DVD Review: The Fourth Kind

Posted Mar 15, 2010 by Kevin Walker

Updated Mar 15, 2010 at 02:41 PM

The Fourth Kind
Stars: Milla Jovovich, Will Patten, Elias Koteas
Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi (“WithIN”)
The plot: The title refers to the fourth level of contact with aliens: abduction (Steven Spielberg famously made a movie back in 1977 about the third kind—contact). In Nome, Alaska, a psychiatrist, Abbey (Jovovich) believes alien encounters are responsible for a rash of local disappearances. Under hypnosis, her patients talk about middle-of-the-night encounters with aliens. Abbey soon suspects maybe she is having similar experiences. She’s aided by a fellow psychiatrist (Loteas), but a suspicious sheriff (Patten) thinks she might be involved with the abductions.
Bottom line: What is it about aliens Hollywood can’t get right? We want to believe! Unfortunately, too many alien movies are like this one, jumbled and goofy. Osunsanmi’s decision to use fake documentary footage within the movie is an interesting idea on paper, but ends up becoming annoying onscreen. That said, the scenes in which the aliens speak Sumerian through their victims creeped me.
Extras: Deleted scenes. You know how I feel about that.
Quote: “I am God.”
98 minutes (PG-13; violent/disturbing images, some terror, thematic elements and brief sexuality)