The Fourth Kind is a found footage movie about allegedly true events concerning unexplained abductions, severe psychological and physical injuries and aliens who act more like demons with links to ancient history. Side note: why does the technology get more advanced, but not the language?
The Fourth Kind’s main character is a psychologist played by Milla Jovovich, whom I adore from Ultraviolet, Resident Evil franchise, The Fifth Element and A Perfect Getaway. I’m not saying that she is a good actress, but I have an irrational fondness for her. Sadly she kicks no butt in The Fourth Kind.
Unfortunately The Fourth Kind really tries hard to convince you that it is based on real life events and uses a split screen to show the dramatization and the actual footage simultaneously. If it hadn’t kept doing that and just chose a format, I would have enjoyed The Fourth Kind more. The phenomenon described in The Fourth Kind is so over the top that if it were actual footage, I would have seen it long before I saw the movie. The Fourth Kind would have been creepier if it just let the events unfold without incessantly vying for authenticity.
The Fourth Kind is the kind of movie where someone who is supposed to be rational immediately suggests aliens as the answer instead of reluctantly after all other explanations are found to be inadequate. Unfortunately The Fourth Kind further muddies the water by making the main character an unreliable narrator regarding certain events. The Sheriff is way too unreasonable even if the psychologist is frustrating. I am tiring of the trope where someone witnesses something, but refuses to just say what happens.
The Fourth Kind is a fundamentally flawed movie, but it missed The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity franchise mark so hard that I enjoyed it because it was such a self-conscious mess. The Fourth Kind got me to jump because of the loud, dissonant sound effects and visual distortions. I’m a sucker for Nephilim conspiracy theories and wondered if the Christian film industry was in some small measure involved in The Fourth Kind. The Fourth Kind is for fans of found footage who have a weakness for movies that are so bad that they are good, but it is still really bad.