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Review of The Fourth Kind
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© Universal Pictures
Slapping the phrase "based on a true story," or "based on actual events" on a movie doesn't automatically make it sound more interesting or like something that needs to be seen. First, movies need to have a certain amount of exaggeration or embellishment to give them that cinematic effect. Second, using those terms on a movie immediately causes a raised eyebrow amongst smarter movie-goers. The Fourth Kind undeniably fits this bill.
Every last bit of advertising for The Fourth Kind would have you believe that the movie is based on actual events and case studies conducted in Nome, Alaska where an inordinate number of alien abductions have taken place. The movie intersperses scenes with "actual" footage taken while a study was being done by Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich). It seems that a lot of her patients are seeing the same thing (an owl) in the middle of the night and soon after they begin seeing other things and their mental and physical health begins to deteriorate. Not too long after that, Dr. Tyler herself starts becoming affected by these events and she's abducted herself. The lone bright spot in this movie are the performances, especially those in the videos of the case studies.
The biggest problem with The Fourth Kind is that writer/director Olatunde Osunsanmi goes out of his way to make everything seem like it really happened; so much so that it would inspire skepticism in even the most gullible person. Even the supposed "archival footage" looks fictional. Perhaps worse than the fake feeling of the whole 98 minutes is that we never get to see the aliens! C'mon! That's not as bad as Contact where the alien at the end ended up being Jody Foster's dad, but this is up there. All you get to see are some shadowy figures walking through a door way. To say that that was extremely disappointing is an understatement. If Osunsanmi had given us even a little glimpse, that would have gone a long way towards making The Fourth Kind a semi-decent alien flick. Instead, this one ends up feeling like more of an embarrassment.
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