The Fourth Kind

Saddled with a gimmick that would give William Castle pause, The Fourth Kind effectively squanders the promising nature of its setup over the course of its hopelessly uneven 98 minute running time – as filmmaker Olatunde Osunsanmi’s decision to place a pervasive emphasis on faux documentary footage robs the proceedings of its momentum on an all-too-frequent basis. The movie, which opens with an unintentionally hilarious warning from Milla Jovovich that what we’re about to see is “extremely disturbing,” follows Alaska-based psychiatrist Abigail Tyler (Jovovich) as she becomes increasingly convinced that several of her patients have been unknowingly abducted by aliens, with her ongoing attempts at proving the existence of said extra-terrestrials inevitably raising the ire of a skeptical local cop (Will Patton). There’s little doubt that the relentless inclusion of clips featuring the “real” Abigail Tyler and her various patients stands as The Fourth Kind‘s most overt failing, with the less-than-graceful manner with which Osunsanmi shoehorns such moments into the storyline effectively holding the viewer at arm’s length virtually from start to finish (ie were the split screens really necessary?). It’s consequently not surprising to note that the movie suffers from a serious lack of narrative thrust that only grows more problematic as it unfolds, with the ensuing lack of tension essentially draining the suspense out of several key interludes (ie a distraught husband and father holds his family hostage at gunpoint). And while there are a few genuinely creepy sequences and images sprinkled throughout the proceedings (ie Tyler listens to a recording of her own abduction), The Fourth Kind clearly would’ve benefited from a more conventional approach and a greater emphasis on the characters themselves (Patton’s police officer is especially underused) – with the almost ridiculously anti-climactic finale ensuring that the whole thing ends on as abrupt a note as one could possibly envision (ie those viewers expecting a Fire in the Sky-esque third act are going to be sorely disappointed).

** out of ****