Saturday, February 22, 2014

The Fourth Kind (2009)

Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi

Writers: Olatunde Osunsanmi, Terry Robbins

Composer: Atli Orvarsson

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Will Patton, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Corey Johnson, Enzo Cilenti, Elias Koteas, Eric Loren, Mia McKenna-Bruce

More info: IMDb

Tagline: There are four kinds of alien encounters. The fourth kind is abduction.

Plot: A thriller involving an ongoing unsolved mystery in Alaska, where one town has seen an extraordinary number of unexplained disappearances during the past 40 years and there are accusations of a federal cover up.



My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

I'm not sure how unusual this alien abduction story is as I've seen few films about it (which has nothing to do with my not believing in it) but this one feels like it's trying something different, and for that, they get points.  Writer/director Osunsanmi utilizes psychotherapy video footage (and audio recordings) from Abbey Tyler's (Jovovich) sessions with patients, usually under hypnosis, who are all experiencing similar dreams that she discovers, near the end of the film, are alien abductions.  The technique is pretty effective but largely if you're a believer.  I liked the ending with the abduction and the aftermath but I really didn't care all that much leading up to it so there you go.  There are an awful lot of after the film text screens telling you what happened with the principal players, most of whom refused to have anything to do with the making of this picture.  Hmmmmmm.  What were their reasons?  That could be interesting.  The biggest piss off for me was the pounding score.  There were far too many sudden bursts of serious, moody music in the way you'd get with jump scares.  It happens so often that I started laughing at each new outburst.  Too much, Man, too much.  I'd rather watch an episode of THE X-FILES instead of this.  ANY episode.

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