geek JANE

Rental: The Fourth Kind

Release Date: March 16, 2010 – DVD
Rating: PG-13 for violence, brief sexuality and distrubing images/themes
Starring: Milla Jovovich, Elias Koteas, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, and Will Patton
Writer/Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi
Official Universal Website Here

I am a total UFO believer and not only have I had strange experiences myself but I know others that have seen strange things in the sky too. The idea that we are alone in the universe is an incredibly short sighted one to me. Now all that being said I also have to admit the the prospect of alien life out there can be a terrifying one. The idea of otherworldly beings observing and possibly interacting with us is definitely unsettling to me and this film plays on those fears in the worst ways. The Fourth Kind opened to mixed if not primarily negative critical reviews last year and I didn’t get a chance to see it then. Having now watched it on DVD I will say that it’s scary scenes were probably much more effective in a dark room with a big screen.

The film tells the supposed true story of Dr. Abigail Tyler who was doing a research study in the small town of Nome, Alaska where residents had been having similar sleep disturbances in the middle of the night at around the same time. Dr. Tyler is played by Jovovich who comes into the screen at the opening sequence stating that the film is a mix of actual footage and reenacted dramatizations done by herself and others. Whether or not any of this film is really based on actual events remains to be seen but I tried to take it at face value, which is – it was just a movie. To put it into perspective this film does for alien abduction what Paranormal Activity did for hauntings but in a more stylized way that gets a bit lost in direction.

The movie bounces back and forth between high definition scenes with the actors and low resolution hand-held footage that claims to be from 2000. The mixed shooting styles were a bit too complicated for a film that really had a strong scary plot to begin with. If the film had been shot strictly with your typical movie fare minus all the hand-held shots and interviews with the supposed real Dr. Tyler then I think the scary elements would have been much more engrossing and effective. Still I can respect Osunsanmi’s efforts to make the film different from others of it’s kind and his work does stand out but could use some fine tuning.

Jovovich does a pretty good job playing the terrified and intense Abigail Tyler but most roles I see her in are somewhat similar in writing to this one. She is a very passionate actress whether playing the psychologically tormented Joan of Arc or the hardcore action hero Alice in Resident Evil. The supporting actors really didn’t have enough screen time to generate any care for what happened to them since the shots kept going back and forth from “actual” footage and movie sequences. Also I really thought Will Patton’s character Sheriff August was written a bit too overzealous and irrational for the other characters in the film or it’s situations. Overall I thought the the film had a lot of great ideas that were pretty terrifying but the execution and direction were The Fourth Kind’s downfall.

Bottom Line: EFFECTIVELY SCARY BUT GARBLED BY A MIXED UP SHOOTING STYLE