories about aliens, but I'm skeptical... still before I lose track I wondered -

Can something be so terrifying, that one would immediately manifest it in the back of the brain, especially if its recent? I can understand people with early child abuse, as a child I remember being flipped off when I got off the bus one day, cried about it, then five minutes later I was playing GI Joes, its like that with children. But adults, in The Fourth Kind, their templates are that of children, full grown, living regular lives, scared out of their wits. I'm a pretty progressive thinker, but the concept did not grab me. I did not believe it. For one thing, why do aliens sneek around snatching people out of windows, who says they use doors, why would they use doors, if they have giant flying saucers that can hover a foot off the ground. What threat would a person hold to an alien, if spotted, if an alien can come in a room, abduct the person then conduct experiments? I guess the arguement is really, would aliens erase your memory or would it be so frightening you wouldn't want to remember it.

I'd like to think I'd remember that shit. If i got abducted, I'd be scared, but intensely fascinated. Alien abduction theories are a fun fascinating look into the human psyche, I guess if we're scared enough we'll believe it...

For me, at the end of the day, I did not appreciate The Fourth Kind. It was a meandering movie that starts with saying 'what you believe is up to you' and ending with the same. So knowing its made up, at least the style was refreshing and new, and hell there were a couple of helicoptor shots I loved. I just thought the characters were devoid of direction, motivation and even character. I guess the major thing that bugged me is when something extraordinary would happen on the archival footage, nobody really mentioned it later, like it never happened. For the most part they stare at each other with sad eyes looking like the may thrown up or cry, or both for that matter.

For what its worth, it'd make a good rent for that Sunday you're feeling off, but there are better alien movies, may I suggest Communion which has genuinely creepy ass moments (or even Chris Walken ass moments, for some reason, theres a whole lotta chris walken ass) or even Ridley Scott's masterpiece Alien, and better yet, at least Dan Aykroyds documentary on abduction theories and alien life is far more interesting.

Like trying on new pants and not being impressed.